Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought

Koller (Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought), professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, explores in this useful guide the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, by focusing on its ethical lessons. He traces the evolution of thinking about the Akedah (the binding of Isaac), including the view that the attempted sacrifice was “a source of great merit” that made “the entire world worthwhile,” and its relevance to the Crucifixion. Some interpreters of the text have read it as suggesting Abraham went ahead with the ritual killing, or that Isaac was willing to be slaughtered. After considering interpretations by Jews whose communities were massacred and the ways major recent events in Jewish history—the Holocaust and the foundation of the modern state of Israel—have shaped regard of the Akedah, he insists that “Jews must avoid a reading of the Akedah that leaves no argument against the person of faith” who kills innocents in the name of faith. He concludes that “one person’s religious fulfillment cannot come through harm to another.” This provocative study serves a stimulating complement to James Goodman’s landmark treatment, But Where Is the Lamb? (July)