by Rabbi Gail Fisher
I thought about avoiding the Akeda this year. I’ve heard it talked about every year for my entire life and decided a change would be a good thing. Then I took a Hadar class on the Dirshuni, which is a book of midrash written by modern Israeli Jewish women. One of the sessions was about Abraham/Isaac vs Hagar/Ishmael.
Here are the similarities:
- Both Abraham and Hagar leave their homes to go forth.
- Both made a covenant with God promising them many offspring.
- The name of each one’s son was given to them by God.
- Each wanted to make sure that their son got a wife from among their own people.
- Each had a child near death who was saved by an angel; the angel suggested something different that could be done instead.
- The instrument of salvation for this child was hidden until pointed out by the angel.
The differences, however, are profound. I’m sure you were thinking about them when you realized that Abraham’s son Isaac was near death as a direct result of his own actions. One difference is that Hagar was trying to save his son (suffering from thirst in the desert where they had been banished), while Abraham was the potential instrument of his own son’s death. Hagar was told by the angel, “Get up and take him by the hand,” whereas Abraham’s angel said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy”. Hagar sought water to safe Ishmael’s life, while Abraham demanded fire to sacrifice Isaac.
The rabbis suggest (and we have to agree) that Isaac was traumatized by the Akeda, his near-death at his father’s hands. He never saw his father again in life; he came with his brother Ishmael only when Abraham was dead and they needed to bury him. Since we see Isaac coming from Be’er-lahai-ro’I when Rebekah is brought to him, which is where Hagar went when she and Ishmael were banished from Abraham’s home, there is a midrash that Isaac went to Hagar and was comforted by being with her. After all, his own mother was dead, and Hagar had been a sort of mother figure to him early on. He needed empathy, people he could cry with or rage with. He learned about God from Hagar – the God of water and seeing and hearing. The God of healing and compassion. A far more desirable God than the one who would demand that a father kill his own son.