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 "Take your son, your only son, the one you love v'lech lecha and go for you to the land of Moriah " (22:2). So begins the command of G-d demanding it seems, the sacrifice of Isaac. After waiting so long with Sarah to have a child, Abraham is to take his child so he can be returned to G-d. In the face of such a command Abraham is silent, or shall we say speechless, unable to comprehend the Divine will even as he arises early to carry it out.
Lech lecha, go for you, and apparently you alone. While Abraham is physically accompanied by his two unnamed servants he is in truth walking alone to an unknown future. Sarah is absent and Yitzchak not comprehending what is happening is bewildered as he innocently queries "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is lamb for the burnt offering" (22:7). Abraham has three long days to think about his relationship with G-d, three long days of silence.
Tellingly when we first meet Abraham he is also told " lech lecha " go for you - "from your country your place of birth and your family" (12:1). Here too Abraham was to go alone, to become Avraham haiviri, the one who stands alone on the other side of the river willing if need be to go against the societal currents. As with his long walk to sacrifice Isaac where he was alone, even if others were with him, so too upon leaving Charan on his journey to Israel Abraham was in a sense all alone. It was Abraham, not Abraham and Sarah who are commanded to leave for the land of Israel. Sarah and Lot are "taken" by Abraham. Soon after arriving in the land when famine strikes it is "Abram who goes down to Egypt ". Sarah is passed off as a sister and according to the Rabbis is hidden in a trunk in order to prevent her from being taken captive. The promises to give the land of Israel to the Jewish people is made to Abra ham alone - explaining why Abraham quite reasonably thought that it would be Yishmoel who will be his inheritor. And even after G-d's later promise that he and Sarah would have a child was fulfilled, Abraham could not bring himself to throw Yishmoel out of the house, despite his negative influences upon Yitzchak. He only did so on the command of G-d, allowing Yitzchak to "grow up alone".
While Abraham and ultimately Sarah laid the foundations of this great nation, Abraham had to apparently sever all ties with his parents and siblings. In order to be the founder of a new special nation Abraham needed complete separation from his family enabling him to develop the traits that would become the hallmarks of this new nation, "mercy, compassion and a sense of shame". This break with the past is unfortunately the price that often must be paid by those who change the course of history. Moshe Rabbeinu had to completely separate from his family, a decision that led to some degree of friction with his siblings and one which left him unable to care for his own biological children, children who left little positive mark on Jewish history. And in more recent times those who help build the new world and the State of Israel often left family behind never to see them again.
Yet isolation and separation even from an idolatrous past can never be the goal for the righteous. "Perhaps there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city (Sedom)" (18:24). Righteousness is only meaningful and influential if it is demonstrated in the rough and tumble of "inner city", when dealing in the tough business world.
"After these things (the akeidah) it was told to Abraham saying, behold Milcha also had children from your brother Nachor " (22:20). The recording of the 12 children of Nachor, would seem to be an anti climatic sequel and in fact unrelated to the momentous Akeidah story. The Netziv notes that in reality the recording of the births of the nieces and nephews of Abraham form an integral purpose of the Akeidah story. While Abraham was commanded to separate from his idolatrous past such separation could not be permanent. Abraham would have been unable to lay the foundation for the Jewish people in the midst of his hometown surrounded by family members who must have thought he was crazy. After the Akeidah where Abraham and Isaac reached spiritual heights that guaranteed their utter fidelity to G-d there was no longer any danger for Abraham in interacting with his extended idolatrous family and thus the recording of the family news.
While there are many challenges facing the Jewish people the eternal bond between G-d and the Jewish people can never be broken. We must ensure that our spiritual growth has as its ultimate value the bringing together of families. Shabbat Shalom!
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