On Rosh Hashanah, we read the story of the Akedah (Genesis 22): God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, watches him prepare, and waits until the final moment before sending an angel to call Abraham away from the task so that he sacrifices a ram instead. Many commentators glorify this scene as the quintessential test, lauding Abraham as one who exhibits unconditional, blind faith. However, Sarah dies in the next chapter; some say her heart expires due to unbearable grief. Isaac and Abraham never speak again and Isaac’s character never develops as much as the other two patriarchs’, perhaps because of his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Many modern poets choose the Akedah as subject matter for their compositions. Read the following poems and consider each writer’s approach to the story. 

The True Hero of the Akedah

Yehuda Amichai, 1982, after Lebanon War, trans. from Hebrew

The true hero of the Akedah was the ram
Who did not know about the pact among the others.
It was as if he volunteered to die in place of Isaac.
I want to sing, for him, a memorial song,
About the curly wool and the mortal eyes
About the horns that stood silent on its living head.
After the slaughter, they were made into shofars
To sound the blast of their wars
And to sound the blast of their base celebrations.

I want to remember that final image –
Like a pretty photograph in a fancy fashion magazine:
The tanned, pampered youth in his finest of frocks
And by his side, the angel, dressed in a long silk gown
As if for a festive reception.
And the two of them, with desolate eyes,
Looking out to two distant desolate places.

And behind them, as a colorful background, the ram
Entangled in the thicket before slaughter--
The thicket, his final friend.

The angel departed homewards
Isaac departed homewards
And Abraham and God had parted ways a while back.

But the true hero of the Akedah
Was the ram.

Three Sons Had Abraham

Yehuda Amichai, trans. from Hebrew

Three sons had Abraham, not just two.
Three sons had Abraham: Yishma-El, Yitzhak, and Yivkeh.
First came Yishma-El, "God will hear,"
Next came Yitzhak, "he will laugh,"
And the last was Yivkeh, for he was the youngest,
The son that Father loved best,
The son who was offered up on Mount Moriah.
Yishma-El was saved by his mother, Hagar,
Yitzhak was saved by the angel,
But Yivkeh no one saved.
When he was just a little boy, his father
Would call him tenderly, Yivkeh,
Yivkeleh, my sweet little Yivkie
But he sacrificed him all the same.
The Torah says the ram, but it was Yivkeh.
Yishma-El never heard from God again,
Yitzhak never laughed again,
Sarah laughed only once, then laughed no more.

Three sons had Abraham, Yishma, "will hear," Yitzhak, "will laugh," Yivkeh, "will cry."
Yishmah-El, Yitzhak-El, Yivkeh-El.
God will hear, God will laugh, God will cry.

Isaac

Amir Gilboa, 1949, after WW2/Holocaust and War of Independence, trans. from Hebrew

Early in the morning the sun strolled in the forest
Together with me and my father.
My right hand was in his left.
Like lightening a knife flared between my eyes
Seeing blood on the leaves.
Father, father, come quickly and save Isaac
So no one will be missing from the midday meal.

It is I who am slain, my son.
My blood is already on the leaves.
And my father’s voice was stifled
And his face pale.

I wanted to cry out, struggling not to believe,
Tearing at my eyes.
And I awoke.
My right hand was bloodless.

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

Wilfred Owen, WWI poet, 1916

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

Questions to Consider:

•    Why do several poets use Akedah imagery to express reactions to war?
•    What do you think about using the Akedah in this way?
•    Do you think Abraham is culpable, faithful, or both? Why?

Compiled by Shira Wallach

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