Parshat Vayeira is an action-packed section of Bereshit (Genesis). The story begins when angels came to tell Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child. It features the famous argument between God and Abraham over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as angels coming to Lot, who lived in Sodom, to tell him that he needed to leave immediately. The first ever pride parade is organized outside of his door simply because of how beautiful Lot’s visitors are. Lot offers to give his daughters to Sodom instead. His wife got turned into a pillar of salt. His daughters took turns getting him drunk and laying with him in a cave in the mountains. Abraham argued with a local Philistine king about whether Sarah was his sister or wife, spoiler alert it’s both. Sarah, who was over 100 at that point, gave birth to Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son so that he could join the convent with God. Having just had her baby and sensing great evil in the other child, Sarah sent Ishmael and his mother Hagar into the wilderness. God saved the pair from dying of thirst in the desert. Abraham went back to the Philistine king and made a deal about a well. Finally the parsha ends with Abraham and Isaac going for a hike together that would irreparably ruin their relationship.
The family trip Abraham and Isaac take in the 7th aliyah (section) of this week’s parsha is the last interaction we see between the two of them until Abraham’s death. While Abraham later found Isaac a wife, the two don’t interact during the story. They began their journey in the 22nd chapter of Bereshit (Genesis) when God tells Abraham that he will be tested. Specifically, Abraham was told that God wanted him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham, Isaac, and two servants set out to fulfill God’s command, unbeknownst to Isaac the sacrifice. At the foot of the mountain Abraham and his son dismount and grab their firewood. Isaac asks his father why they have wood for a sacrifice but not an animal, and depending on your translation, Abraham brushes off the question. In some he says that God will give them a lamb and if not he’ll just sacrifice Isaac, but in others he simply says that God will give them a lamb and then addresses Isaac. From there they built an altar, Isaac got tied to it, and Abraham almost sacrificed him. Luckily for Isaac, God sent an angel to intervene on his behalf. At the end of the encounter only Abraham leaves the mountain and Isaac disappears from the narrative.
When God came to Abraham and told him about the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah earlier in the parsha, Abraham protested. He bargained over and over, trying to save the lives of complete strangers, and yet in the text, he doesn’t say anything when asked to sacrifice his own child. Abraham had already lost a child at this point in his life. I am not a father, and so I can’t speak to Abraham’s role in this altercation; however, if my father – Rabbi Tecktiel – tied me to a pile of stones and then almost stabbed me, I would be pretty angry with him. Of the many lessons that I think this parsha is trying to teach us, the two I recommend we take to heart are not to look back and not to go hiking alone with your dad.
