Did the rose have a thorn? Genesis 22, Is. 11, and other ramblings

In Torah study we discussed that in the Hebrew the verb translated in English, "and Abraham 'took' the knife", in reality means more than simply picking the knife up. It means not only picking it up but also a motion downward, the idea in the verb being that taking up the knife also equals striking down with it . I imagine there was an angel standing next to Avraham, making sure the knife could not go any further. For Avraham had to kill his son. There was no other way. And when he "raised" the knife, he was in the act of killing him. He didn't hold it up in the air and hope G-d would stop him. He went on to the end, and began to strike with the knife, and then, only then did G-d say "Stop!" I used to wonder about this. Why kill your son? G-d would never ask that, would He? And yet, how else could Avraham's faith actually be proved? If HaShem had said, "Avraham, would you do anything I tell you to?", of course Avraham would have replied, "Yes, Lord, you know I will." And yet. We now understand, that as opposed to our old, Greek mindset, the Hebrew knows that a mental assertion of obedience is almost useless. Unless the obedience is shown by action, the mental faith is dead. If Avraham had stopped short at any time in the killing of his son, he would not have been obedient. So let's remember that truly, Ya'akov was right when he wrote, "faith without works [obedience] is dead." Let's kill those Yitzchaks in our lives, and not hold the knife back, but swing it down with all our might. For the blessing comes when we follow it to the very end.
Rabbi also raised an interesting point about the Garden of Eden. How do we know what it was like? When we read our Haftorah portion, in Is. 11:6-8 it says:
"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest."
Since it says the animals are all friends, and the children play with snakes, we read back into the beginning, and assume this was what it was like. And yet nowhere does it say in the Bible that the Garden was a safe place, where no animals were eaten, and the rose had no thorns, and there was no pain or death. The Rabbis debate this issue. Did the rose have thorns or not? I lean on the side that it did have thorns, that G-d gave us the commandment to rule over the land, and if the land wasn't somewhat chaotic, what are we supposed to rule? The thorns were there, but they didn't detract from the enjoyment of the beauty, and as Adam cut them back from overgrowing the path, he rejoiced in the order he was creating. A perfect garden without any pain, death, and thorns would be pretty easy to rule over. If there were no carnivores, then why are the lions and tigers and bears that are around today created to do the job so well? Wouldn't rabbits have taken over the Garden, without anything to check them? Unless Adam was a lot faster than me, I think he would have had a hard time catching all of them. So maybe the "perfect" world we have always imagined had a lot more hardship in it than we thought. But the Rabbis say that labor is good, toil is not. G-d made us to labor, to do the work of ruling, but the toil came after, when Adam rejected HaShem's order and tried to create his own. So now we must all toil to transfor our little plot of life into a managable garden, and it's a lot harder than simply cutting back a few roses from the path, and giving them to your perfect spouse. But then again, watching the garden grow is worth all the effort, all the labor, and all the obedience.

Abraham, Abraham

I didn't have much else to add about this past week's parasha after some of us girls had a good discussion on Saturday, but I came across this point in an article by Rabbi Joshue Heller on myjewishlearning.com. It was one of those finer details that easily get overlooked, and it seemed worth sharing:


I stand further in awe of the zeal and single-mindedness that Abraham brings to his assignment. Rather than prolonging good-byes, he does not delay--arising and setting out first thing in the morning, and attending to many details himself. When God summons Abraham to offer up his son, (Genesis 22:1) God calls his name once, and Abraham responds "hinneni"--here I am. In contrast, when God's messenger calls upon Abraham to stop, at the last moment, (22:11), it is with a twofold repetition, "Abraham, Abraham"--Abraham must be asked only once to raise the knife, but twice before he will stay it.


When we were growing up, my parents always said, "Delayed obedience is disobedience." It was annoying at the time, but it turns out they were just applying this biblical principle. But Abraham goes beyond even the quick obedience principle (even if God did have to specify which son).

Rabbi Heller's point seems to indicate that Abraham - even after telling Isaac that God would provide the lamb - isn't looking for a way out. When he committed to the obedience, he committed to the full act as he understood it. Just like Jesus on the cross (as Kristen contributed), he was choosing every step of the way to be faithful. I think sometimes I agree to what God asks, hoping in the back of my mind that my willingness will be enough and I won't really have to go through with it. But is that really obedience?

Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 5:18a-19

"Woe to those... They say, "We want G-d to speed up his work, to hurry it along, so we can see it! We want the Holy One of Isra'el's plan to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!"

how true is this is our lives? we want to be finished with school so we can begin working. we want to be married so we can start a family. we want our kids to be bigger so we can do what we want with our time.

what about what the Lord wants for us right now? right now, in this moment, what is he calling us to?

he wants me to be a better wife right now; to speak tom's love language (words of encouragement and kindness) and not just do all the acts of service that i think he should receive as love. this is hard, people. stretching. challenging. angering. i don't succeed very often, so i'm trying harder.

he wants me to learn more about who he is. i need to make more time for learning -- through the portion, the matthew study, listening to him and asking him questions. this seems simple, right? but between two kids and loving a husband, it's a challenge. one i try to take on every day.

instead of saying, Lord, when the kids are in school, then i'll study your word more and talk to you more, i'll pray more and be more bold when i'm sharing who you are with other people, i'm saying, Lord, i want to take this day to be more of who you want me to be. if people look at me weird, then i'll have to get over it. if i don't get as much sleep, then i'll have to be rejuvenated in your presence. if i fail to love tom the way he needs, i'll have to humble myself and ask for forgiveness. then change. am i doing this?

with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, i'm working on it.

and even as i write this it's blaringly obvious: pride. if i allow the Lord to humble me then i will grow more into his image. humility. it's easier said than felt.

(i know this portion is about waiting for the Lord in the coming days, but i'm taking this to a personal level.)

this is really an experiment, more than anything...that is to say, we're a group of people journeying through the weekly portion of G-d's word, commonly known as the parashah. please bear with us as we all share our experiences, insights, questions, joys and pains. we come from all walks of life, guys and gals, single and married, blue collars and white, moms and doctors. what do we have in common? we desire to live in the Kingdom of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. thanks for joining us.