vayeira
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parashat vayeira, genesis chapters 18—22
and thoughts…
Artwork by Marc Chagall
Vayeira
God Appeared
The binding of isaac
So much happens in this parasha to advance our story. Abraham and Sarah are visited by three angels. Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. Lot’s wife is turned to a pillar of salt. His daughters get him drunk, lie with him, and give birth to two nations that will give us trouble in the future. We have the Abimelech incident. Then there’s the altercation between Sarah and Hagar, and the expulsion of Ishmael and his mother. It’s hard to choose a topic to write about. Perhaps I’ll address some of these in the next cycle, but for now I want to talk about the Akeida.
There’s been so much written about the final alyiah of Vayera—the Akeida,—the binding of Isaac. So many insights and interpretations, and they all have merit.
This morning I was pondering the event while feeding the cats. With 17 cats, feeding them gives me plenty of time to ponder.
And a parallel occurred to me, which led to another thought…
Was God testing Abraham? We’re told it was a test. If so, did he pass or fail? According to the text, he passed. Abraham lifts his knife to slaughter his son and an angel stays his hand. The angel tells him, "By Myself have I sworn, says the Lord, that because you have done this thing and you did not withhold your son, your only one, that I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your descendants will inherit the cities of their enemies. And through your children shall be blessed all the nations of the world, because you hearkened to My voice."
Seems pretty straight forward, yes? But maybe no.
We need to consider the strangeness of God’s request.
God condemns human sacrifice. That’s inarguable. Judaism places great value on human life and is firm on the importance of ethical behavior. For example, to desecrate the Sabbath carries the penalty of being cut off from your people, but the greater sin is to not desecrate the Sabbath when it’s necessary to do so in order to save a human life. So, what was God asking of Abraham? When we list the thirteen attributes of God, cruelty is not one of them. God is not cruel.
It’s been pointed out that Abraham is told to offer Isaac up on an altar, but he’s never told to actually slay his son.
Perhaps this was meant to be symbolic, a ritual. Here’s why I think Abraham failed the test:
Much later, we have the story of Hannah. Hannah, like Sarah, was barren. Hannah prayed for a son, and when Samuel was born, she said, “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked. So now I give him to the Lord.” Exactly how does Hannah give Samuel over to God? Does she offer him as a sacrifice? Hannah gives Samuel over to God by handing him over to the priests, to be raised in the Temple to serve God.
God is consistent.
God couldn’t possibly be asking Abraham to kill Isaac. So what does God want?
God is asking him to give Isaac over to God.
Here’s a clue—When this dramatic episode is over, realize that it’s an angel, and not God, who tells Abraham that, because of his devotion, he and his future generations will be blessed. God appreciates Abraham’s commitment to adhering to the word of God, but God sends a messenger to deliver the blessing. We know God loves Abraham; that is unchanging and eternal, as is the covenant between them that extends to us to this day, thank God. But God, who has had so many one-on-one conversations with Abraham, does not address him directly here.
In fact, God never speaks directly to Abraham again.
Why?
Abraham has become a fanatic. Just look at the changes Abraham has gone through. When God told him that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed, Abraham argued that God should refrain because there might be righteous people among the evil ones, and the righteous should not have to pay for the sins of others with their lives.
But by the time God asks Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Abraham doesn’t argue. He doesn’t even ask for clarification. He blindly obeys without giving it the first thought.
Abraham’s piety has surpassed his humanity. It has caused him to suspend his ability to think things through and discern right from wrong. Isn’t this why Eve and Adam chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? So that they could know the difference and make rational, informed choices? They chose free will over having an easy, perfect life. And Abraham has now rejected that choice.
I think the lesson here, or at least one of the lessons, is that we must never let our devotion to God (or what we perceive to be devotion to God) overrule our humanity, overrule our ability to think and discern right from wrong. The name, Israel, means God Wrestler. If something doesn’t seem right, wrestle with it. Don’t act blindly. Stop and think before you do it. Argue. Investigate. Think!
Zealotry does not honor God. All it does is strip one of one’s humanity. Just look around at the world. All it can lead to is death and destruction. And that is not God’s will.
So, what shall we eat?
When Abraham and Sarah are visited by three angels, they serve them bread, veal, milk, and cream.
Vayeira tells us that when Abraham extended hospitality to the three travelers (at first he was unaware that they were angels) he had Sarah rush off to bake bread and gave orders for the choicest calf to be slaughtered, butchered, and roasted, so that he might offer the men a nice meal.
I don’t know about you, but when I suddenly find myself with unexpected guests for dinner, my goal is to whip up something that’s nice, but also quick. One has to wonder, how many hours did these guys have to hang around, with nothing to sustain them but a glass of milk, before this dinner was ready to be served? I consider myself to be pretty good in the kitchen but I don’t think I could get all of that on the table before it was time for the next day’s dinner.
I’ve read many rabbinical commentaries on this, and each one seems more fanciful and far fetched than the next, a bunch of old men amusing themselves and each other by inventing scenarios not even hinted at in the text, as though each of them wanted to outdo his comrades. Rambam’s commentary was the only one I read that made sense. Rambam says that Abraham’s encounter with the angels was a dream. I’ll go a step further and say it was a vision and a prophesy.
Can we replicate the meal Sarah and Abraham served to these travelers? Not exactly—I don’t have a herd of cattle out in my backyard—but we can pay homage to it. In their day, the laws of kosher, of separating meat and dairy, wouldn’t come into being until the Exodus and the giving of the Torah, 500 years in the future. This being a website primarily focused on dinners for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, we’re going to take those laws seriously. I’ll give you two versions of the menu, one for meat and one for a dairy meal. If you’ve got a mixed multitude at your table and you want to provide both options, we can turn the dairy version into one that is pareve (vegan).
Like Abraham and Sarah, I’ll be serving veal. In the notes to my recipe for Osso Bucco I go into detail about the ethics of eating veal. Here, I’ll just point out that all veal is not created equally. We won’t be using crated infant calves—if I only use eggs from happy chickens that are running around and pecking for worms, I’m certainly not going to use meat from tortured animals. The thought of it makes me feel like there’s a brick in my belly. What my recipe calls for is known as Rose Veal, named for the fact that it has a pinkish hue, rather than the pure white of crated calves. The color develops because these calves get to use their muscles. These animals are a bit older and are happily strolling through the pasture with their moms. The ethics of eating animals at all is a very different question, not one that I’m addressing in this forum.
Osso Bucco is the perfect veal dish for this meal. Large shanks are slowly braised until the meat is falling off the bone. Its rich, silky, unctuous sauce just begs to be spooned over rice or noodles, or sopped up with crusty bread. The marrow in the bones is just waiting to be slathered on thick slices of a semolina baguette.
And the best part? It can be made in advance and kept warm, so that it’s ready to be served when your travelers reach your doorstep.
Classic sides are a mushroom and saffron risotto and some sautéed bitter greens, to cut the richness of the meat and its sauce.
For a vegetarian dinner, lose the veal and get some large, ripe but firm, high quality flavorful tomatoes. You can use any color and any variety that you choose (or can procure). Just make sure they’re large and flavorful. We’re going to stuff them with a classic Italian stuffing of breadcrumbs, aromatics, herbs, and pignolis (pine nuts). Adding a generous dose of grated Italian hard cheese, such as parmesan, Locatelli, or aged asiago adds texture, protein, and most importantly, taste. If you’re also doing the veal and don’t want to have dairy at the table, you can leave out the cheese altogether, or replace it with vegan cheese (which I’ve never tried) or a bit of nutritional yeast (which I can’t abide, but I know many people like it). They will still taste great.
Matzo ball soup, with three matzo balls per bowl to represent the three angels, will be a great way to start. Depending upon which entrée you’re going with, you can opt for the chicken soup version or the vegetarian no-chicken soup recipe.
Variation on the soup recipes as written: Whether you go for chicken soup or mock chicken soup, we’re going to add an Italian twist to the soup, to coordinate with the rest of the meal. This is easily done by using good, fruity olive oil for the fat in the matzo balls and we’ll be adding a little grated garlic and a pinch of saffron to the matzo ball dough. Some ribbons of fresh basil in the broth will tie it all together.
If you’d like to add a Jewtalian fish course as well, check out my tricolored gefilte fish loaf. You get the colors of the Italian flag plus the flavor of your Bubbie’s gefilte fish. The recipe starts with loaves of frozen fish, so preparation of this dish is quick and easy.
For dessert, I think a slice of Sicilian almond cake will be just the thing.