Vayeira 22:2 · unit 4

Parashas Vayeira · Passuk 22:2

The Complete Passuk

וַיֹּ֡אמֶר קַח־נָ֠א אֶת־בִּנְךָ֨ אֶת־יְחִֽידְךָ֤ אֲשֶׁר־אָהַ֙בְתָּ֙ אֶת־יִצְחָ֔ק וְלֶ֨ךְ־לְךָ֔ אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּ֑ה וְהַעֲלֵ֤הוּ שָׁם֙ לְעֹלָ֔ה עַ֚ל אַחַ֣ד הֶֽהָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֹמַ֥ר אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

And He said, “Take, please, your son, your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you.”

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to Yerushalmi Taanis 2:4.

TT lemma: והעלהו.

Sefaria — Yerushalmi Taanis

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text
והעלהו. תניא, אמר אברהם לפני הקב"ה, רבש"ע, גלוי וידוע לפניך שבשעה שאמרת לי והעלהו שם לעולה היה לי מה להשיב, אתמול אמרת לי כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע ועכשיו אתה אומר לי להעלהו לעולה, אלא שכבשתי את יצרי לעשות רצונך, כך יהי רצון שבשעה שיהיו בניו של יצחק נכנסין בצרה ואין להם מי שילמד עליהם סניגוריא, תהא אתה מלמד עליהם סניגוריא.

English: “And offer him.” It was taught: Avraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He, “Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You that when You said to me, ‘Offer him there as a burnt-offering,’ I had a reply ready—yesterday You said to me, ‘For in Yitzchak shall seed be called to you,’ and now You say to me to offer him as a burnt-offering—yet I subdued my inclination to do Your will. So may it be Your will that when the children of Yitzchak enter into trouble and have no one to plead their cause, You Yourself will plead their cause.”

On the daf / in context: Avraham’s silent obedience is later voiced as a merit that will stand for his descendants when they have no other advocate.

Type of Learning

Derash on the verse (Yerushalmi) — not a formal named middah of the 13. The patriarch’s self-restraint is converted into an eternal claim upon divine advocacy.

What Is Learned

Avraham could have protested the apparent contradiction with the earlier promise, yet he subdued his will; he therefore asked that God Himself plead for Yitzchak’s descendants in their future distress.