Oh, beautiful middle schoolers! For years, you’ve dedicated yourselves to grappling with Torah text, to listening deeply to yourself and to each other, and now…this week…what a privilege to introduce you to that moment when Abraham takes the fire, and the knife, and walks off with his son.
And your reactions!
- “Maybe the test is that Avraham is supposed to say, ‘He’s not my only son!'”
- “He’s supposed to burn his son??!! What?!”
- “He [Avraham] just casually lies! He says, ‘We will worship and we will come back to you.’”
- “Maybe Adonai will briefly make Yitzchak (Isaac) immortal, like with the burning bush, like the burning bush doesn’t burn up.”
- “Has this always been part of God’s plan?”
- “I’m confused. Avraham just went along with it! Adonai said, basically, just go murder your son.”
What a privilege to open up this text with you, middle schoolers who love each other and Jewish text so deeply. May you always hold on to this feeling of knowing you have each other and Torah.
