The Akeda is that troubling episode in the Bible where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Of course there is the reprieve, the angel calls out to Abraham to stop, and Isaac lives. There are literally thousands of interpretations to what is going on here and how we are to understand it (See "The Last Trial" by Shalom Spiegel, for example, for a review of medieval Jewish and Christian thought on this story). An interesting bit of context (per "The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son" by Jon Levenson): In the city of Carthage, 30,000 urns, each bearing the remains of several sacrificed children, were found. Accompanying the urns were tablets describing the sacrifice as an act of the greatest piety, of giving up one's most precious possession in service to their god. We learn two things from this: 1) Abraham understood the command to go up to the mountain in a culture where child sacrifice was *normative* and considered an act of great piety, and 2) in the ancient world, children were considered possessions. One reading of the Akeda story, therefore, is that God wanted to take Abraham to the brink of what he knew, and in that act, show him a better way. Thus animal sacrifice (the ram in the thicket) became the desired substitute for human sacrifice.
This made way for an evolution of consciousness (that did not happen all at once, but *could* happen) in which children could be seen as people in their own right. My take-away is that this story teaches us, not that we must now do animal sacrifice, but that the religious consciousness MUST evolve. And it must not STOP evolving. We no longer slaughter animals to appease God -- our prayers are the substitute. And similarly in all aspects of spiritual consciousness. It's not enough to go through the motions of familiar and comfortable practices and beliefs. If our traditions have any meaning, it's in meeting the ethical and moral challenges of OUR times, in the best ways that we know how.
Similarly, Isaiah teaches us to privilege social justice over ritual observance: "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. ... "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
To my friends, religious or not, spiritual or not -- the most spiritual thing you can do is seek justice -- not for some ever after realm, but now, with the people who share our world, the people calling out now. Wake up. The ram is in the thicket. The old way does not have to be the new way. Find your deepest connection, your deepest values, and live from there.
There is no better offering.
Shana Tovah u'Mtukah
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devohoneybee at 11:00am on 28/11/2024