This past Shabbat we read that perhaps most famous of all parshiyot (Torah portions): vayera. Vayera means “and he appeared,” referring to the divine presence appearing before our foremost ancestor Abraham, communicating to him and his wife Sarah that they would indeed have a son, their old age notwithstanding.
The parsha’s notoriety comes not from this moment alone but rather a few chapters later when Abraham is commanded to offer up this beloved son, Isaac, as a sacrifice—as a test of his faith.
No parshah has flummoxed subsequent commentators more than this one. Why would a loving God do such a thing—seeming to torture God’s chosen ones, Abraham and Isaac, with the prospect of doing something so damaging to their family? (A midrash (canonical teaching) on this parshah even suggests that Sarah, upon hearing the news of this near-death experience, even after it was clear that Isaac would live, perished herself.)
We were fortunate to hear a teaching and interpretation of this incident not from our rabbi, but from a young man becoming Bar Mitzvah, Luca Bahuriak, who beautifully chanted the parshah.
His take focused on Isaac. Luca was wowed by Isaac’s equanimity in the face of danger. He saw something in Isaac. He noticed how Isaac was able to trust his father, to trust the course that life sometimes takes, regardless of its consequences. Luca recognized that in some circumstances we will have the power to influence events; he opened his teaching by citing the serenity prayer, in which the person praying seeks the courage to change that which they can.
But his focus was the acceptance of that which we can’t. Luca was a Bar Mitzvah celebrant deeply at peace. He analogized the parshah to his current journey, something which all Philadelphia eighth graders know all-too-well—selecting a high school. It’s a daunting prospect: your next four years—a formative four years—are entirely up in the air. And you really have to rely heavily on those around you, notably your parents, to make the decision.
Luca saw a little bit of himself in Isaac, being at peace with the uncertainty, being at peace with trusting those you love to have your best interests at heart.
