A Dvar Torah for VaYeira

In the newly republished Rav Yeivi of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Ostrog, 1738-1791, a disciple of the Maggid Dov Ber, he explains the testing of Avraham in quite an allegorical manner.


Avraham signifies the soul ('neshama') and it is being sent into this world to be tested if it can survive within a corporeal form. The phrase 'after these things' is a Midrashic reference that the soul is shown all the pleasures of Gan Eden before being sent out into the world. 'Your son' refers to the body, which builds up the person and his fulfillment of God's commands and instructions. Yitzhak is another term for the body based on Proverbs 31:25 in that the sould obtains joy from serving God but the body only does so in the world-to-come and therefore the future tense, "yitzchak", is employed.

The raising up of a sacrifice is the raising up of the body from level to level in God's service until it is at its highest, the mountain. The donkey signifies another element of the soul ('nefesh') which acts as a vehicle for the other two ('neshama' and 'ruach') and the two servants are the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination. The splitting of the wood is akin to the outbreak of light when the sechel, the commonsense bursts into the mohin. The wood is interpreted through a play on its root as 'advice'. The fire signifies the Torah and the slaughtering knife indicates his death if the soul is not adequate enough too the task of bringing itself back to the place it left.

The conversation between Avraham and Isaac is between the soul and the body: will the fire be the Torah, for good, or of Hell, for bad? The ewe is the promised reward for the righteous which usually is wanted earlier than later. And the best result is that two should go together, the soul and the body, to achieve God's will and design.

The binding is representative of the successful act of harnessing all powers, physical and spiritual. as well as the power the soul has of causing uncomfort to the body so that is should properly act in God's service. But since a tzaddik is used to bodily punishment and severe restrictions, he has to be warned not to go too far and the call comes from on high to halt the exercise, for the body is still young, as a youth, and needs to be nurtured. Although almost worn out and tired, the eyes are raised and the ram is seen. In Hebrew, the root of איל, 'ram', also signifies strength and so the process is able to be completed despite the intervention of the Evil One, signified by the סבך, the thicket.