Re: The sacrifice of Isaac

Bill Bickel (bbickel@cris.com)
Mon, 14 Oct 1996 17:33:21 -0400

SUBAR@ohr.israel.net (Reuven Subar) wrote:
> Bill Bickel <bbickel@cris.com> wrote:
> > Now granted, I'm assigning 20th-century values to a 4th millenium BCE
> > situation, because I know a child's life wasn't thought of in the same
> > way back then because of monstrously high infant mortality rates;
>
> Excuse me, Bill, but do you assume that Abraham had less regard for
> human life than you do?

You're misquoting me. I never said Abraham didn't love his child as much
as a modern father would; otherwise, why would I have asked the original
question?

What I said -- in an attempt to partially explain this puzzle -- was
that the high infant mortality rates might have affected attitudes to
some small extent; after all, aren't you supposed to not sit shiva for a
child who dies before he's a month old?

The question was: If Hashem orders you to do the unthinkable... When His
commands and your conscience oppose one another... what action is
"right"?

Bill Bickel