The modern philosophers Immanuel Kant and Soren Kierkegaard wrote opposing analyses of the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), which is included in last week’s Torah reading of Vayera. While both approaches have had considerable influence on subsequent Jewish and Christian theologians’ treatment of this passage, David Fried argues that neither reflects the authentic Jewish view:

For Kant, Abraham essentially failed the test [put to him by the divine command to kill his son]. God, the Supreme Ethical Being, could not possibly ask [a person] to do the unethical, [since, Kant believed], the moral law must be universal and allow no exceptions. If killing one’s son is wrong, it is wrong under all circumstances. Abraham therefore should have recognized that since the command to sacrifice his son was unethical, it could not possibly represent the will of God. . . . [The obvious] problem with this explanation is that there is nothing in the text indicating that Abraham failed the test. On the contrary, the text effuses with praise for Abraham’s conduct (Genesis 22:12-18). . . .

By contrast, Kierkegaard believed the opposite to be true. God wanted Abraham to comprehend the “teleological suspension of the ethical,” i.e., that the end of serving God justifies the usually unethical means of child sacrifice. Fried finds this reading equally unappealing, especially when compared with the very different rabbinic approach:

Perhaps we could accept that occasionally some greater cause could justify killing an innocent person. The challenge is that every religious zealot believes his cause to be the one that warrants “the teleological suspension of the ethical.” . . .

[U]nlike Kierkegaard and Kant, and contrary to what has become conventional wisdom, most traditional Jewish commentaries did not understand Abraham’s test . . . as centering on the tension between human moral sensibilities and divine command. Rather, Abraham was being tested in his ability to set aside the natural feelings of mercy he felt for his son. Put differently, Abraham was not being asked to do the unethical but to do the ethical despite his powerful inclination to the contrary.

[The Provençal philosopher and exegete] Levi Gersonides (1288-1344) makes this implication explicit, adding his own twist by arguing that Abraham must have assumed that Isaac had done something to deserve the deed Abraham was being asked to carry out. While one might criticize Gersonides by saying that the text’s usage of sacrificial language does not make it sound as if Abraham is being asked to carry out a punishment, this approach does fit very nicely with [the 13th-cenutry Spanish rabbi] Moses Naḥmanides’ understanding of sacrifices. Naḥmanides writes that when a person offers an animal as a sacrifice, he is meant to see himself as deserving of death; the animal takes his place only by the grace of God.

Fried goes on to defend his position by reading the binding of Isaac in the context of the biblical chapters that precede it.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.