Connect with us

RSS

When Abraham Challenged God

Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.

The Torah portion of Vayera is a fascinating combination of episodes. It’s not just because of the range of different and significant incidents.

Theologically, there is an underlying current that presents two of the biggest challenges to faith in a critical world. The first centers on the conversation between God and Abraham before the destruction of Sodom. God says that he must inform Abraham in advance of what is going to happen, and then Abraham pleads with God not to destroy the city, in case there are some good people there — because it would be unfair that the innocent suffer at the hands of the guilty.

In the famous words of Abraham himself, “Will the judge of the universe not do justice” (Bereishit 18:22-25). This comes as a major surprise. How dare a human being say this to God. And yet, what a wonderful idea — because it implies that we have every right to do so.

The issue that most people who challenge religions today raise is how can God allow so much injustice and cruelty in the world.

There are two conclusions that we can draw from our Biblical story. The obvious one is that in the end, Abraham agrees that Sodom deserves its fate because it was a corrupt and evil place. The other is that God’s justice is not the same as our justice. To think of God as a human judge is to demean the idea of God. The Torah does indeed use language as if God were a human, but clearly God is not. All of us can think of situations in which innocents died, either for medical reasons, warfare, or natural disasters. We can debate forever as to whether we call this justice or fairness. After all, warfare in the Torah, with its casualties and collateral deaths, is seen as necessary sometimes. Abraham had to go to war to free his nephew, which means that people were killed.

God is not human, and Divine actions cannot be judged by the same standards as we humans are bound by. Then comes the story of the Akedah. It is interesting that in the non-Jewish world, this episode is described as the Sacrifice of Isaac. But we call it the Binding of Isaac. And that’s what Akedah means. We are introduced to this episode with the clear instruction to understand that this is a test. “And God tested Abraham.” It is not intended as a moral command. If Christianity chose generations later to draw a parallel between the Binding of Isaac and the crucifixion of its founding myth, only they will be able to see the logic in that.

The conclusions that I draw from these episodes are that in the realm of the Divine, we cannot understand the nature of something that is supposed to be totally non-physical. We may think that we can bargain with God, but consider all the conflicting demands humans expect God to resolve in their favor. They can’t all be granted.

In the end, the only thing we can be certain about (as opposed to having absolute faith in something) is where we have a clear written source or instruction. This is the genius of the Jewish emphasis on the idea of mitzvah, a commandment as being the ideal channel between us in the physical world and God in the spiritual world.

But we need to be aware of the danger of assuming that when we hear voices or where we think we hear God speaking to us, this is an instruction. We humans are so easily misled. We create false gods for ourselves. The lesson of the Akedah is that we should not be paying attention to voices as much as to the message.

The text says that God “cannot hide from what I’m going to do to Abraham because I know him, that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of God which is to be righteous and to follow justice (Bereishit 18:19). It it is not some intangible abstract theological relationship that is the issue here, so much as having a way of life, which influences our behavior, and which enables us to pass on these values to the next generation. You cannot always pass on feelings, but you can pass on right actions.

The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.

The post When Abraham Challenged God first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

Continue Reading

RSS

Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News