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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.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran

Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages

Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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