Human Sacrifice

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1. What Changed After the Flood?

   Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot

   After the flood there is a need for a new world order. This order is described at the beginning of chapter 9, where the Torah describes a new hierarchy between animals and people, and new parameters for the relationship among people. This lesson will explore the new order, and examine the status of plant life, animals, and people in the new world.

2. Yiftach's Vow

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   A close read of the text and a textual link to Akeidat Yitzhak points to the conclusion that the intention of Yiftah's vow was in fact human sacrifice. In the larger context, what this episode corroborates is that Israel and its leaders, in this horrible culmination of the process throughout the era of the Judges have become indistinguishable from the Canaanite. Yiftah, a self-styled leader of Israel and a seeming servant of all that is just and holy, is at the same time a product of the terrible effects of corrosive Canaanite culture that seeks to guarantee victory upon the battlefield by vowing to immolate an innocent human being.

3. The War Against Moav

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   Ambivalence pervades this chapter. On the one hand, the united forces of Israel find themselves in the desert without water, an error interpreted as a sign of God's disfavor. On the other hand, water is provided miraculously. Israel receives a prophecy from Elisha that it will deal a crushing blow to Moav; ultimately Israel withdraws, resulting in an inconclusive end to the battle. Israel is commanded in the Torah not to be destructive to the land on a military conquest but here Elisha commands them to destroy. Is it possible that Meisha's human sacrifice turns the tide of the war or is he successful in destroying the alliance between Edom and Israel by killing Edom's heir to the throne? Is God with Israel or is He not? This chapter ends with many questions remaining.

4. The Abominations of their Fathers

   Part 2

   Dr. Tova Ganzel

   The act of offering children to Molekh and passing them through fire – was common among pagans and is echoed in the story of Akeidat Yitzhak. It led to a perception that such practices had Divine legitimacy. Yirmiyahu emphasizes, in each of the three verses where the burning of children by fire is mentioned, that the act violates God’s command; that such an idea never “came into God’s mind,” and that God would never mislead His people  this way. If indeed – as it appears from Yehezkel – the view prevailed among the people that this act was legitimate in God’s eyes, then it is clear why Yirmiyahu repeats over and over the prophetic message that there is no basis for it.

    

   According to Yehezkel’s prophecy, the future revival of the nation will not come because of the covenant of the forefathers – which is not mentioned here at all – nor as the result of the nation repenting. It is a “forced” redemption, motivated by the desecration of God’s Name inherent in the very fact of the nation’s exile. The nation should therefore be ashamed of its deeds because of the Divine motivation to restore them to their land. This redemption is “forced” upon the people, as it were, with no opportunity for them to exercise their free choice – perhaps even against their will. It is for this reason that the whole nation will not return.

5. Haftarat Vayera: the Widow and the Oil

   Rabbi David Silverberg

6. Did Yiftach Believe in Human Sacrifice?

   Rabbi David Silverberg

7. Jerusalem's Dual Election by Avraham and David

   Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish

   תאריך פרסום: 5777 | | Hour and 10 minutes

   This shiur focuses on the four-fold process of Jerusalem's election, examining the two different narratives within the Avraham story, as well as the two narratives within the David saga. While we do so, we consider the concepts of sacred time and sacred space and their importance in the description of the Mikdash. There are two main Jewish positions as to the nature of the Temple's original sanctity - historical (as a moment within the history of the Jewish people), and primordial (that the site of the Temple's holiness was already built into creation.

   As we look at the (dual) biblical view, while examine the stories of David's relationship with Jerusalem and Avraham's Akeida ordeal, difficult and disturbing questions arise about God's demands of humanity. How could God ask Avraham to sacrifice his son? Why was the punishment so harsh after David's census? 

   These stories are meant to disturb - and meant to tell us something about the place that God is going to select. The values of human autonomy and Divine will are intertwined in the Mikdash. Though free will is an important value, we must also remember that  human will is ultimately subordinate to the Divine will.

8. Implications of the Akeida Part 7: Human Sacrifice

   Rabbi Ezra Bick | 34 minutes

   We will look at a midrash with a different approach to what we saw last time in the Sefat Emet. The midrash looks at a verse from the Book of Yirmiahu (Jeremiah), wherein the prophet castigates the people for offering human sacrifices. The midrash takes each word as an allusion to different parts of Tanakh where people find justification to offer human sacrifices.  

   Are there values so important that they would take precedence over everything else, even one’s family?  Or are there things in one’s personal life that are so valuable that you should never relinquish them? In the story of Akeidat Yitzhak, is the willingness to offer a human sacrifice demanded for the sake of God’s name?