Voices of WRJ: Yom Rishon shel Rosh HaShanah

Twenty-two chapters into Genesis, we come to the Torah portion for the first day of the new year, Yom Rishon shel Rosh HaShanah. This chapter (Genesis 22:1-19) is also known as “The Akedah” or “The Binding.” 

Abraham is facing the test not unlike what parents for generations after him have faced: Having to do something that you do not want to do, that is not popular, that your child is not going to understand. 

God said: “Take your son, your only one, the one you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt-offering, on one of the mountains that I will show you.” 

Off Abraham goes with Isaac to the land of Moriah and the mountains. 

For families everywhere, there have been times where we have taken our children places because we know it is the next step, but we’re just not sure. Is this the right thing? Will I cause irreparable harm by taking my child here? 

As a baby, it might be: Did I choose the right daycare or preschool? Your heart physically aches as you hand over your child to a stranger that you now are entrusting with your most precious thing.

Or it is that first day of kindergarten, repeated by middle school, followed by high school and then college. We never know if it will be the right thing.

Especially this year when the stakes are so high: In-person or virtual? Do we move our child into the dorm or allow him/her to physically go into a classroom and trust that his/her peers will wear masks, social distance, not do things kids do such as gather in flocks? Can I trust the strangers — everyone from the school administration to the cleaning staff and the campus health professionals — that they have a plan that will keep my child safe?

It is a lot to ask of us. 

God asks a lot of Abraham, too: To sacrifice the son he loves. Abraham does so willingly, without question, yet Isaac asks: “Here is the firestone and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?”

Then Abraham does what many parents would do and find themselves forced to do: He lies. He says: “God will see to the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” 

How many among us have told a child: “It’s going to be OK?” Yet, we know that it might not be. That shot at the doctor’s office might hurt. Bullies at school might find them. 

They might fall off their bike the first time they try to ride it. 

And this year, a virus might spread throughout campus and find them.

We, as parents, take a leap of faith every day that we are doing the right thing, just as Abraham took a leap of faith to take Isaac up to the mountains of Moriah.

Our children do not take that same leap. They question us at every turn. They search for answers where we have none. 

Then, when they are old enough, our kids realize the age-old secret: Their parents really do not know what they are doing. Instead, their parents take leaps of faith that they are making the right choice based on experience-fueled wisdom. Sometimes, their parents get it wrong, but often they get it right.

May we be wise enough to listen to our children, courageous enough to make the difficult decisions, and brave enough to admit that we were wrong or to see the better choice like the ram that appeared in Moriah. 

Then may our descendants be blessed. 

Nicole Villalpando is the secretary of Women of Reform Judaism, and the past president of the Southwest District and her sisterhood at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, Texas. She writes a weekly column on parenting for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.