Torah meets Art | Resources

A Performance Piece on the Akedah and Midrashim

Rabbi Glenn Ettman MA, MAHL

Author’s Note: Each line of this piece is intended to be read by a different voice. This piece can be performed by as many as twenty people and as few as five. It is intended to be staged in the manner of guerilla/environmental theatre (ala Richard Shechner, Bertolt Brecht and Jerzy Grotowski), and as a result should be imagined with performers surrounding and integrated into the performance space. There is conscious ambiguity in some “characters” and conscious specificity with others – there is no set determination as to who delivers what line.


I
This is a test.
These are the tests
Sometime after, God put Abraham to the test.
The world was not considered to have any worth until Abraham Avinu came and was Tested
The testing of Abraham.
There were ten.
TEN?!
How would you do?
How did he do?
A hero’s welcoming?
Or some pedagogic teaching tool?
Are we talking about some sort of cross cultural unconscious?
There were ten…
But then what…


So, how did he do?
What do you think?
Did he pass?
No, silly it was not that kind of test
Or was it?
It could have been
I think at least one of them was.
What do you mean?
Did he have to study?
Well, he did go through a lot.
But did he learn?
There were times I thought we would have altered his path.
Koshrin Katigore
But didn’t seem to convince him
Koshrin Katigore
I wonder what this all means…


He went through ten.
Or was it 11
Or nine.
Well, that depends on what script you are looking at.
Was it ten in one?
Or one in ten?
Was it all one big trial?
Is the number really the point after all?
I don’t think so.
What matters is his faith.


It was by his faith
Clearly he believed in something…
But he never really questioned
Shouldn’t he have at least questioned
I don’t think he passed.
But he surely showed some faith
So…Did he pass?


He left behind his worldly understanding and took with him his faith
Faith alone has helped me pass some tests…
I DO think he passed.
Do you?!


What do you think God has to say about all of this?
Were we allowed to interfere in the way we did?
In honoring one who honors me, I become honored .
Sarcasm…
Or truth?
Perhaps he was just reminding us.
I don’t know…
There is truth in it
Should we all revere Abraham…?
He is the great Avinu


I hope I don’t have to endure God’s wrath.
Or tests
Is there really something deeper in the idea of “pass/fail”?


I believe with perfect faith…
Or something like that…
The point of the trials?
Perhaps
Perfect faith?
Or trying to find greatness in the impossible?




II
Sometime afterward.
Abraham…
Sometime afterward
Abraham
V’yehi achar haDevarim haEleh, Ha Elohiem nisah et-Avraham…
Abraham
Sometime afterward, God tested Abraham…
Again…and again…and again…


God tested me
Heneni
And still, I AM right here.
I am ready…
Is there more?


Wait, was that right?
Is that the right thing to say?
…how many of these things do I have to wade through?


Abraham…
These tests that were before you. How did you fare?


I don’t know.
I survived,
Is that not completing?
L’vricho bracha shelach ha Kadosh Baruch Hu b’olam ha zeh v’olam habah.
After all, I did receive an eternal blessing of love.




III
The tests…
A test…
Did he do it right.
Are we able to see?
Are we able to know?
What is in the heart or the mind of him?
Testing with our hardships
Knowing with your heart
What is in your heart…?
For both
To know and to see
To challenge and to test.


Nisah
Nisionot
Trials
To Try
Trying…


Should we assume he passed?
You could – if you wish.
He survived.
He didn’t falter
Much
The tasks were completed.
We see
We know.
But what…what does that mean?
THAT is the point of the trial…


But should he be lauded?
Isn’t he meek?
He never questioned.
Where is the sheep?
Who is the sheep?




IV
God,
I am not sure what the point of all of that was.

Now I know.

Now you know what?
That I can trick my wife into being my sister.
That I can escape from fire.
That kings of nations are threatened by me
That I can come really close to sacrificing my favorite son.
What do you know from this?


You will be a great nation.
Your progeny will inherit the earth…


And….


Perhaps these lessons will be seen for a great many in the future.
Lessons.
Launching points.
Examples.
You are an exemplar!
Martyrs will memorialize you…
Soldiers will see your bravery
But why didn’t you choose life?


Remez lo…Remez lo…Remez lo…


I am not a martyr.
I am just a simple guy.
Who listens to God.


There is no song of lament
You didn’t complain.
It is greater to have faith
And more blessed to behold the believer!


Behold Abraham Avinu…
The survivor of the trials…


You made my name great among the nations.


But now my son won’t talk to me.
And my wife thinks I am crazy.
I have no idea what is going on with her.
I told her I was taking him to learn.


There was great fear in me
Yirah
Fear, once I realized that I was actually on a path towards something.
Great
Greater than I could fathom
A trial
An adventure.
A trap?
Something was trapped…
Was this a trap?
Yirah.
My body shivered.
What if I don’t do it…
What if I DO do it?
How am I going to get Isaac away from Sara?
Torah…
That’s it. He has not learned anything.
Torah…
It is my job to make sure he learns…I AM his father.
Morah…Torah….
Fight the Yirah…
Sarah, Isaac and I are going to learn.
Where are you going?
Where are you taking this beloved son of yours…?
Morah…Torah…Yirah…
Mt. Moriah.
The place of great learning.
Or a place to draw near.
(Satan) Isaac will draw near…
Here we will become closer than ever.
Here we will bond.
Together we will be bound
Bound…
Akedah
The word
Akedah
Aked
Akedah


Go Kill me a Son…God said to me
Man, you must be puttin’ me on – I said back .
But I will do it anyway…


Father and son bonding…
This can’t be a trap.


Does anyone know what is going on?




V
V’kabel sachar culam…
The rewards are coming.
We will all receive…
Who receives…
What?
This lesson…


For what?
Killing your son?
Who chose life?
Isn’t that our inheritance?
I guess this only applies to Moses
Ah ha – Martyrdom
But I am not a martyr…


He doesn’t kill him
That is the test
What is the test?
Killing
Or the absence of it
But there is blood
But blood is also good
It saved us
One night
That night
Is this that night?
The night blood ultimately saved
Like here…
A drop never killed anyone
Don’t we always sacrifice our children to what WE believe in?




VI
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar
Revelation?
That took three days, too
Smoke…fire…
Drawing near?
Hold your son close to you
Draw him near
Korban…?


Vayomer
Isaac says
Vayomer
Says Isaac
Hey Dad – where is the sheep for the offering?


Since you have asked this to me
I am going to reveal this to you
Ani Megaleh lecha
Megaleh
A revelation
Mt Moriah
The revelation
Know that God desires you
Hafetz lecha
Hafetz lecha, v’atah ha’seh!
And you are the sheep…


Who is the sheep?
Who is the one who follows blindly what he is told?
Isaac is the sheep
According to the script
But he questions…
Where is the sheep…
Bound
Trapped
But questioning


This can’t be a trap
No – This is the greatest trial…


Piety versus Conformity
Life versus death
I think the sheep is the real hero of the Akedah .


Aren’t we all sheep when we listen to God?
Perhaps this is the greatest trial…
And this is how Abraham completed all of them
He listened
He heard
He obeyed
And he did…


He showed faith.
And did not doubt.
“Who gave faith to Abraham’s arm
And kept his right hand from helplessly falling down”
That would be faith
That is faith


He believed with perfect faith
Ani Maamin
I believe in perfect faith.
But I also question…


Faith in the impossible.
Greatness is not expecting the possible
Or from expecting the eternal
True greatness comes from expecting the Impossible .


And Abraham, you did the impossible.

“In these similar ways, this man of whom we speak thought about those events. Every time he came home from a journey to the mountain in Moriah, he collapsed in weariness, clasped his hands and said:
“Yet no one was as great as Abraham; who is able to understand him?”


I want to understand.
I want to know.
That is the purpose of these trials.
To know
That is the purpose of all trials
Nisionot
To know
And we know about Abraham…
The real story




VII
And now, Abraham
You can be at ease.
Asher Shamtah b’koli.
My voice and command you have heard.
This will be your inheritance.
All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants


Now we know
And now we understand.
Faith in something greater
The dream of the impossible…


Abraham
Heneni…
How do you think you did?




© Rabbi Glenn Ettman – All Rights Reserved