The imagery of a knife wielding man is hauntingly familiar. From biblical times to today, its vision is a harsh reminder of the fragility of our future. The knife hangs over our necks and in one swift move, the silence of an angel or the absence of a ram – our future ceases, the opportunity for a future is slashed.
The Bible gives us a fairy-tale ending when we read about Isaac in Vayera; the innocent boy is kept alive just within the timing fit for a Hollywood movie of his father Abraham, slashing his throat. The angel’s call for Abraham to stop saves the boy. Abraham’s inertia is shifted from Isaac towards a ram that is caught in the thicket. Human life is saved, as is our Jewish future.
In Israel today, men and women are again holding knives over the necks of Jewish citizens in the street, literally and figuratively, and our future might again lie in the balance.
In the past 4 weeks, more than 45 stabbing attempts have occurred in Israel, riddled throughout the land. From the North to the South, East and West: Disputed settlements and acknowledged cities have been the location of attacks that have no focus or target, except for one’s religion. The old and young, men and women, religious and secular are all not immune from randomness of these attacks.
Unlike the biblical story, I have not heard the voice of the angel nor have I seen a ram to save us. Instead the media has been stunningly silent and the world’s opinions have drawn a warped sense of moral equivalency for an immoral and unprovoked fabrication.
In my estimation, this is a reminder for us – you and me – to be the voice of the angel and the presence of the ram. Israel cannot and should not suffer through another Intifada. What reasoning could ever allow a guerilla-like attack on girls riding bicycles and men praying in a synagogue? No more innocent lives need to be targeted to justify the upset with the Palestinian leadership or to express a warped desire to wipe-out the Jews.
If you can’t hear the voice of the angel either – than be the angel! Speak up. Stand up. Or else, the knife can fall on our collective neck and leave us helpless.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner