Akeidas Yitzchak Today
Torah Wellsprings | November 01, 2023
Print This Article
View Original PDF

Akeidas Yitzchak Today

Torah Wellsprings | December 31, 2025

Akeidas Yitzchak occurred 3,699 years ago, in the year 2085. Not exactly, because Akeidas Yitzchak happens every day. When you have a temptation and you overcome it, or when you have a test and you pass it, that is your personal Akeidas Yitzchak.

In Shemonah Esrei of Rosh Hashanah, we say, תזכור היום לזרעו יצחק ועקדת, "Remember Akeidas Yitzchak today..." We want Hashem to remember the Akeidas Yitzchak that happens today, and every day when we overcome the yetzer hara.

It states (22:13), בקרניו בסבך נאחז אחר איל והנה, "Avraham saw another ram caught in the bushes by its horns," and Avraham sacrificed this animal instead of Yitzchak. The meforshim seek to understand the word אחר, "another," since there was only one ram.

The Or LaShamayim (באר עלי ה"ד חוקת), quoting the Chozeh of Lublin zt'l explains that the pasuk tells us that there are many akeidas Yitzchaks. Whenever a person overcomes his yetzer hara, that is another akeidas Yitzchak. The Chozeh explains the pasuk as follows: אחר איל והנה, there are other akeidas Yitzchaks. בסבך נאחז, when one is trapped in the lure of temptation and bad habits and he overcomes them and passes the test, בקרניו, "His light shines up to Hashem's throne." (קרניו meaning shine, as in Shemos 34:35, פניו עור קרן כי, Moshe's face shone.)

The Shlah Hakadosh zt'l says that we should think: If Avraham Avinu was moser nefesh to sacrifice his own son on the mizbeach, we should at the very least be moser nefesh with regard to minor matters, like to overcome temptation or passing a test.

Akeidas Yitzchak occurred 3,699 years ago, in the year 2085. Not exactly, because Akeidas Yitzchak happens every day. When you have a temptation and you overcome it, or when you have a test and you pass it, that is your personal Akeidas Yitzchak.

In Shemonah Esrei of Rosh Hashanah, we say, תזכור היום לזרעו יצחק ועקדת, "Remember Akeidas Yitzchak today..." We want Hashem to remember the Akeidas Yitzchak that happens today, and every day when we overcome the yetzer hara.

It states (22:13), בקרניו בסבך נאחז אחר איל והנה, "Avraham saw another ram caught in the bushes by its horns," and Avraham sacrificed this animal instead of Yitzchak. The meforshim seek to understand the word אחר, "another," since there was only one ram.

The Or LaShamayim (באר עלי ה"ד חוקת), quoting the Chozeh of Lublin zt'l explains that the pasuk tells us that there are many akeidas Yitzchaks. Whenever a person overcomes his yetzer hara, that is another akeidas Yitzchak. The Chozeh explains the pasuk as follows: אחר איל והנה, there are other akeidas Yitzchaks. בסבך נאחז, when one is trapped in the lure of temptation and bad habits and he overcomes them and passes the test, בקרניו, "His light shines up to Hashem's throne." (קרניו meaning shine, as in Shemos 34:35, פניו עור קרן כי, Moshe's face shone.)

The Shlah Hakadosh zt'l says that we should think: If Avraham Avinu was moser nefesh to sacrifice his own son on the mizbeach, we should at the very least be moser nefesh with regard to minor matters, like to overcome temptation or passing a test.

PDF Preview