A teaching of the Rebbe on the parsha adapted for children
Parashah Vayeira relates us the test of the binding of Yitzchak, the tenth and most difficult test. This is how Abraham Avinu was tested: "Please take your son ... and present him there as a sacrifice." Our Sages Z"L point out that G-d presented himself to Abraham expressing him in the form of a request, “please take”. G-d asks Abraham to pass this test so that they do not say that "the previous tests had no substance", that the first tests did not mean anything, apparently he meant that all the tests did not go unnoticed? In particular when Abraham was thrown into the fiery furnace, because of his faith in HaShem! How is the meaning of the binding of Isaac different? And what can we learn for our daily service to G-d?
Of the nine previous tests, it might have been thought that our ancestor Abraham was supposedly forced to pass them, with no time to mentally prepare. At the age of 3 Abraham understood that there is a Creator of the World and only He must be served, and from that moment he spread the faith in G-d everywhere, and understood that by his attachment to this goal, he was prepared to face all of them. The tests were for demonstrate the rectitude of his path and his understanding of all that had to be done. The fact that the binding completely contradicted his worldview in every way: Abraham, the epitome of goodness, has to bind his only son, the one who would continue on his way, the task of spreading the faith in G-d in the world. Although no one was with them at the time of the binding, this test, which totally contradicts Abraham's way of life, shows that his way of acting in all the tests was only for one purpose, to do the will of God.
Every Jew has to follow the path of Abraham Avinu, the first Jew. We too must act on pure faith in G-d and defeat the Yetzer HaRa in every trial that comes our way without hesitation or giving up. We take the power to win at all costs and even in the most difficult moments, from our father Abraham, who "opened the door" for us to advance together with him in the service of G-d, and thus we will meet and see our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the righteous, with the coming of our righteous Mashiach, who will come to redeem us soon, in our days.
