Sarah's Sacrifice
One of the most famous stories in Genesis is the Binding of Isaac by his father Abraham (the Akeidah, in Hebrew). Sarah, Isaac’s mother, is noticeably absent from the text. Here we consider Sarah’s perspective, and how this foundational event in the Jewish origin story might have affected her.
Overview
Enduring Understandings
- Even though Sarah is absent from the story of the Akeidah (Binding of Isaac) in the Torah, her role is still critical, and it’s up to us to fill in the gaps in the text
- Other people’s decisions can have a huge impact on our own lives
- Creating art about women in Torah continues the millennia-old tradition of interpretation, while bringing female characters to the center of the process
Essential Questions
- What conclusions or insights can we draw from the fact that Sarah’s death occurs right after the Akeidah?
- How does Alicia’s song contribute to our understanding of Sarah’s story?
- Why is it important to consider Sarah’s role in the Akeidah even though she is absent from the text?
Notes to Teacher
We encourage you to make this curriculum your own. For instance, if there isn’t time during your class period to have students sketch out their own creative interpretations, you can either leave this part out or treat it as an extension activity.
We also encourage you to include as much hevruta (partner) study as possible. If you are new to hevruta study, you can think of it as discussion between two partners who can help each other learn by challenging each other’s first impressions. Breaking the group into pairs and having them read texts out loud, rather than silently, is an essential part of hevruta study.
Lastly, when studying the Torah text, we find it helpful to have students identify every problem, difficulty, or moment of confusion they can find in the text, as if they were on a scavenger hunt. This opens up the door to midrash, the Jewish tradition of creative Torah interpretation, which imagines answers to those questions.
How to cite this page
Jewish Women's Archive. "Sarah's Sacrifice." (Viewed on June 5, 2023) <https://jwa.org/teach/girlsintrouble/sarahs-sacrifice>.
Abraham, following a test from The Most High, takes his son, Isaac, to the mountain to sacrifice him. This was common practice in the ancient religious traditions, where children were burned to death as sacrifices to gods. Sarah, who is not present hears that Abraham is about to kill her son, Isaac. She gives out 6 large cries, that have been referred to as loud as blasts from the Shofar. These cries cause her to leave her body, and she becomes an angel, and flies to the mountain where Isaac is bound and ready to be killed. She tells Abraham that he does not have to sacrifice Isaac. That a Ram can be substituted, and shows him a Ram caught in the brambles just a few feet away. Abraham listens to her voice, as he listened to her when she told him to take Hagar and make a child, as when the Most High told Hagar to listen to Sarah about Ishmael. Yet, the huge effort of leaving her body in this way severed her Soul's connection to her physical life, and she dies. And this is Sarah's sacrifice for Isaac, and thus the society was moved away from child sacrifice, and thus the Jewish Nation was continued, through Isaac to Moses, and unto today. And, as the Most High Knows all, Abraham and Sarah's test was a complete success.