The have had
to
sacrifice
even their beloved children, and time
and again they have made the unqiiestioningly,
in
163
Sacrifice of Isaac
the
spirit
sacrifice
of
unhesitatingly
Abra'ham of
old.
and
Israel
Ever it has trusted and ever has never lost faith in God. for good; this, too, is God's is it has repeated, 'This, too, divine purpose of wisdom, His will, and in accordance with goodness, and love
for
Ever,
men".
all
when
the clouds
seemed darkest, and their sufferings too heavy to bear, they themselves with the thought of God's protection comforted
and promise, and repeated
in perfect faith the
words of the
Psahnist, I
will lift
up mine eyes unto the mountains
From whence
shall
my
help
come?
My help cometh from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. will not suffer thy foot to be moved; that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel
He He
Doth neither slumber nor
This has ever been
sleep.
Israel's faith in
God, exemplified
in this
Abraham, our great father. And on Rosh Hashonah, our sacred New Year's Day, the blasts of the Shofar remind us of Abraham's sacrifice,
beautiful story of
and of God's promise to him. According to tradition, the Shofar was first made from the horn of the very ram which Abraham sacrificed in place of Isaac. Therefore the Shofar on New Year's Day proclaims, unto Israel and all mankind, peace and forgiveness, and a new period of life and faith in
God.
Moriah where Abraham erected his altar became later, so the rabbis told, the field of the two brothers, about whom we have already heard, and the site of the glorious Temple of Solomon. The spot which was sanctified by Abraham's faith and devotion, and by the mutual love of the two brothers, was deemed worthy of becoming the
The
spot on Mt.
