Shofar, Ram's horn, 18th century with 20th century Hebrew inscription, (Genesis 22:13), reads: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering instead of his son." Brooklyn Museum, CC -BY
Published: September 14, 2014
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Last Updated: September 7, 2026
It may be worth noting that another strain of tradition associates the Akeda not with the liturgy of Rosh Hashana but with the daily liturgy of the Amidah, by claiming that Isaac actually died and was resurrected (Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 30 [in some translations, chapter 31]):
ר’ יהודה אומ’ כיון שהגיע החרב על צוארו פרחה ויצאה נפשו של יצחק, וכיון שהשמיע קולו מבין הכרובים ואמ’ לו אל תשלח ידך נפשו חזרה לגופו וקם ועמד יצחק על רגליו וידע יצחק שכך המתים עתידים להחיות ופתח ואמ’ ברוך אתה ה’ מחיה המתים.
Rabbi Judah said: When the sword reached his neck, Isaac’s soul fled and left his body. But, when the Lord caused His voice to be heard from between the two cherubs saying, “Do not stretch out your hand against the child and do not do anything at all to him,” his soul returned to his body and Isaac stood up on his feet. Isaac knew that this is how the dead will be resurrected, and so he opened [his mouth] and said, “Blessed are You, ‘Adonay, Who resurrects the dead.”
The interpretation of the link between the Akeda and Rosh Hashana presented here is quite consciously not a diachronic reading of the biblical and then the rabbinic sources. This is so because the rabbis do not do diachronic readings, especially where liturgy is concerned. Rather, they do a “biblical-rabbinic” synthesized reading; hence the multivalent linkage of the Akeda, the shofar, and the centrality of God’s oath to Abraham at the Akeda as the ultimate argument for forgiveness.
There are three linguistic usages by which God swears:
While it is true that not all instances of God’s swearing reference the Akeda, it is certainly true that all (or almost all) of those that reference the threefold blessing of seed, land, and blessedness do so. Whether that is the result of late priestly writers or just the editors of the final text seems to me to be irrelevant for the purposes of this essay. (Ed. For a diachronic study of the oaths to the patriarchs, see Joel S. Baden, The Promise to the Patriarchs [Oxford, 2013].)
Note that, in the complicated story of the “stolen” blessing, neither Jacob nor Esau gets the threefold sworn blessing from their father (Gen 27). It is only when he is leaving his father’s home that Jacob gets the blessings of seed and land (Gen 28:3-4). Jacob finally receives the full threefold sworn blessing directly from God at Bethel (Gen 28:13-14).
Random House, 1976, pp. 91-93
For more, see my essay, “Confronting the Character of God: Text and Praxis.”
וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֵלָ֜יו מַלְאַ֤ךְ יְ-הֹוָה֙ מִן הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אַבְרָהָ֣ם׀ אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיֹּ֖אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִי:
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אַל־תִּשְׁלַ֤ח יָֽדְךָ֙ אֶל־הַנַּ֔עַר וְאַל־תַּ֥עַשׂ ל֖וֹ מְא֑וּמָה כִּ֣י׀ עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּֽי־יְרֵ֤א אֱ-לֹהִים֙ אַ֔תָּה וְלֹ֥א חָשַׂ֛כְתָּ אֶת־בִּנְךָ֥ אֶת־יְחִידְךָ֖ מִמֶּֽנִּי:
