Who is testing whom

I cannot abide the notion that God creates or fosters undeserved suffering and not because it is ontologically impossible; it certainly felt possible to my friend as he stepped from the carnage ten years ago. No, I must stop here because to claim such a thing would be to render the entire conversation farcical. When we read about Sisyphus or Prometheus, we can more easily dismiss the ways in which the gods can be cruel, jealous or cavalier.

But Torah is the gateway to our God, the God, with whom our people have had a relationship since Abraham himself. This is no intellectual exercise, it is not for literary or anthropological curiosity. This is about our people, our history and our God. So, the first ground rule: the Lord can be distant or enigmatic or even somewhat powerless. God can be didactic or suffering with us but God cares and is never cruel.

After all, what people, what crazy people, would replicate, perpetuate and steward a book whose main characters are so deeply flawed, whose God is so enigmatic, whose history is so replete with failing and suffering, unless the Torah is historically true!

I, personally, would not make that claim. So here are four possibilities of many , four ways of reading the story of Akeidah Yitzhak. The most frequent interpretation, but arguably the least interesting, is that God is testing Abraham and Abraham passes the test.

Mei Marom cites the following midrash Ber. Yet, he was happy to carry out the wishes of his Creator. And that was the greatest part of the test. This explanation has its merits. Which, of course, begs the question for those of us who find this unsatisfying: why demand this particular demonstration of faith and loyalty?

Another possibility, though, is that God is testing Abraham who, subsequently, fails the test. Many of us, I suspect, wonder where is the Abraham who, just four chapters earlier, argued with God for the sake of the righteous of Sodom. Promises are made and kept, but our tragic hero departs Moriah alone — and the very next plot development is, in fact, the death of Sarah whom the midrash suggests dies of heartbreak when she uncovers the plot to slaughter her child.

Or, perhaps, Abraham fails the test because he, like so many zealots before and since, becomes so consumed with his own ambition and zeal that he ignores the fundamental request.

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Question 1 of 4. Which sentence is correct? Correct Answer: b Explanation: Whom is the object of honor. Incorrect Answer: b Explanation: Whom is the object of honor. Correct Answer: a Explanation: Who is the subject of dropped , not the object of thought.

Incorrect Answer: a Explanation: Who is the subject of dropped , not the object of thought. Correct Answer: c Explanation: In answer a , who is the subject of asks. Incorrect Answer: c Explanation: In answer a , who is the subject of asks.

Correct Answer: a Explanation: Whom is the object of ask , as should be clear if you rearrange the end of the sentence: we can ask whom. Incorrect Answer: a Explanation: Whom is the object of ask , as should be clear if you rearrange the end of the sentence: we can ask whom.