When Conscience and Command Collide: Faith and Ethics in the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) Story
In this powerful sermon for the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5786, Rabbi Adrian Schell of The Wimbledon Synagogue offers a profound re-reading of the Binding of Isaac (the Akedah).
What if Abraham’s journey up the mountain was not an act of blind submission, but a courageous test of God’s own promise? This sermon explores faith not as the silencing of our moral conscience, but as an active, courageous partnership with the Divine. It delves into the collision between command and covenant , the modern voices of fear and anger that command us today , and the silenced voice of Sarah, whose cries of determined hope become the very sound of the shofar.
A message that challenges us to hold fast to our moral centre and renew our commitment to healing a fractured world, starting with the one inside each of us.
