[Avodah] Hasidism and the Akedah

[Prof. Levine]

I have no doubt that many will disagree with the 
article at http://tinyurl.com/3p7plvb which says in part

Largely focusing on Hebrew scripture as its 
foundation for presenting its views, Hasidic 
literature views the Akedah as a template for 
worship. While most modern readers critically 
view this story from a Kantian perspective ­ how 
a benevolent God who forbids murder could command 
human sacrifice and how Abraham could be a model 
for humankind if he is willing to kill his son, 
even for God ­ many Hasidic masters seem 
uninterested in these questions. They generally 
do not focus on what we might call the “ethical” 
implications of the story. In some way, the story 
is itself superfluous; like other biblical 
episodes, it is merely an occasion to illustrate 
a dimension of Hasidic piety (avodas HaShem). 
Unlike classical biblical exegesis, Hasidic 
literature is not primarily focused on solving 
problems in scripture. Rather it uses scripture to promote its agenda.

<Snip>

In all three cases, the classical dilemmas of how 
God could ask such a thing of Abraham and how 
Abraham could agree are not at play. The episode 
is not taken literally, or as real, but as a 
spiritual metaphor for teaching the reader how to 
serve God. Were these Hasidic masters disturbed 
by the “ethical” implications of the story? We do 
not know. But we know that they read this story 
as they read all other biblical stories ­ as a 
guide toward serving God, avodas HaShem. The 
details and dilemmas of the biblical narrative 
are left to non-Hasidic exegetes and their 
readers. For better or worse, Hasidic masters 
mostly had other things on their minds.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20110918/9b5e2aee/attachment.htm>