And yet, when Abraham learned that God was preparing to destroy Sodom, he came to its defense. He pleaded for divine mercy, saying: If You want only this world to survive, then there can be no Law; if You want only the Law to survive, then there can be no world. You are holding the stick by both ends. Choose one or the other. Be less demanding, less intransigent, otherwise nothing will remain. Thus, according to Rabbi Levi, did Abraham plead for the city whose men devoured one another.

Three years after he drove Ishmael out of his house, Abraham, who never stopped loving him, went to visit him in the desert. A woman received him: Aissa, Ishmael’s Moabite wife. Abraham asked her: Where is your husband? — Gone to harvest fruit. — I am thirsty, I am hungry, said Abraham; the journey has exhausted me. Please give me some water, a piece of bread. Aissa refused. Whereupon Abraham said to her: When your husband returns, tell him that an old man came to see him from the land of Canaan and that this old man wishes him to know that he did not like the threshold of his home. Aissa transmitted the message to Ishmael, who immediately repudiated her. His new wife, Fatima, came from Egypt

Three years later Abraham came back. Where is your husband? he asked Fatima. — Gone to take care of the camels. — I am thirsty, I am hungry, said Abraham; the journey has made me tired. — Come inside and rest, said Fatima, offering him bread and water. — When your husband returns, said Abraham, smiling, tell him that an old man came to see him from the land of Canaan and that he very much liked the threshold of his house.

From afar, father and son never ceased loving one another.

To prevent the sacrifice of Isaac, Satan transformed himself into a river flowing across the road toward Moriah, hoping that Abraham and his son would be unable to cross it. As the waters reached his chin, Abraham gazed at heaven and said: Master of the Universe, when You chose me, You told me that You were alone just as I was alone and that it was through me that You would make Yourself known, and that I was to give You my son in sacrifice. But if I were to drown, or Isaac, who would accomplish Your will? And who would spread Your name?

The next moment there was not a trace left of a river on the road to Mount Moriah.

And Abraham sacrificed the ram in place of his son . . .

Poor ram, said certain sages. God tests man and the ram is killed. That is unjust; after all, he has done nothing.

Said Rabbi Yehoshua: This ram had been living in paradise since the sixth day of creation, waiting to be called. He was destined from the very beginning to replace Isaac on the altar.

A special ram, with a unique destiny, of whom Rabbi Hanina ben Dossa said: Nothing of this sacrifice was lost. The ashes were dispersed in the Temple’s sanctuary; the sinews David used as cords for his harp; the skin was claimed by the prophet Elijah to clothe himself; as for the two horns, the smaller one called the people together at the foot of Mount Sinai and the larger one will resound one day, announcing the coming of the Messiah.