Abraham, Isaac, and the Ram:

Construction dimensions: The base is 28” long x 24” wide. Abraham is 26” tall; Isaac is 16”, and the ram is 8”.

Materials and techniques: The figure of Abraham is constructed with a wire armature, covered with stretch cotton Lycra and stuffed with wool. His face is molded from Creative Paperclay, painted, like the rest of his body, with Jacquard textile paints. Abraham’s eyes are hematite beads; his hair is off-white, curly mohair. He is dressed in a striped caftan; he wears leather sandals.

Isaac is made from a wooden artist’s manikin, painted reddish brown; his face is molded from Model Magic, painted with Jacquard paints; his hair is fake-fur fabric. His clothes are purchased doll clothes, altered to fit. The ram has a wire armature, covered with fake-fur fabric. His face and hoofs are made out of Model Magic, painted with Jacquard paints. The upright ram, leaning on the bush, is based on the 3rd millennium BCE figure found in a royal tomb in Ur. (Note the similarity in color and texture of Isaac and the ram.)

The tree is Model Magic over a wire armature; the leaves are made from Angelina fibers. The fire is made from strips of Angelina fibers and painted sticks. The base of the tableau is covered with fabric, painted with Fleckstone.

THE INSPIRATION AND INTENTION:

The image came to me in meditation while listening to a reading during High Holy Days celebrations. The biblical text (Genesis 22:1-19) is entitled “Abraham’s Faith Confirmed” in the NKJV. G-d tests Abraham: he calls to him, and Abraham replies, “Here I am.” Then G-d tells him to take his son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah. (Isaac is Abraham’s beloved son, granted to him and Sarah by G-d long after normal childbearing and child-creating years—according to the text, Sarah was in menopause and Abraham was 100 years old [Gen. 18]).

As Isaac and Abraham walk into the hills to the appointed place, the obedient Isaac carries a bundle of wood for the sacrifice. He asks, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham says, “My son, G-d will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:7-8). If Isaac has any misgivings, he obediently keeps them to himself. Abraham builds the altar and puts the wood on it, then binds Isaac and puts him on the altar, stretches out his hand, and takes his knife to slay his son. “But the Angel of the LORD called down to him from heaven” and says Abraham should not do anything to Isaac—“for now I know that you fear G-d, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Gen. 22:11-12).

Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in a thicket. In the biblical story, this becomes the burnt offering instead of Isaac. Because Abraham withholds nothing from G-d—not even his only son, the Angel of the Lord tells him he will be blessed and his descendants will be blessed (Gen. 22: 16-19).

The story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac by his father is a powerful, terrifying story of faith and obedience, of G-d testing his faithful follower Abraham to the limit and of Isaac obediently following his father’s commands.

But beneath this straightforward message of tested faith and rewarded obedience lie several other interpretations, one of which I felt inspired to tell. Abraham was asked to sacrifice that which mattered the most to him in the world, that which he held most dear—perhaps even dearer than G-d. The only way to know was to put him to the test. It came to me that the “something” to be sacrificed was not Isaac but something else he held most dear: false pride, ego, material stuff, attachment…. It is these things, written on pieces of paper, that I have placed on the sacrificial fire.

Questions occur: What is it that keeps you from drawing closer to G-d? What do you hold dearer than your relationship with the Divine? What do you dread sacrificing—but you know you must if you want to deepen your relationship to G-d? Where does blind obedience lead us? When has your faith been tested?