“Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”



Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”



God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”



God say, “You can do what you want Abe,



but The next time you see me comin’



you better run”



Well Abe says, “Where do you want



this killin’ done?”



God says, “Out on Highway 61.”

— Bob Dylan, from

“Highway 61 Revisited”

The story of the Binding of Isaac, related in the book of Genesis, has fascinated thinkers from Søren Kierkegaard to Martin Buber and inspired composers from Igor Stravinsky to Bob Dylan. Among the best known and most controversial stories in the Bible, it has captured the imagination of artists and scholars throughout the centuries with its themes of man’s sense of moral obligation pitted against his relationship with the divine.

Next week, The Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y will host an afternoon concert and discussion about the biblical story, which is read aloud in the synagogue as part of the Yom Kippur service. The program, “Isaac Bound,” features musical works inspired by the liturgy from composers such as Benjamin Britten and Salomone Rossi, as well as commentary from a panel of art, law and religion experts.

Hanna Aviv Gaifman, director of the 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts, considers the drive behind creating the Oct. 9 program, the first in an annual concert series that will deal with the High Holy Days, in keeping with the Jewish tradition of critical inquiry.

“We’re asking problematic questions about a problematic text.” Her hope is that “Isaac Bound” will offer “an opportunity to discover text, music and visual arts that may help us to answer those questions.”

According to Gaifman, surveying the large body of Jewish and non-Jewish art that has used the biblical account as a jumping-off point “is a way of looking at our tradition and part of a larger vision we have of what our relationship with the divine should be.”

That context is provided by the four musical works featured on the program and running commentary from Rabbi Judith Hauptman of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Helen Evans of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the novelist and law professor Thane Rosenbaum.

Sanford Sylvan, a baritone who performs regularly with New York City Opera is the program’s music director as well as its host. His program includes rarely performed works by three 17th-century composers, among them the Jewish court composer Rossi. The final work on the program is Britten’s Canticle II, Op. 51, “Abraham and Isaac,” which is based on a medieval English dramatization of the biblical story.

Two of the panelists take alternative approaches to the source material. Evans continues the artistic exploration with a discussion of the predominantly Christian body of visual art inspired by the near-sacrifice of Isaac, a body that includes work by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Donatello and Raphael. And Rabbi Hauptman adopts a midrashic approach and examines the story’s implications and consequences from a maternal perspective.

A story that has historically inspired so much scholarship and art and that continues to provoke finds special relevance today. “We’re living in an age where we’re uncomfortable with having moral conversations,” says Rosenbaum, making reference to discussions of religious fundamentalism and family values that are increasingly part of our national discourse.

The humanist perspective he brings to the table “gives a chance for man to step back and say moral responsibility take precedence.” For a story about the conflict between ethical behavior and religious devotion, Rosenbaum finds it highly troubling that the text, which presents Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son as the epitome of faith and devotion, skirts around the moral issue. “It’s a very scary story, so why isn’t the moral question raised? Nobody holds God accountable for this very strange lesson.”

Rosenbaum sees a criminal aspect to God’s demand and is troubled by the fact that if God demands ethical behavior from his people, He’s certainly not “leading by example.”

“We have to assume that the request itself is a crime. What I’m interested in is whether morality or a moral lesson is being imparted at all. Is God raising a moral issue or violating a moral imperative?”

How you answer this question depends on how you interpret the divine injunction and it’s underlying intent. “What is God expecting of humanity? If God is only expecting faith, it’s a totally legitimate request. Job learnt this the hard way. But at what level is faith undeserving of faith? At what point does the request reach a point of moral outrage?”

In light of these considerations, Abraham’s complete and utter devotion to God’s will is problematic and hard to accept. “Following orders is no excuse,” Rosenbaum says. “The Nazis were taught this lesson at Nuremberg.”

The willingness with which Abraham prepares to do God’s bidding is also out of character as Abraham has previously challenged the divine decree. It is this total surrender that interests Rosenbaum as a novelist. “In my fiction, I’m always interested in a larger philosophical and moral dimension. I try to look at how my characters conduct themselves with respect to virtue. Why is it that Abraham is surrendering the moral question and capitulating to faith?”

Is it possible, then, that Abraham actually fails God’s test? “Perhaps God is setting Abraham on a course not to test his faith but to test his stupidity,” Rosenbaum suggests. To see Abraham as taking the wrong message here is to read the story as a warning against zealotry at the expense of human rights. “I see this as a failure of humanity not to rise above the command. Human beings have a high moral imperative.”

That deep sense of moral obligation is what Yom Kippur is all about. Gaifman hopes that the program will allow a diverse audience to connect with the serious, soul-searching themes of the day.

“‘Isaac Bound’ is a way of remembering this time of the year and who we are. It’s a way of perceiving Judaism in a different way than Kabbalah kalah” or easy Kabbalah. “It’s not simple. It’s not cute.”

Gaifman draws a parallel between the difficult and involved process of seeking atonement and understanding the full meaning of the day. “It’s not an automatic
expectation of, ‘We’re forgiven, we’re fine.’ It’s a deep thoughtful process.”