Ad Matai ? Rabbi Hanna Yerushalmi
And what has the angel been doing since the call to Abraham ?
Repeating words . Again . And again . Like a responsive prayer .
In every generation , the message is the same :
Al tishlach yadcha el ha-na-ar . Do not lay a hand on that child .
And now millennia later , that angel has lost his voice .
And Abraham is tested no longer . And Isaac ’ s eyesight is still dimmed .
And the knife is forever wedged in all of our hearts , a congenital defect .
Still we breath , though we are the fire . Still we survive , though we are the wood .
Still we dwell at the gates of our enemies . Still we wait for another angel to intervene .
Brave children lift up their wide eyes , yet no ram appears caught in the thicket .
Grieving grandparents weary of this story , repeated every year , whisper ad matai , ad matai ?
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