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Why does the Torah (תורה) present only Avrohom as the Akedah's hero when Yitzchok was thirty-seven and willingly participated? The shiur explains that bris milah transforms a person into a living korban belonging entirely to Hashem (ה׳). Yitzchok's willingness to be sacrificed expressed his transformed nature from circumcision, while Avrohom's test was achieving through nisayon what was already embedded in Yitzchok.
This shiur explores the famous question of "after these words" (acharei hadevarim ha'eileh) that introduces the Akedah narrative. Rabbi Yeshaya Greenberg ZT"L examines two primary interpretations from the Midrash: one involving the Satan's criticism of Avrohom's celebration where he offered no korban to Hashem (ה׳), and another involving Yishmael's boast to Yitzchok about his superior circumcision performed at age thirteen by choice versus Yitzchok's at eight days without choice. The shiur addresses fundamental difficulties with both interpretations. In the Satan's critique, if Avrohom would sacrifice his son when commanded, how does this answer the criticism that he voluntarily offered no korban during his celebration? Similarly, when Yitzchok responds to Yishmael that he would sacrifice himself entirely, this seems to both miss the point of Yishmael's argument and minimize the significance of milah itself.
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Parshas Vayeira 22:1
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