Vayera: Part 2 — When to Challenge God

Introduction

How can the very same Abraham who risks everything and challenges God in order to save Sodom comply obediently with the morally abhorrent command to kill his son? In part 2, Rabbi Hammer-Kossoy presents Rav Abraham Joshua Heschel’s suggestion that the two tests work together in building the prophetic relationship between Abraham and God.

In part 1, Rabbi Meesh Hammer-Kossoy explores the approaches of Rav Joseph Soloveitchik and Rav David Hartman, according to whom the tension between the two stories reflects the dialectical multi-faceted spiritual and moral posture of Judaism. Click here to listen to part 1.

These podcasts are sponsored by Robert Hammer in memory of his beloved late wife, Barbara Hammer z”l.

 

Meesh Hammer-Kossoy

Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy is Director of the Year Program and Rosh Beit Midrash at Pardes, where she has taught since 1999. Originally from Washington, D.C., Meesh is a Pardes alumna herself, attending the Year Program in 1991-1992. Meesh holds degrees from Brandeis University and New York University, and received Orthodox ordination from Beit Midrash Har’el in 2015.

Meesh previously taught at NYU, Drisha, and Midreshet Lindenbaum. She has received multiple fellowships, including from ATID, the Memorial Foundation, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Despite having written her doctoral dissertation about criminal punishment in the Talmudic period, Meesh is known by her husband and three children as a lover of mercy and kindness.