Levinas, Judaism, and the Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca

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What does Judaism make of the Akedah, a story that is not only part of its holy book, but whose main character, Abraham, is the father of Judaism? This chapter will revisit the Jewish writings on this story, bearing in mind, of course, that this is only one reading, since Judaism comprises a plurality of views. It is in the Akedah that I find the most powerful intersection and most useful blending of themes from Levinas’s philosophical and confessional writings. By reading these writings in light of each other we reveal an unorthodox interpretation of the binding of Isaac. Ironically, this task can be most usefully accomplished by taking seriously the interpretation advanced by SØren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Protestant philosopher. Although Levinas expresses reservations about Kierkegaard’s reading, it is Kierkegaard who gives us a strong psychological reading of Abraham, before whom we fear and tremble. It is ultimately from Kierkegaard’s psychological profile of Abraham that Levinas’s concern derives its force. Levinas’s depiction of responsibility as substitution—“Not only can no one stand in for my responsibility, but I am responsible for the other’s responsibility”— can also be understood more clearly as the concern that one will kill anothEIGHT Abraham and the Tempering of Virility  The role of the philosopher is to prepare for death. —Socrates in Plato’s Phaedo We must remind ourselves that the Holocaust was not six million. It was one, plus one, plus one. —Judith Miller, One by One by One Do justice. Carry out acts of righteousness. —Isaiah, 56:1 Can we still be Jewish without Kierkegaard? —Levinas, Difficult Freedom er rather than be killed by another. That the gravity of this responsibility supersedes even a responsibility to God can be seen in both Levinas’s and the rabbis’ response to the story of the Akedah. The task of this chapter is twofold: (1) to examine the possibility of locating a genesis of the ethical; and (2) to explore Levinas’s conception of responsibility by using the images that we find in the Akedah. ON NOT SUSPENDING THE ETHICAL: TAKING ANOTHER LOOK AT THE AKEDAH The Akedah is one of the more troubling narratives in the Torah, for it tells the story of God’s command that Abraham willingly sacrifice his own child to God in order to prove his faith. Judah Goldin, translator of The Last Trial, Shalom Spiegel’s elegant commentary on both the Akedah and the poetry arising from the story of the Akedah, refers to the Akedah as the most terrifying narrative in all of Scripture. Let us reacquaint ourselves with the story in Genesis 22: 1] Some time afterward God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered “Here I am [hineni ].” 2] And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights which I will point out to you.” 3] So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. 4] On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. 5] Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.” 6] Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and knife; and the two walked off together . 7] Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father,” and he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8] And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. 9] They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10] And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. 11] Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: “Abraham , Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am [hineni].” 12] And he...