The Binding of Isaac, known as akedat yitshak or the Akedah (Gen. 22:1–19), is one of the most influential and controversial stories in the history of religion, playing a central role in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Countless commentators, philosophers, theologians, poets, and now visual artists have examined and reflected upon it throughout the centuries. Scholars and readers have speculated about the mindset of the story’s protagonists: God, Abraham, and Isaac. However, Sarah, who surely had her son’s welfare at heart, is completely absent from the narrative, and therefore from the majority of exegetical material relating to Genesis 22. In classical as well as in modern literature, the story of the Akedah serves as a core source for examining either the relationship between God and the believer, or male-oriented father–child relationships. Isaac’s mother, in both cases, is left by the wayside. Indeed, her absence from far too many arguments and analyses of the Akedah limits its potential meaning.

But what if we suggested that the main character in the biblical story of the Akedah was not Abraham, who accepted the divine command to sacrifice his beloved son? And what if we did not follow later traditional interpretations that emphasize the role of Isaac, the son, who lay down willingly upon the altar to be saved only at the last moment by the same God who, in order to test his father, decreed his death?