The Voice of Isaac

I am eight maybe nine years old, kids flicking spitballs at each other in Saturday School at Temple Shalom in Chicago; an adult up in front of class telling us the story of Abraham and Isaac, how God tests Abraham with the sacrifice of Isaac: and I am confused, troubled, worried.  What about Isaac? I wonder in my head, but am too angry to give voice to my thoughts.  How can this adult teacher relate this horrible trauma of Isaac’s near death at his own parent’s hands to a room full of young children and so blatantly gloss over the child’s view of the story?  Perhaps more disturbing, though, is that I am not really surprised.  How often, in all too many families we know (perhaps even our own), are children “sacrificed” to the narcissistic needs and destructive impulses of their own parents, and how consistently do the adults around them (not just their parents), either for shame or ignorance, look in another direction, a child’s story left untold or consciously denied.  Back in religious school I wished there could have been someone in that classroom to stand up and give voice to Isaac.  Instead we fidgeted uncomfortably at our desks and waited embarrassed (at our own silence? or at our teacher’s overly confident voice?) until the bell rang for the end of class.  

Last spring while listening to the children of PALS sing I was reminded of the echo of my own young voice from another time when I was a kid, a littler human being:  the sound of that voice has never completely left me, even as an adult - its vulnerability, its awkward truthfulness, its wonder at all that is good and bad in the world.  And I remembered that day when I had wished someone could have stood up and given voice to Isaac.  It was also last spring when what seemed an endless wave of child abuse allegations broke forth from behind a wall of silence in the Church, while at the same time young adolescents were blowing themselves up in the Middle East - children being sacrificed, quite literally, to an adult god.  And I thought perhaps now is a good time to listen to the voices of children, to retell their (our) stories, with the hope of hearing the distant echoes of our own histories and futures.

Thanks to Larry Smith, Sarah Thornblade, Jody Simpson, Herschel Garfein, Julian Frazin, and Robert Natkin for their editorial, musical, and inspirational help.Thanks to the Dr. Scholl Foundation of Chicago for their financial support.Special thanks to Larry Smith who brought Jody and I together and without whose encouragement and unflinching faith in the project I don’t know that I would have had the gumption to speak for Isaac; this work is in part dedicated to you.Lastly, thank you Jody and the children of PALS.You and your voices have served as the inspiration for this oratorio and The Voice of Isaac is written for you.