Eulogy on Abraham

The Eulogy opens with a conditional: "If there were no eternal consciousness in a human being, if at the bottom of everything there lay only a wildly fermenting power — what then would life be but despair?" From that foundation, it introduces the relationship between the hero and the poet: God creates both, the hero acts, the poet can only admire. Just as God created man and woman, so He fashioned the hero and the poet. The poet is the genius of remembrance, takes nothing of his own, and wanders with his song from door to door. No one who was great shall be forgotten.

The eulogy surveys Abraham's greatness from his departure from Ur — leaving his earthly understanding behind and taking only faith — through the decades of waiting for Isaac, the mockery of barrenness, the grief that is not grief because it is held by faith, the final receipt of the promise in old age. Abraham was young enough to wish to be a father and young enough to wish to desire the joy of motherhood. Faith preserves youth. Then: the command on Moriah. "So then everything was lost, more dreadful than if it had never come to pass!" But Abraham believed, and believed for this life.

The Eulogy closes with the crucial distinction: Abraham's faith was not for a coming life, which would have made it merely resignation. He believed that Isaac would be returned to him, in this world, in time. He did not pray to move the Lord; he rose early, joyfully, in a loud voice said "Here am I." He split the wood, bound Isaac, drew the knife. "Who strengthened Abraham's arm, who held his right hand uplifted? Whoever looks at this is paralyzed." The eulogistic chapters ends by inviting the reader to ask of himself: when you were called, did you answer in a loud voice, or did you answer softly, in a whisper?