It’s a question that echoes through the ages. The verse in Genesis says, "And offer him there for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:2). But where is "there"?
According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31, Abraham himself asks the question. He pleads, "Sovereign of all worlds! On which mountain hast Thou told me (to offer him)?" And the answer he receives is beautiful, almost poetic. God responds that it is in every place where Abraham sees His glory abiding, waiting for him. "This is Mount Moriah," God tells him. In other words, it would be revealed. The verse itself hints at this, saying, "Upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:2). It's not a fixed location, but a divinely guided revelation.
And so, Abraham sets out. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer paints a vivid picture. "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and he took with him Ishmael, and Eliezer, and Isaac his son, and he saddled the ass." But this isn't just any donkey. Oh no. This is the ass.
This ass, we’re told, is no ordinary beast of burden. It's the offspring of the ass created during twilight – that mystical time between day and night, filled with divine potential. "This was the ass, the offspring of that ass which was created during the twilight," the text emphasizes, citing "And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass" (Genesis 22:3).
And the story of this special animal doesn’t end there. The text continues, "The same ass was also ridden upon by Moses when he came to Egypt," referencing Exodus 4:20, "And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon the ass." Talk about a family heirloom with a pedigree!
But wait, there's more! This same ass, incredibly, will also be ridden by the Son of David in the future! As Zechariah 9:9 prophesies, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and saved; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass."
So, consider the image: Abraham, Moses, and the future Messiah, all connected by this humble, yet extraordinary, animal. It makes you wonder about the hidden significance in the everyday, doesn't it? How seemingly ordinary objects or beings can carry within them a spark of the divine, linking us to the past, present, and future. Perhaps we, too, are riding on an ass of sorts, carrying a destiny we have yet to fully understand.