The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac

This is one of those rare children's books you'll keep no matter how old you and your children get. The illustrations are beautiful. Rarely is God depicted visibly with such sensitivity (can you see the the subtle form of His hands in the clouds on the cover?) The devil looks evil but is unlikely to scare little ones. The story of a ram eager to provide a substitionary sacrifice could not be more precious. I had the privilege to meet the author at a writer's conference. Mr. Gerstein spoke on his desire to illustrate God for children without making an image of Him. He has succeeded as no other children's author I've seen, with imagination, faithfulness, and beauty.

Hear an interview with The White Ram author/illustrator Mordicai Gerstein on The Book of Life podcast's September 2007 episode "Seeing Through New Eyes" at www.bookoflifepodcast.com!

In this midrash from the story of the binding of Isaac, God sends a ram to take Isaac's place on the alter. Even though "the evil one," depicted as a horned devil, tries to prevent the ram from reaching Abraham, God intervenes, stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son. The ram is slaughtered instead and his soul flies up to heaven and becomes part of the Temple alter, the foundation of Jerusalem, the harp of Kind David, and the cape of the prophet Elijah. The sophisticated language of Gerstein's retelling, the complex themes, and the scary illustrations limit the audience to older readers already familiar with the story of the Akeda. But, the book is a wonderful way to spark a discussion of midrashim, the role of animals in our world, and the Jewish values of obedience to God and saving human life (pikuach nefesh). As with other biblically based books by Mordicai Gerstein (The Shadow of a Flying Bird, Jonah and the Two Great Fish, Queen Esther, the Morning Star, and Noah and the Great Flood), the text reads fluidly aloud and the fanciful illustrations include many intricate and hidden details such as the hands and face of God in the clouds.

The gorgeous cover illustration of this book depicts a plaintive white ram in mid-leap, bounding out of paradise on his way to his mission of self-sacrifice. That sad-eyed, heroic ram spoke to me from between the loving "hands" of God, who made him "on the last day of the Creation, in the twilight of the first Sabbath". And there he is again, on the book's opening page, nestled within God's hands, floating above the newly created world, waiting for his moment. In the peaceful beauty of the Garden of Eden, the lonely ram waits. Adam and Eve and all the other creatures have left the garden, and ages have passed, but still he waits for God to wake him and tell him that his time has come. When he is finally called upon by God, he runs from the garden and encounters the "evil one" in a variety of forms including a red devil, a field of inviting green grass, a cool, sparkling fountain, and a fierce lion. Each time the ram encounters this "evil one" he is not dissuaded from his goal: "I must save the child!", he repeats, and the tension builds. When the ram arrives at the sacred mountain, he sees a "child tied and bound on an altar, and a weeping man." "Wait!", the ram cries, "I am here! Take me!" Then God asks Abraham to remove his son from the altar, and God says, "I wanted the whole world to see your love and your trust in me, so that all people might follow your example." Abraham then frees the struggling ram, who is caught in the brambles, and the ram leaps onto the altar and speaks. "Abraham", says the proud but doomed ram, "On Rosh Hashanah, blow through one of my horns, and God will hear the sound and remember Isaac and me, the white ram that took his place. And He will forgive the sins of Isaac, and his children, and his children's children's children, always, till the end of time." We then turn to the amazing two-page spread of the sacrificed ram, in shadow on the altar, as his soul flies " into God's hands." Gerstein has included depictions of God (and especially, God's hands) within the illustrations of the sky. If this is an issue for Jewish readers, it is addressed in the author's note as follows: "In the illustrations, following the Jewish tradition that God may not be pictured, I used the empty spaces between clouds to suggest images of His hands, and even His face. See if you can find them." I found this artistic vision to be particularly comforting, especially the "hands" of God cradling the lone white ram on his first day of life. Is this story too sad for children? I would guess that for some, the idea of the beautiful white ram sacrificing himself on the altar while Abraham clasps his weeping, relieved son to his breast would certainly be a problem. But not all illustrated books for children are for all ages. Biblical stories contain mighty themes, and many parents would never consider the Akedah story to be suitable for young children. But in Gerstein's version of this midrash, the ram's selfless act of sacrifice contrib