by Ari Erblich

October 26, 2026

In the Torah It says that Avraham was given ten tests, and the last one was to sacrifice his son for G-d. Two angels came down and acted as messengers from G-d to tell Avraham to sacrifice his son. Even though Avraham did not want to do that he still went to do it because he believed that it was for a reason. When he went to go, the angels stopped him and said that he passed the test. Since he had to sacrifice something, G-d put a ram in a tree that has actually been there since the creation of the world.

In Judaism some of the core values are sacrificing the things that you want or need for the greater good, and treating others like you would want to be treated. Even though this story doesn’t fully correlate with treating others the same way that you would want to be treated, it still has some connection with it. It shows a little bit that making sacrifices for other people would be similar to wanting something to be done to yourself.

In Valley Torah one of the main characteristics of the school is treating everyone with kindness, respect, and the same way that you would want to be treated. This is a really good story and example that shows how we should always treat others with love and respect, and to make sacrifices even if it is not easy.