Vayera: in the nick of time

Vayera: in the nick of time

The Akeida, the binding of Isaac, is the climactic story of this parsha. 

Gd tells Abraham to take his favorite, beloved, son, Isaac and offer him as a holocaust offering in the place that will be revealed.  Abraham does not protest ( as he did on behalf of Ishmael), he does not negotiate ( as he did for the people of Sodom and environs),  he does not offer his aged self instead of his young son ( as so many did later);;;; he just  does what the (ultimate) authority commands, he follows the orders. 

After all, who could have expected this miracle son, born when Abraham was 100 years old and his mother  Sarah was 90?  He was not supposed to happen.  Abraham and Sarah openly doubted  that such a miracle could happen.  Perhaps Isaac's life was a  temporary event to prove the power of Gd; and now there would be retribution for the doubts of his parents.  All statements would be made true.  Isaac would be born, but his life would be negated.

The story has a happy ending.  The heavenly voice saves Isaac! And to make everything  all right, a ram has trapped itself by the horns, making it available as a substitute offering. The drama of the rescue in the nick of time. 

Does this scenario become the expectation of the devout? 

I heard a joke from Marty Jaffe:  There is a war in Isarael.  Soldiers are coming and going around the Western Wall  A chasid is crying: "Soldiers don't rely on miracles...recite Tehlim!

But every rescue is in the nick of time.  The damsel is always saved by Superman just before the onrushing locomotive reaches her body tied to the railroad tracks. 

And I see that in my Oncology practice.  The new miracle drug becomes available just in time to rescue the patient from his horrible metastatic cancer.  The recovery from induction chemotherapy comes just as the platelet transfusions stop working.

And often, the rescue does not occur.  Did I fail in effort  or faith? 

Sometimes, it is the dream of the last minute rescue that makes the act of courage possible