On Rosh Hashanah, we read that G-d tested Abraham when he said, “Take your son, your only
one, Yitzhak, and go to the land of Moriah and bring him up as an offering on one of the mountains that I shall tell you.”

This suggests that the central theme in the Torah reading is that martyrdom is a great virtue. The Malbin, a great Jewish thinker, explains that Avraham insisted that the two servants who
accompanied him should stay where they are, and only the lad and I shall go up. He did this because he was embarrassed to tell them that apparently the G-d of Israel was now demanding human sacrifice just like the god of Sodom whom he had rejected and run away from. But that, of course, is not what hap-pened at all.

The reason the G-d of Israel brought Avraham up the mountain was to emphasize that He did NOT believe in human sacrifice at all, which violates the eternal principles of our Jewish faith that the Almighty is a G-d of compassion and righteousness.

That is the difference between Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Jewish State of Israel. Those terrorists believe in sacrificing women and children, the young and elderly as well as the sick. These fanatics are the reincarnation of Hitler’s Third Reich, while Israel is the affirmation of democracy, human dignity and is motivated to the principles of ‘Tikun Olam” to repair the world.

It is these principles that are the underlying factors in the creation of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, an institution that is an international embassy for peace and a modern day Abraham’s Tent where people of all faiths are welcome and encouraged to interact with each other. May this New Year bring peace and tranquility to Israel and Jews everywhere as well as to the entire world.