Weekly Vort!

[This is a new addition to the NERC blog. Every week we will IY"H be posting a short vort on the parsha from an anonymous choshuv Bochur]

By the עקידה the פסוק says the following: קח נא את בנך את יחידך אשר אהבת את יצחק ולך לך אל ארץ המוריה והעלהו שם לעולה...(בראשית כ"ב-ב)ש - Take please your son, your only, that you love, Yitzchok, and take him to the land of Moriah, and bring him up as an olah. Why did 'ד use four לשונות to describe יצחק? Rashi explains that Hashem, fearing that asking Avrohom to do such a hard thing would drive him insane, broke it to him slowly. Alternatively he explains that this was done to give him extra שכר and to make the מצוה more precious to him.
An interestng alternative explanation is given by the חידושי הרי"מ (located in the אור גדליהו on פרשת לך-לך). Every statement of הקב"ה creates a מציאות. When ה' said את בנך, Avrohom felt within him the utmost feelings possible that a father can have for his son. When he said יחידך, it engendered feelings only possible for one to have for an only child. אשת אהבת, created a bond of the deepest love that can exist, and את יצחק channeled all these feelings into the relation between אברהם and יצחק. Then, and only then, did 'ה tell him to bring יצחק as a קרבן, because, only after such a strong and powerful bond was created, the depths of love between a father and son were now felt, only now was it possible for אברהם to give to 'ד in the greatest possible way, by bringing his son up as an עולה.