Israel is at war against people who do not value life. Not only do they not value the lives of Israelis and the Jewish population, but they do not value their own lives. Today, one of the Hamas commanders said on television, “We dream that our children become jihad.” Martyrdom is something of the extremist Islamic culture: to die for the cause of Allah. It’s what we call in Hebrew with a different term: Kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the name of God in the moment of death. They glorify that. We don’t. We do not glorify death.
I’ll bring you a proof. There’s a question that our Hachamim (Rabbis) ask: How is it possible that we believe in the afterlife, what we call Olam Haba (afterlife), yet it is not mentioned in the Torah? There isn’t one place in the Torah where it says there is Olam Haba, that there will be a life after death. It doesn’t say any of that. But we believe in it. Why isn’t it said anywhere? I want an answer that is beautiful. Rabbis say that if we had said in the Torah that there is an afterlife in a clear fashion, we may risk that some people may misunderstand and misinterpret the Torah and glorify death in order to go closer to God for the afterlife. If the afterlife is so beautiful, you’re just going to have a soul and you’re going to be close to Shekhinah, close to God. People may misunderstand that.
We don’t value the afterlife in the sense of bringing martyrdom on a person, in dying. I’ll tell you more: It is easier to die on Kiddush Hashem than to live on Kiddush Hashem. It is easier to die sanctifying the name of God than to live sanctifying the name of God. You know why? Because living a meaningful life at peace with mitzvot (commandments), following Torah, doing Kiddush Hashem, is more lengthy, more exhausting, more difficult than dying on Kiddush Hashem, which is a one-moment decision. We don’t value dying on Kiddush Hashem. We don’t value dying on Kiddush Hashem; what we value is living on Kiddush Hashem.
And that’s why the first of the ten tests of Avraham Avinu is not mentioned in the Torah. It’s such a big test that Avraham Avinu is forced to jump in the furnace if he believes in monotheism. And he does it! Why doesn’t the Torah talk about it? Only our Hachamim mention it. But it’s not mentioned in Scripture or the Torah. You know why not? Because we don’t value that as much as the other tests that are a test for religious belief. But we value that as much as we value being the true church. Testimony on him living al Kiddush Hashem. And here is the difference between Yitzhak Avinu and Ishmael. Both children of Avraham Avinu. One glorifies death; one glorifies life. Parashat Toldot is all about Yitzhak Avinu, the one who is following the steps of his father Avraham Avinu. We are going after Yitzhak Avinu, not after Ishmael. We glorify life; we don’t glorify death.