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Do Jews have a custom or teaching of Qurban/slaughtering animals as Muslims do to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim's test of slaughtering his son?

If so, is it on a particular time or month and what this event is called? I'm also curious to know as per Jewish teachings which son of Prophet Ibrahim was asked to be slaughtered?

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    The Torah says Abraham was asked to slaughter Isaac. See Genesis 22
    – Double AA
    Sep 27, 2015 at 0:22
  • Thanks @DoubleAA for replying. Can you please reply other parts of questions if possible.
    – user576510
    Sep 27, 2015 at 0:51
  • @DoubleAA Isn't this, in a way, a comparitive religion Q? I don't know anything about Muslim teachings of slaughtering.
    – DanF
    Sep 27, 2015 at 3:46
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    @DanF You don't need to know anything about those to answer the Q AFAICT
    – Double AA
    Sep 27, 2015 at 6:26

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Jews do have a teaching that when Abraham was childless that he slaughtered an animal when making a pact with God in which God promises Abraham that he will have a child. Later in Abraham's life, he slaughter's an animal instead of his son Isaac. God specifically tells him to sacrifice Isaac. However, the dates that these events happened are not brought down by the Torah or Jewish tradition. Therefore we do not have any celebrations or festivals for these events.

The Episode of Abraham Sacrificing an animal to make a covenant with God comes from chapter 15 of Genesis, which is the first book of the Torah. This chapter says:

Genesis Chapter 15

1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying: 'Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, thy reward shall be exceeding great.' 2 And Abram said: 'O Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' 3 And Abram said: 'Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.' 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying: 'This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.' 5 And He brought him forth abroad, and said: 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them'; and He said unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.' 6 And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness. 7 And He said unto him: 'I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.' 8 And he said: 'O Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?' 9 And He said unto him: 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.' 10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other; but the birds divided he not. 11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him. 13 And He said unto Abram: 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.' 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. 18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates;

The section of the Torah in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is from comes a few chapters later in the Torah. At this point in Abraham's life, God has fulfilled his promise to Abraham, and Abraham had not only one child but two, Ishmael and Isaac, but Sarah forced Abraham to send Ishmael away and so now the only child left with Abraham is Isaac. Abraham did not want to send Ishmael away, and Abraham only agrees to send away Ishmael when God comforts Abraham and tells him that even though Ishmael will be sent away, God will still make a great nation of Ishmael because he is still a son of Abraham. If you want to read more about this, you can find it here: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0121.htm

Then when only Isaac is left, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the Torah states this in Chapter 22 of Genesis:

Genesis Chapter 22

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him: 'Abraham'; and he said: 'Here am I.' 2 And He said: 'Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.' 3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men: 'Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you.' 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said: 'My father.' And he said: 'Here am I, my son.' And he said: 'Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' 8 And Abraham said: 'God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.' So they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said: 'Abraham, Abraham.' And he said: 'Here am I.' 12 And he said: 'Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.' 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Adonai-jireh; as it is said to this day: 'In the mount where the LORD is seen.' 15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: 'By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast hearkened to My voice.' 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. {P}

The Muslim faith is the only religion that i am aware of that have a celebration for these events.

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  • @user576510 i added some additional edits and put the scripture resources
    – Aaron
    Sep 27, 2015 at 5:06
  • @user576510 And as a side note, my grandfather's name was Ibrahim. And i was named after is brother, Haroon ;D
    – Aaron
    Sep 27, 2015 at 5:16
  • Since part of your question was about a commemoration tied to the calendar, you might want to know that Jews have a tradition to read this text about the binding of Issac (Genesis 22) on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. This usually falls in September. Jews have generally replaced animal sacrifice with reading and prayer ever since the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE (AM 3830).
    – Mike
    Sep 27, 2015 at 7:02
  • @Mike We never had a sacrifice commemorating the binding of Isaac. But on Rosh Hashanah the reason we use a ram's horn is to evoke the merits of this event.
    – HaLeiVi
    Sep 27, 2015 at 7:24
  • @HaLeiVi Correct of course, I did not mean it to be taken as that there used to be a sacrifice for this event specifically. I was just telling the OP (a Muslim I think) that we do not sacrifice animals these days.
    – Mike
    Sep 27, 2015 at 18:50

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