The patriarch central to the Torah reading about the Binding of Isaac is Abraham.
In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham by commanding him to take his son Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham prepares to obey, but an angel stops him at the last moment. A ram caught in a thicket is sacrificed instead, and the episode becomes known in Hebrew as the Akedah, meaning “binding.”
The story is read on Rosh Hashanah because its themes include faith, obedience, mercy, and remembrance. Abraham is the father who binds Isaac; Isaac is the son being bound. A common mix-up is to choose Moses or Jacob, who are major biblical patriarchal figures but do not appear in this episode. The reading also connects with the shofar, traditionally made from a ram’s horn, recalling the animal offered in Isaac’s place.