From the Chassidic Masters

"Binding of Isaac" has come to represent the ultimate in the Jew's devotion to G-d. Every morning, we preface our prayers by reading the Torah's account of the Akeidah; on Rosh Hashanah, when the world trembles in judgment before G-d, we evoke the Binding of Isaac by sounding the horn of a ram (reminiscent of the ram which replaced Isaac as an offering). But every nation and cause has its martyrs. Is there anything truly unique about Abraham's deed and the Jew's readiness to sacrifice himself for his Creator?

This, then, is the secret of prayer: The entire world may be ripping apart at the seams, but the beseecher’s heart and mouth are at peace as one. And then that peace spreads outward into all things.