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Rambam: Sarah our mother sinned in dealing harshly with her handmaid and Avraham too by allowing her to do so. God heard her affliction and gave her a son who was destined to be a lawless person who would bring suffering on Avraham and Sarah.
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"Call me Ishmael."
I can't resist using the opening words of Moby Dick to introduce this week's parasha of Lech Lecha where the birth of Ishmael is found. While Ishmael's birth is not the focus of the narrative, his birth and life serve as a counterpoint to the biblical narrative which now shifts its attention from the universal history of the earlier chapters to the particular stories of the matriarchs and patriarchs, the founders of the Jewish people. From here on in, the Torah is mostly concerned with the history of the Israelites, and non-Israelites are usually ignored, or mentioned only incidentally. The Rabbis go even further-- painting individuals like Ishmael or Esau with a negative brush, while ambiguous characters or behaviour (such as Jacob's deception of his father) are routinely whitewashed. But even outsiders like Ishmael have something to teach us.
Ishmael is Avram's first son. Ishmael, like Isaac, is circumcised (but at 13 years of age instead of at 8 days) and becomes the father of 12 tribes, paralleling Jacob who becomes the father of the tribes of Israel. Although Ishmael is Avraham's first born, (like many other first borns in the Bible, he is passed over, and it will be Isaac who will continue his father's spiritual legacy. Even so, Ishmael is blessed by Avraham (17:18) and God promises that he will be the father of a great and prosperous nation (17:20ff).
With the introduction of the first Jewish family: Avram and Sarai (their names are changed in the parasha to the more familiar Avraham and Sarah 17:5; 17:15), we encounter what will become a familiar pattern: a woman who cannot bear children. In a society where there were few avenues open to women, where wealth was measured in sons, and infertility was seen as a punishment from God, the plight of these women is understandably bleak. So, it is not surprising that Sarai attempts to solve her problem of not providing Avram with an heir by giving her handmaid Hagar as a concubine to him.
Hagar, Ishmael's mother, is Egyptian. The midrash identifies her as Pharaoh's daughter, connecting her to the earlier episode when Sarah was taken into Pharaoh's palace, when Pharaoh mistakenly takes Sarah as a wife (Gen. 12:10ff). Hagar indeed conceives (the midrash suggests on the first time), Sarah is not understandable frustrated and jealous. Hagar's status is now elevated, and a domestic squabble ensues. Sarah mistreats her, and Hagar flees. The name Hagar may be related to the Arabic Hajara which means to flee. (Later, she is actually banished into the desert by Avraham which some see as a parallel to the Binding of Isaac (Gen. 21)). This whole incident is quite untasteful. The Rabbis say that Sarah and Avraham are punished for their treatment of Hagar. And some even connect the Israelites' slavery and subsequent mistreatment in Egypt (as a result of Joseph being sold by the Ishmaelites!) with this story of Hagar and Ishmael.
Like Ishmael, Hagar's character, serves to accentuate the themes that appear in our portion. Hagar, the non-Israelite, the woman, the slave-concubine, is a minor character in Torah. And yet, I think she is often overlooked and under-estimated. As Rabbi Michal Shekel points out in her essay in the Women's Torah Commentary, Hagar's experience parallels Avraham's. This week's portion begins with God's call to Avram to begin a physical and spiritual journey. The Hebrew Lech Lecha literally means Go- to yourself or Go- for yourself. Hagar, too leaves her home. God makes a covenant with Avraham and with his future offspring; God also makes a covenant with Hagar and her offspring. God announces that Sarah will give birth, and God names Isaac; Hagar is told her son's name before his birth. Remarkably, after her encounter with the Divine, Hagar names God (the only woman in Torah to do so) 'El Ro'i- the God who sees me.' This corresponds to God's naming of Ishmael, as 'God hears' and parallels Avraham who also names God 'Adonai sees' after the story of the Binding of Isaac. While Hagar only makes this one appearance in Torah, here and in next week's parasha, it is a mistake to dismiss her as an insignificant character.
The Rabbis make a big deal over the addition of the letter 'hey' (representing God's name) in Avraham and Sarah's new names, but they fail to be impressed that Hagar already has a 'hey' in her name. In fact, they read her name disparagingly as 'hey ger' meaning "Adonai is a stranger", that is to say, God is foreign to her. But the Rabbis' agenda here may be too transparently self-serving. Indeed, the events of chapter 16 seem to point in the opposite direction. Not only does Hagar have a direct communication with God, but seems to have a personal relationship not any less authentic than Avraham's. In a creative contemporary reading, Rabbi Shekel suggests that Hagar's natural relationship with the Divine has been part of her name from the moment we meet her. Hagar, then, she suggests means, hey gar, "Adonai dwells with her."
Lessons for Today
It is very easy to dismiss someone who does not share our religious or cultural background. How could they have a relationship with God. The old joke: On Yom Kippur, the Rabbi approaches the Holy Ark, beats his breast, and weeps, 'O God, I'm a gornisht, I'm a nothing.' The President of the shul, not to be outdone, beats his breast, and weeps, 'O God, I'm a gornisht, I'm a nothing.' At this point, the shamash, the synagogue beadle (custodian), moved by this display of humility and human weakness, joins them and beats his breast, and weeps, 'O God, I'm a gornisht, I'm a nothing.' The President nudges the Rabbi, and with a wink says sarcastically, 'Look who thinks he's a nothing.' The president of the shul cannot imagine that someone without the Rabbi's education and training, or his own personal status and financial position could have an authentic, heartfelt encounter with the Divine.
It is hard to talk about the Torah's description of first families without becoming political. Ishmael is the father of the Arab world, just as Isaac becomes the father of the Jewish people. Sadly, the people of these two brothers aren't doing much better than the first brothers Cain and Abel that we read just two weeks ago. But one lesson that we see in this week's portion, is that while the stranger's background may be foreign to us, the meaning of their experiences are probably not significantly different from ours. Hagar and Ishmael, as archetypes, parallel Avraham's experience. We must be careful not to devalue or belittle the stranger, for even if we may not recognize it or be familiar with it, they have their own unique, personal relationship with the Divine.
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