Sermons and Divrei Torah
Avraham, Sarah and Hagar
by Ed Applebaum
(Dvar Torah - Rosh Hashanah 5763)
Shabbat Shalom everyone, and Chag Sameach.
When Elyse initially asked me to do the Dvar Torah today, I was thrilled
because it gave me an opportunity to revisit a part of the Torah I have
always been intrigued with, a part of the Torah I have also struggled with
since my Bar Mitzvah, the story of Sarah and Hagar. However, with your
permission Rabbi, I have decided to throw Avraham into the mix as well.
After all, there are so many fascinating questions and commentary that
circle around this little love triangle that I think it would be a shame
to let the token male off the hook.
The story of Avraham, Sarah and Hagar comes from the earliest sections of
the Torah. It is a seminal story, one that establishes a framework for
understanding many later relationship stories in the Torah. In its most
simple form, we read about a couple Avraham and Sarah, who are unable to
have children. Sarah offers her handmaiden Hagar to Avraham to bear his
children. After Hagar becomes pregnant, she somehow manages to upset Sarah
to the extent that Sarah causes her to flee her home. It is only through
divine intervention that Hagar returns to the fold and Ishmael is born.
Things remain quiet until many years later, when G-d miraculously helps
Sarah conceive and Isaac is born. Again, we hear about another vague conflict,
this time involving Isaac and Ishmael, which compels Sarah to petition Avraham
to expel Hagar and Ishmael. G-d tells Avraham to listen to Sarah so Avraham
sends the mother and son into the desert. They wander aimlessly about the
desert in suffering until G-d finally intervenes. G-d repeats his promise
to Hagar that her son will become a great nation and their lives are saved.
I think that there are many difficulties apparent in interpreting this story.
In our tradition, we look up to our fore parents with great respect. We extol
their holiness, their relationships with G-d. But when we look at their actions
here, I find it difficult to maintain them in such high regard. We see Avraham
in this story expelling Hagar and her young son alone into the desert with only
meager rations. This seems completely out of character with the man who establishes
a legendary reputation for his grace, his kindness and his welcoming of strangers.
As well, we see Sarah using her superior power and influence over her maidservant
and not only once but twice causing Hagar to leave home. After all, Sarah was the
one who initiated the dangerous liaison between Avraham and Hagar. As for the matter
of probable cause that might justify such drastic actions, the language in the
text does not describe some grievous sin committed by Ishmael, instead describing
his actions using the word “metzachake” from the Hebrew root “tzachak”
meaning to laugh. What did Ishmael actually do? Play with Isaac, make his younger brother
laugh. Something worse I am sure but we don’t really know; except that whatever it
was, it certainly upset Sarah. . As for Hagar, it seems as if she was only doing what
she was asked to do. For all that, she and her son are most severely punished.
On top of all this, what seems particularly troubling to me is G-d’s acquiescing
presence within this story. In particular, if Sarah was inevitably meant to become
pregnant and Isaac always meant to be the preferred son, than why orchestrate the
whole scenario where Hagar has Avraham’s child first? It is very easy to see
this scenario as a recipe for disaster, definitely bound to stir up all kinds of
conflicts and controversies between Sarah and Hagar and to create a very competitive
relationship between them. In fact, if Sarah were to become pregnant eventually, why
involve Hagar in the whole situation at all?
In order to gain some insight into these questions, I think we must step back and
look at what were some of the possible motivating factors behind their actions.
In other words, why might they have acted in the manner they did? Was there any
personal development in their pattern of behavior? Let’s look for a moment
individually at each of the key protagonists.
Avraham, in many ways, represents the stereotypical male in this story. He seems
distant, almost preoccupied. He does not get too involved in the debate between
Sarah and Hagar, but steps away from it. While he is upset when Sarah petitions
him to expel Hagar, he seems almost too happy to do exactly what Sarah asks once
he feels like he is given the OK to do so by G-D. One particular commentary looks
at the text of what G-d says to Avraham at this critical moment, which is not to
do as Sarah tells him to, but literally, to listen to her voice, “Shma Bekolah”.
This should be understood as simply that, listening, hearing what she has to say
without necessarily taking action. The commentator goes on to say that it is the
male preoccupation to be assertive, to take action without necessarily exploring
the situation in sufficient depth. Perhaps G-d’s call here to Avraham was to
simply be empathic and hear what Sarah had to say about her rival and than try and
diffuse the tension. Unfortunately, Avraham does not face up to this internal family
conflict. He does not challenge the status quo as he did on so many other occasions
and instead, follows the path of least resistance and banishes Hagar and her son to
the desert. I find it hard not to think of today’s world and today’s
conflicts when one considers the rupture that occurs in this seminal Middle Eastern
family at this critical moment in time. Might things have been different today if
Avraham had acted with more care and insight and found the middle way? Unfortunately,
we’ll never know.
It is also interesting to note Avraham’s progression of responses. When Sarah first
complains to Avraham about Hagars’ looking down on her, Avraham totally abdicates
any responsibility for the situation and gives Sarah complete freedom to do as she wishes
with Hagar. The second time around Avraham at least hesitates before banishing Hagar
and needs G-d’s support for doing so. Granted, the second time around Ishmael was
in the picture but nonetheless, there seems to be some evolution forward in terms of
the level of empathy in Avraham’s response. What is interesting is to compare
these two responses with how Avraham deals with his next major crisis, the Akedah with
Yitzchak which we will hear more about tomorrow. At the Akedah, Avraham seems to
finally get it right and stops himself before taking that fatal last step. Without
these first two learning experiences, the outcome of the Akedah may have proved
entirely different.
When talking about Sarah, her character is unfortunately, in many ways, the least
sympathetic of all. She can easily be understood as the aggressor, who uses her
status and power to victimize Hagar on two occasions. As a result, even though
she is denied children at first, we find it difficult to feel sorry for her.
As our foremother, we desperately want to find her as being entirely noble in
deed and character. But, it is probably fair to say that a strictly objective
read of the text describes a somewhat bitter and perhaps even desperate woman
who is willing to take whatever means are necessary to advance her son’s
position. Unlike Avraham, whom we see evolve when confronted with the Akedah,
Sarah disappears from the text after her appeal to Avraham to banish Hagar and
Ishmael. In fact, her name is not mentioned again in the text until her death is
recorded several chapters later, not even when her beloved son, Isaac is being
put forward to be sacrificed during the Akedah. I find it remarkably curious that
her presence is not documented at all during the Akedah. Where is Sarah petitioning
Avraham to spare Isaac’s life? Was she not told or had she somehow become
irrelevant in G-d’s eyes, after her bitter experience with Hagar and Ishmael?
Had her performance in the matter of Hagar and her failure to attempt some positive
form of tshuvah somehow discredited her in G-d’s eyes? It is certainly difficult
to say authoritatively one way or the other, but the text leaves Sarah with a legacy
that is compromised by these actions.
Interestingly enough, the character about whom the least is said and the least is
known becomes the most sympathetic. Hagar is something of an enigma to us, a maidservant,
a foreigner. She is someone who seems to come out of left field when she is suddenly put
forward by Sarah to ostensibly continue the lineage and maintain the covenant with G-d.
While some commentators have it that Hagar, and later Ishmael, somehow brought their ill
fate upon themselves, there is another body of more contemporary commentary which is worth
noting. Hagar interacts directly with the divine presence on not one but two separate
occasions. On her first close encounter, she literally names the divine presence, El Roeh,
the G-d who sees. This, in and of itself, is a remarkable moment in Genesis, where Hagar,
the nobody, the outsider, the woman who is never even referred to by name by Avraham or
Sarah, establishes a personal relationship with G-d. As one commentator says, she becomes
“a new and radical Adam”. In addition, we observe that it is Hagar who firstly
leaves her home and secondly, is made a promise to by G-d regarding her unborn son and
thirdly has her son named by G-d. This remarkable sequence of events directly parallels
Avraham’s personal journey, his “lech lecha,”where he leaves home, is
promised children to carry on his legacy and has his son named by G-d. Clearly, the
Torah is telling us that this is no ordinary woman. Finally, when Hagar is banished
to the desert and is confronted by the pain and suffering of her son, she cries out
in despair. Not only does her tshuvah touch our hearts, she touches G-d’s heart
as well. G-d reacts and she is shown real compassion for all that she has endured.
We react so positively to Hagar and Ishmael being saved from near death because, not
only is G-d’s promise to Hagar fulfilled, but we also feel that somehow, justice
has been served.
Well, having looked at these fascinating individuals, what are we to take away from
this most poignant drama? What is it that the Torah is trying to tell us here? And
finally, why look at this portion today, on Rosh Hashanah?
Well, I think that in this story we are faced with real people, in positions of real
power and privilege. To day, on Rosh Hashanah, we are asked to look at them and their
actions, as well to look at ourselves and our actions over the past year. Honestly,
how would we have acted under similar circumstances? Would we have shown the same
ruthlessness that Sarah showed when advocating on behalf of her child? Would we have
shown the same detachment and lack of empathy that Avraham displayed?
I think that G-d has very purposefully orchestrated this scenario and has placed the
various individuals in these positions of power and conflict for us to see how they
might respond. The Torah is trying to teach us something very valuable about the nature
of power. It is challenging us in our own everyday contemporary lives to use our
positions of power and control with compassion and with empathy. We all have plenty of
opportunities and are often tempted to abuse our authority and to rationalize dubious
actions. We learn from this story that even great people can fall prey to serious abuses
of power. After all, is this not the same Avraham who fought with G-d to save as many
lives as he could at Sodom and Gomorrah of all places? I think that the Torah is providing
us with a universal message, which is relevant at the level of the individual, the
community and the state, a message as relevant today as it was some 4000 years ago.
To conclude, I just want to thank you Elyse for the honor of being asked to speak today
and I want to wish you all a Chag Sameach and Shana Tovah. Thank you.
Sermons and Divrei Torah
Additional Resources
Elul: Period of Preparation
Yamim Noraim: Days of Awe
Rosh Hashanah: Introduction
Shofar Symbolism
The Custom of Tashlich
Yom Kippur: Introduction
G'mar Chatima Tova...
