{"id":36798,"date":"2018-07-09T18:49:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-16\/"},"modified":"2022-02-27T00:30:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T22:30:16","slug":"wall-16","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-16\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Genesis-16"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"16","date":"20250921","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"39795","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Genesis 16 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Genesis 16 - Judy Hammond","slug":"genesis-16-judy-hammond","old_id":"39795","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Genesis 16","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/genesis-chapter-16-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"102427","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Sarai v. Abram ","post_title":"Sarai v. Abram","slug":"sarai-v-abram","old_id":"102427","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Heartbroken and hurt, Sarai\u2019s emotional response to agony is understandable\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The story of Sarai (later renamed Sarah) and Hagar gives rise to several questions. Is this a story of surrogacy gone awry or a story of oppression? Did Sarai step aside so that her husband\u2019s other wife (polygamy being acceptable in those times) could bear him a child since she had not been able to? Or did Sarai order her maidservant into a relationship with Abram to get what she couldn\u2019t obtain herself? And why, when Hagar\u2019s subservient attitude toward Sarai changed once she became pregnant, did Sarai blame her husband for the whole sorry situation?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If we go back one chapter and look at the interaction Abram (later renamed Abraham) had with God, we read of a rather unilateral promise to Abram. God tells him, \u201cThe one who springs from you will be your heir.\u201d If Sarai knew of this promise, and one could assume that she did, would this have not been proof to Sarai of her barrenness? God had not promised heirs from Abram and Sarai, but only from Abram alone. Perhaps Sarai believed this to portend that she would be left out of this future nation. But why be angry with Abram?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi David Fohrman (Aleph Beta) provides the following explanation. If Sarai believed she was destined to not bear children (which ultimately was not the case), perhaps she reasoned that if Abram had a child with Hagar, then even though she was not the biological mother, maybe she could at least have a hand in raising this child. But as Hagar\u2019s attitude became increasingly insubordinate, Sarai saw her chances of involvement with this offspring of Abram slipping away. In a very human moment, Sarai directed her agony and frustration at the person closest to her \u2013 her husband, Abram. \u201cMay my injustice be upon you!\u201d says Sarai (16:5).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is Sarai simply lashing out as many do in moments of agonizing distress, or does she have some justification for blaming Abram? Looking back to chapter 15 and the interaction between Abram and God, consider the question Abram posed that elicited the promise of an heir to him specifically. \u201cWhat will you give <\/span>me<\/span><\/em> since I am childless?\u201d Abram asks God in 15:2. Now, if Sarai knew of God\u2019s promise, she quite likely also knew of Abram\u2019s plea. Her husband did not say \u201cW<\/span>e<\/span><\/i> are childless,\u201d or \u201cWhat will you give <\/span>us<\/span><\/em>?\u201d but asked only for himself. As one of the matriarchs, perhaps she understood the divinity of the unfolding story. But as a woman longing for a child, she was also heartbroken and probably hurt by her husband\u2019s apparent lack of sensitivity. Maybe she thought, in that moment of pain, that if Abram had just asked the right question, he\u2019d have received a better answer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Personally, I appreciate that the Torah recognizes that sometimes raw emotion eclipses all else, and that facet of the human condition is part of what helps us realize our potential greatness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How do we understand her relationship with Hagar?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Though Sarah is known as \u201cSarah Our Mother \u2013 <\/span>Sarah Immenu<\/span><\/em>\u201d in later Jewish tradition (see for example<\/span> Talmud Bavli Yevamot 62b<\/span><\/a>), our<\/span> chapter<\/span><\/a> begins with Sarah\u2019s childlessness. Sarah gives her slave-girl, Hagar, to her husband Abraham so that he can have children by her. When Hagar conceives and becomes contemptuous of her mistress,<\/span> Sarah lashes out at Abraham<\/span><\/a>: \u201cThe wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. The Lord decide between you and me!\u201d. Abraham responds by letting Sarah deal harshly with Hagar, who runs away. The characters in this narrative behave badly, though Abraham and Sarah are the renowned progenitors of the People of Israel and Hagar is the progenitor of another wing of Abraham\u2019s family, the Ishmaelites.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps for this reason, Philo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher (80 BCE-50 CE), in<\/span> On Abraham<\/span><\/a> XLIII, radically remolds the troubling Biblical depiction of Abraham and Sarah into a remarkable depiction of domestic tranquility and courtly discourse:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201c[Sarah] being childless and barren\u2026came to her husband and said: \u2018Long have we lived together in mutual goodwill. But the purpose for which we ourselves came together and for which nature formed the union of man and wife, the birth of children, has not been fulfilled, nor is there any future hope of it, through me at least who am now past the age. But do not let the trouble of my barrenness extend to you, or kind feeling to me keep you from becoming what you can become, a father. For I shall have no jealousy of another woman, whom you will take not for unreasoning lust but in fulfillment of nature's inevitable law. And therefore, I shall lead to you a bride who will supply what is lacking in myself. And if our prayers for the birth of children are answered the offspring will be yours in full parenthood, but surely mine also by adoption. But to avoid any suspicion of jealousy on my part take if you will my handmaiden, outwardly a slave, inwardly of free and noble race,\u00a0 proved and tested by me for many years from the day when she was first brought to my house, an Egyptian\u00a0 by birth, but a Hebrew by her rule of life\u2019\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham with increased admiration for [Sarah\u2019s] wifely love, took the mate whom she had approved and kept her till she had borne a child. Or, as the surest version of the story runs, only till she became pregnant. When this occurred not long after, he abstained from her through his natural continence and the honor which he paid to his lawful spouse. So, a son was born just at that time to the hand maiden. But long afterwards, the wedded pair, who had despaired of the procreation of children, had a son of their own, a reward for their high excellence, a gift from God the bountiful, surpassing all their hopes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Matthias Stom - Sarah Leading Hagar to Abraham (detail), c. 1638 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102425,"alt":"","title":"-621a9e8ad8a08--621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara and Hagar - Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG.jpg","width":1200,"height":817,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-300x204.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":204,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-768x523.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":523,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-1024x697.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":697,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":817,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":817,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-1200x817.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":817,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621a9e8ad8a08-621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara-and-Hagar-Matteus_Stom_1630.JPG-617x420.jpg","home_baner-width":617,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"In Praise Of Sarah","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How do we understand her relationship with Hagar?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":102425,"alt":"","title":"-621a9e8ad8a08--621a9e8ad8a0agen16-Sara and Hagar - 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He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Abram\u2019s first born\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 16 presents us with a slew of questions. Why does Sarai at first want Abram to cohabit with Hagar, but then regret her decision? Why does it matter that Hagar is Egyptian? Why does Sarai blame Abram for doing exactly what she told him to do? Why does God want Hagar to return to Sarai? Why does the messenger of God instruct her to name the child Ishmael and yet it is Abram that ultimately gives him that name?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To untangle this mess, we must start with chapter 11. Abram heads to Egypt, but pretends Sarai is his sister. Sarai does not seem to argue and relents to Abram\u2019s plan. Sarai is taken captive by Pharaoh ostensibly as a concubine. While in Egypt, Abram amassed great wealth. Pharaoh allows Abram to take this bounty with him. This is mostly likely where Hagar enters the picture. Perhaps Hagar was even a gift to Sarai from Pharaoh. Meanwhile, God continues to promise Abram that his offspring will inherit the land, but Abram has no offspring. Sarai sees the opportunity to once again be selfless and offers Hagar as a way for Abram to have children through her. The plan makes sense. We will see in a few chapters that Leah and Rachel will follow similar paths, so clearly this was an accepted practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But an accepted practice does not mean it is a welcome one. Sarai immediately regrets her decision. Hagar was a reminder of the trauma that she sustained at the hands of Pharaoh because of Abram\u2019s decision. This is the struggle that Sarai must navigate. Sarai is angry at Abram because he does not seem to recognize this struggle. This is especially acute because just last chapter Abram was upset with God that it seemed like <\/span>his servant<\/span><\/em>- Eleazer- would be the one to inherit God\u2019s promises. God has Hagar return to Sarai because not doing so would have made it seem like Sarai had lost her status as the mother of God\u2019s nation both in Abram\u2019s eyes and Sarai\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As to Ishmael\u2019s name Rashi believes that God also visited Abram and informed him of the interaction with Hagar and also told him to name the boy Ishmael. Sfrono says this was a case of coincidence and that Abram had a similar reason to name his son Ishmael. Radak explains that when Hagar returned she told Abram what happened. It is interesting that the text does not explain what happened. Perhaps the lack of information lends itself to Radak\u2019s simple explanation as the answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102414,"alt":"","title":"-621a62cfde344--621a62cfde345gen16-abraham 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","post_title":"Hagar","slug":"hagar","old_id":"102420","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In the tent of my mistress, I shiver; the desert outside burns\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

I
\r\nIf only I could run away to you, Grandfather;
\r\nIf only you could tell me what to do, where to go.
\r\n
\r\nII
\r\nIn the tent of my mistress, I shiver; the desert outside burns,
\r\nBut when my mistress looks at me, I freeze.
\r\n
\r\nOutside, the desert sun blazes, bleaching the sky; but inside,
\r\nThe tent is dark, full of orphaned shadows, limping and crippled.
\r\n
\r\nIII
\r\nI was only nine when Nubian bandits from the desert raided our village
\r\nAnd abducted me. How can I recollect my mother\u2019s lullabies or my father\u2019s laugh?
\r\nHow can I recall my brother\u2019s face, my little brother named after you, Grandfather, A baby, whom I loved to hold?
\r\n
\r\nBut I remember you, Grandfather,
\r\nHow you used to walk with me in the field, hand in hand,
\r\nHow you would make garlands for me from wildflowers,
\r\nThen crown me as \u2018the princess of the Nile\u2019 and bow.
\r\n
\r\nI remember the dolls you carved for me from wood,
\r\nAnd how we would sing the nonsense rhymes you composed, and laugh.
\r\nYou always found the time to listen to my prattle,
\r\nTo answer my endless questions, to smile and bend down to hug me.
\r\n
\r\nIV
\r\nThe marauders invaded on an early spring morning.
\r\nWe were walking slowly in the field again, hand in hand, talking quietly,
\r\nWhen you saw in the distance smoke, and the huts of our village wrapped in flames.
\r\n\u201cRun quickly to the cow-shed, Hagar, we\u2019ll hide there.\u201d But you limped so slowly.<\/em>
\r\n
\r\n\u201cDon\u2019t wait for me, Hagar, run on, run on quickly.\u201d<\/em>
\r\nBut how could the princess of the Nile abandon her only subject?
\r\nThey found us, of course. \u201cSpare the child, take me as your booty.\u201d
\r\nThey just laughed;
\r\n
\r\n\u201cShe\u2019s young, old man, she\u2019s pretty, she\u2019ll get a good price at the slave-market,
\r\nOr in the brothel.\u201d
\r\nYou tried to grab me, to wrestle me out of their grasp as I shouted,
\r\n\u201cGrandfather, help me!\u201d
\r\n
\r\nTill one of them pulled out his dagger and stabbed you
\r\nAnd kicked you aside.
\r\nAt night, when I lie in my bed, I still see your unseeing eyes
\r\nAs you whisper, \u201cHagar.\u201d<\/em>
\r\n
\r\nV
\r\nIf only I could hear your voice again, Grandfather,
\r\nAs soft as an angel\u2019s in the desert.
\r\nIf only you could touch my cheek, or speak to me again,
\r\nOr hear me calling out your name,
\r\nGrandfather Ishmael.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37329,"alt":"","title":"hagar2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","width":476,"height":610,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-234x300.jpg","medium-width":234,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","medium_large-width":476,"medium_large-height":610,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","large-width":476,"large-height":610,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","1536x1536-width":476,"1536x1536-height":610,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","2048x2048-width":476,"2048x2048-height":610,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","post_full_size-width":476,"post_full_size-height":610,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-328x420.jpg","home_baner-width":328,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Hagar","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"In the tent of my mistress, I shiver; the desert outside burns","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37329,"alt":"","title":"hagar2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","width":476,"height":610,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-234x300.jpg","medium-width":234,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","medium_large-width":476,"medium_large-height":610,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","large-width":476,"large-height":610,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","1536x1536-width":476,"1536x1536-height":610,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","2048x2048-width":476,"2048x2048-height":610,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2.jpg","post_full_size-width":476,"post_full_size-height":610,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar2-328x420.jpg","home_baner-width":328,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":6,"id":"36706","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take I ","post_title":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take I","slug":"the-original-handmaids-tale-take-i","old_id":"36706","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36147,"post_title":"Aaron Koller","slug":"aaron-koller","old_id":"36147","first_name":"Aaron","last_name":"Koller","description":"Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, where he is chair of the Beren Department of Jewish Studies. His last book was Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press), and his next is Unbinding Isaac: The Akedah in Jewish Thought (forthcoming from JPS\/University of Nebraska Press in 2020); he is also the author of numerous studies in Semitic philology. Aaron has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute. 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\u2026 Sarai called Hagar in after breakfast, in a manner the teenager had never seen before. Normally imposing, regal, commanding, Sarai was now tentative, almost deferential. It made Hagar feel strangely sure of herself to see her mistress so unsure. The feeling got stronger when she heard was Sarai wanted from her: Hagar was to try to have a child with Abram. There was a fine line between serving someone and doing something that person couldn\u2019t do alone, and Hagar knew she had just crossed it. She felt a tingling feeling, a sense that she had, for the first time in her life, just a bit of power.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That feeling disappeared that night. She had long dreamed of what a relationship with a man would be like, and this was not it. No one asked her what she wanted, no one was attentive to her needs. The fact that this was her first time with a man was on no one\u2019s mind. She was ushered in by Sarai, and ushered out a few minutes later, also by Sarai. She felt confused. She felt used. She felt abused.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar had never really thought that her body was her own, but she thought that had limits. Her hands, her legs, even her head \u2013 those were all in the control of others. But she had imagined that being a mother would be something all her own, or to be shared with a partner of her choosing or done alone. But now even that was taken from her. She was to be a reproductive machine with no identity of her own, a vessel for her master\u2019s seed and her mistress\u2019s child. The most wondrous of live-giving experiences was stripped of its beauty, and Hagar was turned into a machine.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As she felt the stirrings of life within her, Hagar felt empowered and betrayed. She <\/span>was<\/span><\/em> Atum, creating life from her body, but she was not even Hagar. The child growing within her \u2013 <\/span>her<\/span><\/em> child! \u2013 would not be hers. She would have to serve her own child, never hearing him call her \u201cMut,\u201d never being allowed to hug him before bed or kiss him when he got back from a trip. This was all too much to bear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar began to make comments to Sarai that she knew she would regret. \u201cAre you looking forward to being a mother?\u201d \u201cWill all your friends be so happy that you\u2019re finally having a baby?\u201d \u201cSo, what will you name my child?\u201d Sarai was silent, always silent. Hagar felt terrible, but it was the only weapon she had.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then the beatings began. \u2026<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36809,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1088812106","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","width":4684,"height":6504,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-216x300.jpg","medium-width":216,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-737x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":737,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-737x1024.jpg","large-width":737,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","1536x1536-width":1106,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","2048x2048-width":1475,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-864x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":864,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-302x420.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take I","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Everything was taken from her to create life for others","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36809,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1088812106","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","width":4684,"height":6504,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-216x300.jpg","medium-width":216,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-737x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":737,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-737x1024.jpg","large-width":737,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","1536x1536-width":1106,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106.jpg","2048x2048-width":1475,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-864x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":864,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812106-302x420.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"445","name":"Fiction","old_id":"845"}]},{"order":7,"id":"36708","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take II ","post_title":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take II","slug":"the-original-handmaids-tale-take-ii","old_id":"36708","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34235,"post_title":"Marc Gitler","slug":"marc-gitler","old_id":"34235","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Gitler","description":"Rabbi Marc Gitler, a recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and earned an MPA from NYU . 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Head down Abraham slowly approaches the tent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham: Hagar can I come in?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar: yes you may. Asking, that is ironic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham: Hagar, I am so so sorry, I never...<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar, Interrupting: Don\u2019t call me that. My name is Asheyet, that is the name my parents gave me, a princess of Egypt. I responded to Hagar, because I had to act like a ger<\/em>, like a stranger to myself to continue with all the oppression I went through.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham: I am sorry Asheyet, I just didn\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t understand until I watched tonight. Until I saw June\u2019s pain. It was a different time, there were different rules and regulations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar: But you were so kind to strangers who showed up at your door. So merciful to the wicked of Sodom, so ahead of your time, where was your intuition, your prescience with me?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham: You are right. All too often we are compassionate to those at a distance, and so cruel to those closest. We just wanted a son. We left our homeland, followed God\u2019s promises. But nothing happened. Sarah just thought that when you came into our lives it was God\u2019s way of finally granting us a son. And then it worked, we named the son \u201cYishmael,\u201d believing that it had worked that God had granted us the child. I am so so sorry, that you were just a tool for us to realize our dreams, and sorrier that more than 3,000 years have passed before I realized our error: when women don\u2019t control their bodies, then they are not equal.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar: I suffered and endured, but I listened to God. The child was named \u201cYishmael,\u201d but not due to your cries, or Sarah\u2019s tears but because God heard <\/span>my suffering<\/b>. I listened to the angel and went back and absorbed the suffering. Was it worth it, that is not for today, and anyway I see Sally Hemmings is at my door.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36811,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1088812118","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","width":4809,"height":6692,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-216x300.jpg","medium-width":216,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-736x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":736,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-736x1024.jpg","large-width":736,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","1536x1536-width":1104,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","2048x2048-width":1472,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-862x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":862,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-302x420.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Original Handmaid's Tale: Take II - A Look Back","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Blessed be the fruit?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36811,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1088812118","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","width":4809,"height":6692,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-216x300.jpg","medium-width":216,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-736x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":736,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-736x1024.jpg","large-width":736,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","1536x1536-width":1104,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118.jpg","2048x2048-width":1472,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-862x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":862,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_1088812118-302x420.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"445","name":"Fiction","old_id":"845"}]},{"order":8,"id":"36702","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Is Hagar the Royal Daughter of a King, or the Lowly Daughter of his Concubine? ","post_title":"Hagar: Daughter Of King Or Concubine?","slug":"is-hagar-the-royal-daughter-of-a-king-or-the-lowly-daughter-of-his-concubine","old_id":"36702","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36692,"post_title":"Avigdor Shinan","slug":"avigdor-shinan","old_id":"36692","first_name":"Avigdor ","last_name":"Shinan","description":"Prof. Avigdor Shinan is Professor Emeritus in the departments of Hebrew Literature, Yiddish and Comparative Jewish Folklore at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shinan has served as head of the departments of General Studies, and of Hebrew Literature and as Dean of the Hebrew University.\r\n","short_description":"Prof. Avigdor Shinan is Professor Emeritus in Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.","credit":"","image_url_old":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/project929\/image\/upload\/v1473328034\/author\/60.jpg","hide_writer":false,"image_url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/uploads\/2019\/07\/60-5.jpg","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36693,"alt":"","title":"avigdor shinan","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/avigdor-shinan.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"One is the regal wife of the founder of the nation - the other is the despised mother of the other","post_main_content_content":"

When the aggadic literature of our Sages deals with the story of Genesis 16, it focuses on a number of questions: the origins of Hagar the Egyptian, the nature of her relationship with Sarah, and her encounter with the angels who bring the news of Ishmael\u2019s birth. \u00a0Here, I will briefly address one of these matters: The origins of Hagar who is described as \u201can Egyptian maid servant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A fifth century CE midrash (Genesis Rabbah 45:1) connects our chapter to the story of Abram and Sarai in Egypt (Genesis Chapter 12), and concludes in the name of the tanna (a rabbi from the first two centuries CE) Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai that \u201cHagar was the daughter of Pharaoh. \u00a0When Pharaoh saw the miracles that had been performed for Sarah in his palace (Genesis Chapter 12:10-20), he took his daughter and gave her to Sarah as a gift. He said, \"It is better for my daughter to be a maid servant in Sarah\u2019s house than to be a noblewoman in the palace in Egypt.\" Connecting Hagar to a royal dynasty raises her worth and status as fitting match for the father of the Israelite nation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a later midrash, which emerged in the days when the Jewish people \u00a0had contact with the Moslem world, which saw Ishmael as the father of Islam - an attempt was made to reduce Hagar's status, probably as a polemic against the new conqueror of the Land of Israel. This midrash states that \u201cwhen Pharaoh took Sarah as a wife, he included in her marriage contract Hagar who was born to Pharaoh from one of his concubines\u201d (Pirkei D\u2019Rabbi Eliezer 26). \u00a0In other words, this second midrash makes a slight change; it adds one word, \u201chis concubines,\u201d which is an example of a tiny change that was made in the portrayal of Ishmael and his mother Hagar once they became knowns as representatives of Islam.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(From the remarks that Prof. Shinan delivered at the 929 Study Group that was held at \u00a0President\u2019s Residence at the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102436,"alt":"","title":"-621aa50583b12--621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian woman.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg.jpg","width":1304,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-204x300.jpg","medium-width":204,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-695x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-695x1024.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1043,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1304,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-815x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":815,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621aa50583b12-621aa50583b13gen16-egyptian-woman.jpg-285x420.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Hagar: Daughter Of King Or Concubine?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"One is the regal wife of the founder of the nation - 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We Muslims revere the Prophet Abraham: \"Ibrahim Abuna,\" Abraham our Father. For us, he is the father of all prophets. For that reason we mention his name in all five daily prayers. As everyone knows, he was born and lived much of his life in present-day Iraq, and called to cease the worship of statues and stars, and believe solely in the one God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nimrod, the king of Iraq, commanded that our Prophet Abraham of blessed memory, be burned, but God saved him from the furnace. King Nimrod released him, and Abraham left Iraq for the holy blessed soil of the Holy Land (Israel-Palestine). His wife Sarah accompanied him on the journey.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From there Abraham went down to Egypt, and there confronted Pharaoh who tried to molest Sarah. God saved Sarah from Pharaoh, who released the two of them, and gave Sarah Hagar as a handmaiden. The three of them then returned to the Holy Land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Since Abraham was old, and Sarah was beyond child-bearing years, Sarah allowed Abraham to marry Hagar. When Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Ishmael, Sarah became jealous of Hagar. God commanded Abraham our Father to take Hagar and her son Ishmael to the desert. There he left them, because God wanted to bless Ishmael and make him the leader of a very great nation. Abraham our Father fulfilled God's wishes. He would visit them frequently there in the desert, concerning himself with their well-being, until he died and was buried in Hebron.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Abraham Father of Us All","tile_main_caption":"We Muslims revere the Prophet Abraham: \"Ibrahim Abuna,\" Abraham our Father. For us, he is the father of all prophets.","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"446","name":"Islam","old_id":"846"}]},{"order":10,"id":"36704","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Why Were the Israelites Enslaved for so Long in Egypt? A Surprising Backstory ","post_title":"Why Were The Israelites Enslaved For So Long In Egypt?","slug":"why-were-the-israelites-enslaved-for-so-long-in-egypt-a-surprising-backstory","old_id":"36704","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33962,"post_title":"Yair Zakovitch","slug":"prof-yair-zakovitch","old_id":"33962","first_name":"Yair","last_name":"Zakovitch","description":"Prof. Yair Zakovitch, professor emeritus in biblical studies, held the Father Takeji Otsuki Professor of Bible Studies Chair at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was Professor of Jewish Peoplehood at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Prof. Yair Zakovitch, professor emeritus in biblical studies from the Hebrew University ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33963,"alt":"","title":"\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","width":421,"height":515,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5-245x300.jpg","medium-width":245,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","medium_large-width":421,"medium_large-height":515,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","large-width":421,"large-height":515,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","1536x1536-width":421,"1536x1536-height":515,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","2048x2048-width":421,"2048x2048-height":515,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5.jpg","post_full_size-width":421,"post_full_size-height":515,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8-\u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5-343x420.jpg","home_baner-width":343,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":" Measure for measure: The surprising backstory","post_main_content_content":"

In the \u201cCovenant between the Pieces\u201d (Genesis Chapter 15:7-21), God provides Abram with an explanation why his descendants will have to wait until the land of Canaan comes under Israelite control: \"for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete\" (Genesis 15:16. But in these words there is no explanation as to why the Israelites must remain slaves in Egypt for so long, as it is written \"your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years\" (Genesis 15:13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here is the solution behind this perplexing statement, namely, the reason for the Israelite oppression, is found in our chapter. \u00a0A barren Sarai seeks to solve her inability to conceive a child for Abram by giving him her maid servant Hagar. The text states: \u201cSarai, Abram\u2019s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar\u201d (Genesis 16:1) \u00a0Hagar\u2019s \u201cEgyptian-ness\u201d is stated again in verse 3 \u201cSo Sarai, Abram\u2019s wife, took her maid servant , Hagar the Egyptian.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After Hagar gets pregnant, she sees herself as a superior to her barren mistress. In response, Sarai begins to torment her with Abram\u2019s permission: \"\u201cYour maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.\u201d Then Sarai treated her harshly (literally, \u2018oppressed her\u2019), and she fled from her\" (Genesis 16:6). The tormenting of Hagar in the house of Sarai will re-appear and be mentioned in the words of the angel to Hagar in Genesis 16:9: \u00a0\u201cGo back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment (literally, \u2018submit to the oppression\u2019). The oppression of Hagar will be alluded to one more time in the explanation in Genesis 16:11 of the name that is given to her son that she bears: \u201cYou shall call him Ishmael, For the Lord has paid heed to your suffering (literally, \u2018oppression\u2019).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The fate of the Hagar the Egyptian in the house of Sarai is thus similar to the fate of the Israelites in Egyptian. \u00a0Note the words of God to Moses from the burning bush: \"I have marked well the plight (literally, \u2018the oppression\u2019) of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry...\" (Exodus 3: 7). From this we see that because of the suffering inflicted upon Hagar the Egyptian in the house of Abram and of Sarai, their descendants shall suffer in Egypt, measure for measure.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We should judge people based on who they are, not on who we fear they will become","post_main_content_content":"

Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Sarah\u2019s handmaid Hagar, by whom Sarah proposed that Abraham have a child. Sarah eventually had a child of her own, Isaac. One day Sarah witnessed Ishmael \u201cmocking\u201d her only son. Whatever Ishmael was doing, it was enough to convince Sarah that he was not fit company for Isaac. Hagar and the young Ishmael were sent out into the desert in the blazing sun. Their water ran out, and Hagar put the child under a bush, saying \u201cI cannot watch the boy die.\u201d God hears Hagar\u2019s cry and reassures her that God will save her son. \u201c...I will make him into a great nation\u2019. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The midrash adds the following commentary: \u201cRabbi Simon said, The ministering angels immediately began accusing him , saying, \u201cLord of the universe, will you bring up a well for an individual who will one day slay your children with thirst?\u201d G-d said to them, \u201cAt this moment, what is he ?\u201d \u201cRighteous,\u201d they replied. \u201cI judge man only as he is at the moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Punishment as deterrence against future crimes is not divine justice. God does not judge people for what they might become. He judges them as they are now.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

excerpted from:\u00a0http:\/\/rabbisacks.org\/ki-tetse-5767-stubborn-and-rebellious-sons\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37010,"alt":"","title":"justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","width":1024,"height":694,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-300x203.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":203,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-768x521.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":521,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-1024x694.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":694,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":694,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":694,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":694,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-620x420.jpg","home_baner-width":620,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Punishment as Deterrence Against Future Crimes is Not Justice","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We should judge people based on who they are, not on who we fear they will become","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37010,"alt":"","title":"justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","width":1024,"height":694,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-300x203.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":203,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-768x521.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":521,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-1024x694.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":694,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":694,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":694,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":694,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/justice-620x420.jpg","home_baner-width":620,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"}]},{"order":12,"id":"36712","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sarah\u2019s Projection ","post_title":"Sarah\u2019s Projection","slug":"sarahs-projection","old_id":"36712","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36151,"post_title":"Ariel Milan-Polisar","slug":"ariel-milan-polisar","old_id":"36151","first_name":"Ariel ","last_name":"Milan-Polisar","description":"Ariel Milan-Polisar is a 3rd year rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. She is originally from Irvington, NY and received her BA in Sociology from Brandeis University.","short_description":"Ariel Milan-Polisar is a 3rd year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR in New York City. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36152,"alt":"","title":"Ariel Polisar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","width":330,"height":348,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar-284x300.jpg","medium-width":284,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","medium_large-width":330,"medium_large-height":348,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","large-width":330,"large-height":348,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","1536x1536-width":330,"1536x1536-height":348,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","2048x2048-width":330,"2048x2048-height":348,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","post_full_size-width":330,"post_full_size-height":348,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ariel-Polisar.jpg","home_baner-width":330,"home_baner-height":348}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What was Hagar really feeling about Sarah\u2026","post_main_content_content":"

In Genesis 16, we learn that Sarai is barren, and she gives Hagar to her husband Abram so that they might have children. \u00a0As one might expect, Sarai quickly regrets this decision upon learning that Hagar is pregnant. In expressing the reason for her regret, she uses unexpected language - \u05d5\u05d0\u05e7\u05dc \u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4 (V\u2019ekal b\u2019eineha<\/em>), \u201cI am lowered in her eyes.\u201d \u00a0Sarai believes that Hagar thinks less of her, because she allowed her husband to impregnate Hagar. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is no way for us to know that this is the case, because Hagar never says this outright. Therefore the only way we know what Hagar is feeling, is through Sarai\u2019s assumption. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, I don\u2019t believe that Hagar actually thought less of Sarai. Rather, Sarai is projecting. Sarai saw herself as less-than, and was thus disappointed in herself. However, instead of acknowledging that, she projected her own feelings onto Hagar. We do this all the time. In moments of personal insecurity, we often tell ourselves that other people will think ill of us. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In reality, we are the ones who are feeling or thinking this way. It is much easier for us to put those feelings of disappointment on others, than to face disappointing ourselves. Perception is reality; if we don\u2019t check our perceptions, they can damage and alter our reality, our relationships, and our self-perception. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We must learn from Sarai and be introspective; when we assume others are judging us, we should look inward and figure out from where these feelings come. \u00a0Perhaps if Sarai knew that it was she who felt disappointed, not Hagar, she might not have treated Hagar harshly. This type of negative ripple effect is important to avoid in order to maintain honest and open relationships with ourselves and with others.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37331,"alt":"","title":"hagar-abraham","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","width":629,"height":209,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-300x100.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":100,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","medium_large-width":629,"medium_large-height":209,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","large-width":629,"large-height":209,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","1536x1536-width":629,"1536x1536-height":209,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","2048x2048-width":629,"2048x2048-height":209,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","post_full_size-width":629,"post_full_size-height":209,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"home_baner-height":209}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Sarah\u2019s Projection","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What was Hagar really feeling about Sarah\u2026","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37331,"alt":"","title":"hagar-abraham","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","width":629,"height":209,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-300x100.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":100,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","medium_large-width":629,"medium_large-height":209,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","large-width":629,"large-height":209,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","1536x1536-width":629,"1536x1536-height":209,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","2048x2048-width":629,"2048x2048-height":209,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","post_full_size-width":629,"post_full_size-height":209,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"home_baner-height":209}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"427","name":"Sarah","old_id":"827"}]},{"order":13,"id":"36714","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian ","post_title":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian","slug":"hagar-the-bibles-first-theologian","old_id":"36714","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36663,"post_title":"Beth Kissileff","slug":"beth-kissileff","old_id":"36663","first_name":"Beth ","last_name":"Kissileff ","description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (2016 - https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/reading-genesis-9780567381521), and the forthcoming Reading Exodus, and the author of the novel Questioning Return - https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Questioning-Return-Novel-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/1942134231. \r\nHer journalism appears in many publications; she has taught most recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her online at www.bethkissileff.com. ","short_description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (Bloomsbury\/ T and T Clark, 2016) , a journalist and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36664,"alt":"","title":"BethKissileff","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","width":3478,"height":3200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-300x276.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":276,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-768x707.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":707,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1024x942.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":942,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1413,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1884,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1200x1104.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1104,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-456x420.jpg","home_baner-width":456,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master.","post_main_content_content":"

Something interesting happens to Hagar in the course of Genesis 16. She goes from being the Egyptian handmaid in the house of Sarah and Abraham to being the Bible\u2019s first theologian, seeing and describing the nature of God. Hagar moves from object to subject. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a recent book <\/span>The Cost of Living<\/span><\/em>, British writer Deborah Levy writes of an older man and a younger woman, \u201cIt had not occurred to him that she might not consider herself to be the minor character and him the major character. In this sense, she had unsettled a boundary, collapsed a social hierarchy, broken with the usual rituals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And yet, this is precisely the function of Hagar in Genesis 16. She is the one to experience a revelation from an angel, who meets her by a fountain of water in the desert when she has fled from Sarai, and tells her she will bear a son and his name will be Ishmael (with the root \u201csh-m-a\u201d to hear) since \u201cthe Lord has heard your affliction.\u201d(Genesis 16: 11) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

After her conversation with the angel something shifts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the moment when Hagar speaks for herself and describes the God she has experienced. \u201cAnd she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, <\/span>You God see me<\/span><\/em> for she said, Have I also looked after him that sees me?\u201d(Genesis 16: 13) No one before her has had the capacity to describe God, yet Hagar portrays God as \u201c<\/span>El Roi<\/span><\/i>\u201d the \u201cDeity who sees.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar is the first individual to be able to grasp and characterize in language the magnitude of who and what God is, as pointed out by Dolores Williams in an essay \u201c<\/span>Hagar in African American Biblical Appropriation<\/span><\/a>.\u201d The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham argued with God (Genesis 18:17-33); Hagar described God. Who is a major character and who a minor one?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36806,"alt":"","title":"hagar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","width":626,"height":176,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-300x84.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":84,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":176,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":176,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":176,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":176,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":176,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","home_baner-width":626,"home_baner-height":176}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36806,"alt":"","title":"hagar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","width":626,"height":176,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-300x84.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":84,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":176,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":176,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":176,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":176,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":176,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","home_baner-width":626,"home_baner-height":176}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"438","name":"Slavery","old_id":"838"}]},{"order":14,"id":"36802","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen16 ","post_title":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen16","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen16","old_id":"36802","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34232,"alt":"","title":"Jeremy Benstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4\/\u05e9\u05de\u05e2 - Raah\/Shama\u2019 - Seeing\/Hearing\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In Genesis chapter 16 there is some interplay between these two roots - <\/span>raah\/shama\u2019 - seeing\/hearing <\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>- \u00a0expressing sensory experience or perception. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

First, at one and the same time Hagar learns from an angel of God both that she is pregnant (the handmaid gambit worked), and what the name of the child will be. The name is based on the root \u201cto hear\u201d - making that quite an ultra-sound visitation. The name here is significant, because it shows that the impregnation succeeded but not as Mistress Sarah had hoped. \u201cCall him Ishmael\u201d the angel informs (presaging Melville), \u201cFor the LORD \u05db\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05e2, <\/span>ki shama\u2019<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em> has paid heed to your suffering\u201d (16:11). In other words, the name of the child is an expression of Hagar\u2019s suffering (not least, from playing the hand maid), and not Sarah\u2019s desire for progeny.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While according to the narrative, God hears Hagar\u2019s travails, and Hagar hears the angel\u2019s voice, she reports this actually as a direct <\/span>visual <\/span><\/i>contact with God: \u201cAnd she called the LORD who spoke to her, \u2018You Are \u05d0\u05dc-\u05e8\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9 El-roi <\/em>(\u201cthe Lord of seeing, or the Lord who sees me\u201d),\u2019 by which she meant, \u2018Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!\u2019\u201d (v. 13), and furthermore, she then named the well where she had this vision <\/span>Beer-lahai-roi<\/em> <\/span>(\u201cWell of the Living One Who Sees Me,\u201d or \u201cWell of the Vision of the Living One\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps Hagar felt, finally, both seen and heard.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hearing is central to mainstream Jewish religious experience: \u201c<\/span>Shema\u2019 Yisrael<\/span><\/em>! Hear O Israel\u201d (Deut 6:4), that God is One. Likewise, a common Talmudic opener is <\/span>ta shma\u2019<\/span><\/em> - \u201ccome and hear;\u201d an invitation to take part in the back-and-forth of a legal disputation. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

One the other hand, sometimes vision is seen as misleading: \u201cdo not follow your... eyes in your lustful urge\u201d says Numbers 15:39, quoted in the liturgy right after the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i>, the call to hear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While many Biblical characters hear God, even speak with the deity, <\/span>seeing<\/em> <\/span>God directly is forbidden, or at least unsurvivable: as God says to Moses in Exodus 33:20: \u201c...you cannot see My face, for man many not see Me and live.\u201d Though there is also quite a mystical experience described in Exodus 24:9-11, where Moses and a large entourage actually \u201csaw the God of Israel\u201d and God was cool with it. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Visions indeed are more for the mystics, for\u00a0<\/span>even as the Talmud invites the reader with <\/span>ta shma<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i> - \u201ccome and hear;\u201d the mystical classic, the Zohar, uses <\/span>ta chazei<\/span><\/em>, \u201ccome and see,\u201d (using a different root for \u201csee\u201d). There seeing is believing.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102433,"alt":"","title":"-621aa27c7f825--621aa27c7f827gen16-milim raah 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on the Daily Chapter - Gen 16","tile_main_caption":"Short talks by Adam Mintz and by David Silber","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Rabbi Silber's teachings are dedicated in memory of Joan Silverstein Meyers and Ellen Goodstein Koplow. 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Ten years have passed since Abram and Sarai arrived in Canaan in response to the commandment \"Go forth,\u201d and the promise and purpose \"and I will make of you a great nation\u201d (12:1-2). Ten years of barrenness, and Abram and Sarai are not getting any younger.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sarah initiates the first surrogate pregnancy in the Bible (in the immediate vicinity, as evidenced by the laws of the ancient Near East, surrogacy was a common practice) and proposes to Abram that he has relations with her maidservant Hagar in the hope that \"perhaps I will have a son through her\" (16:2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Hagar's long-awaited pregnancy arrives, not surprisingly, things become emotionally complicated--so much so that Sarai, who had proposed surrogacy in the first place, ends up tormenting her pregnant maidservant.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar runs away to the desert, where an angel of God is revealed to her and promises that she will give birth to a blessed son at the end of her pregnancy. The son will be named Ishmael, whose name reflects that fact that God is the One who hears her sorrow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Big Ideas:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. Not everything goes as planned. Sarai's plan was \"perhaps I will have a son through her\" (16:2) meaning that the son that Hagar bears will be hers. But when the son is born, the text says, \u201cHagar bore a son <\/span>to Abram<\/b>, and Abram gave the son that Hagar born <\/span>him<\/b> the name Ishmael\u201d (16:15).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. \u00a0<\/span> The chapter consistently preserves the terms \"maidservant\" for Hagar and \"mistress\" for Sarai. This is precisely the relationship that is completely overturned in the chapter.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. \u00a0<\/span> When you place a third variable in a marital equation, it ends with \"the wrong done me is your fault\" (verse 5).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. \u00a0<\/span> The words of the angel to Hagar: \"Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son, and you shall call his name...\" (verse 11) are the established way in the Bible to tell women that they are carrying a pregnancy of a great personality. So (more or less) is the case with the birth of Isaac, Samson the hero and ... Ishmael!<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. \u00a0<\/span> The angel announces to Hagar that her son Ishmael will be \"a wild ass of a man; his hand against everyone, and everyone\u2019s hand against him\u201d (verse 12). It is interesting to note that although in today\u2019s parlance these two expressions are negative, according to many interpretations, their original meaning is actually positive. Ishmael will be strong, free, and have the upper hand.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Genesis 16","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/36798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}