SARAH IN OUR PRAYERS
Brian Weinstein,
Howard University
In Parashat Hayyei Sarah (Genesis 23:1 – 25:18)
we read about the death and burial of Sarah, the first matriarch. The text begins:
“Sarah’s lifetime [Hayyei Sarah]…came to one hundred and
twenty-seven years. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba…” (23:1-2) These verses could be
the introduction to an obituary. I want to try to complete Sarah’s obituary. Then, I
want to suggest that a careful study of her obituary, based only on the Torah, Talmud and
Midrash, explains why her name should be included in the Avot [Fathers] at the beginning of the Amidah, the essential prayer in Jewish prayer
services.
Sarah’s
Obituary
Abraham ben Terah
announced the sudden death of his beloved wife, Sarah, aged 127, in Kiriath-arba, the Land
of Canaan. The cause of death was not indicated, but false rumors about the sacrifice of
her only beloved son, Isaac, reportedly broke her heart. The family, recent arrivals in
the area of Hebron, have been well regarded by the local Hittite inhabitants. A leading
member of that community, Ephron, son of Zohar, sold them land with the Machpelah cave for
a family burial site. There she was laid to rest.
Sarah, like her husband,
was born into the family of Terah in the town of Ur in southern Mesopotamia. There she
married her husband, then known as Abram. Abram referred to her as his half sister –
same father, different mothers, but Rashi, (1) reports that one should
read the term “sister” in a broad sense as any female relative sharing the same
father or grandfather. She was, he says, the granddaughter of Terah and the daughter of
Haran, Abraham’s brother. People called her Sarai, which means my princess, and then
Sarah, which means “princess over all.” (2) These names are
actually titles, probably referring to her great beauty and dignity. Talmudic sources tell
us that her real name was Iscah which means to foresee (3) Altogether,
these three names suggest a strong and intelligent person.
By the time Sarah and her
husband arrived in Canaan from Mesopotamia with their flocks of animals, Sarah had already
reached the age of sixty-five, a decade younger than her husband. At first they settled
near Shechem, then in Bethel, and moved gradually south into the Negev in search of
grazing land. From there it was a relatively short distance to Egypt where they found
sustenance during a famine. After some misunderstandings with the king of Egypt they were
obliged to return to Canaan where conditions had improved.
The family and their entourage retraced their steps settling in the Negev
near Kadesh the territory of the well-known King Abimelech with whom there were also some
serious misunderstandings. Eventually, they returned to Hebron.
Having lost all hope of
bearing a son, Sarah, at the age of seventy-five, offered her Egyptian maid, Hagar, to her
husband in order that he, at least, would have children. A son, Ishmael, was born from
this union. Thirteen years later God changed her name/title from Sarai to Sarah at the
same time as He changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Shortly thereafter celestial
visitors informed Sarah that she would give birth the following year, and Sarah, at the
age of ninety, finally gave birth to Isaac, her first and only child.
A conflict then ensued
resulting in the departure of Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham, Sarah and Isaac prospered. The
next thirty-seven years were, by all accounts, the happiest of Sarah’s life. She
never lived to see her son marry, but Sarah believed – at least until the unfortunate
rumors about his death - that Isaac would succeed Abraham.
The importance of Sarah
has been overshadowed by her husband’s fame and his well known close relationship
with the Almighty. Fulfilling three roles, namely, protecting and advising Abraham, giving birth to and raising
Isaac, and obeying God’s will - transformed her into a matriarch – a woman of
power in the full sense of the word.
Sarah protected and
advised Abraham; on one occasion, she also challenged his authority. In Egypt and in
Abimelech’s kingdom she acceded to Abraham’s request that she pretend not to be
his wife thus making her available as a potential wife to others and saving Abraham from
assassination. She also understood that Abraham needed an heir to carry out God’s
promise that he would found a people and for that reason insisted he cohabit with Hagar.
But when Hagar, pregnant with Abraham’s child, subsequently threatened Sarah’s
position as matriarch, Sarah vigorously defended her own pre-eminence. Abraham hesitated
to punish Hagar, and Sarah accused him of responsibility for Hagar’s pretensions
which were a corruption of God’s will (16:4). Then, Sarah said: “May the Lord
decide between you and me” (16:5). This statement is crucial in understanding Sarah:
in it she implied that she knew God’s will better than Abraham did and that she was
prepared to challenge Abraham’s leadership and authority.
After her own son, Isaac, was born fourteen years
later Sarah raised him to succeed his father as Patriarch. When she sensed another
challenge, from Ishmael, she insisted that Abraham expel him and his mother. Once again
Abraham hesitated. This time Abraham heard directly from God that he must follow
Sarah’s demand to expel Hagar and her son. Sarah’s influence over Abraham
continued even during the thirty-eight years after her death. He married Ketura who bore
six sons, but sent them away so that none would challenge Isaac (Genesis 25:6).
Sarah’s relationship
with God is unique among the women of Torah because God changed her name by removing the
letter yud from her original name, Sarai, and
adding the letter heh so that she became “Sarah.” The Zohar and
other mystical texts attribute great importance to the letters of the alphabet. (4) With the exception of Moses all the male leaders of Israel in the Torah,
beginning with Sarah’s son Isaac bear names beginning with the same yud: Jacob/Israel,
Joseph, Joshua, Judah. It is, of course, also the first letter in the name of the
Almighty.
Soon after God changed
Sarah’s name we read that “The Lord took note of her” (Genesis 21:1). In
the Torah whenever God “remembers” or “takes note of” we know there
will be a momentous change in history: God remembered Noah and then the flood waters
subsided (8:1). Usually, the root of the verb here is zayen khaf resh as in Yizkor [he will remember] but when God remembered Sarah and let her give
birth, the text reads: pakad et Sarah. The root
of the verb is peh kuf daled which
“has different shades of meaning in different contexts…” According to Pesikta
Rabbati, words formed on this root “always refer to God’s providence.”
(5) In other words, God did
more than suddenly remember Sarah; He cared for Sarah’s welfare as her guardian. God
was “magen Avraham u-foked Sarah,” “shield of Abraham and
guardian of Sarah.” (From the revised beginning of the Amidah)
The obituary of Sarah
ends in this way: In addition to her devoted husband, survivors include her son Isaac and
300 generations of descendants “as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands of
the seashore…” (22:17). (6)
Sarah’s
Importance
This obituary clearly
explains the importance of Sarah. God selected Abraham for a covenantal relationship; but,
both Sarah and Abraham were tested for thirty years. If Sarah had failed the expectations
of God, the consequences would have been as serious as if Abraham had failed.
According to Pesikta
Rabbati, the angels warned God that if Sarah did not have a child after so many years,
no one would ever believe God’s promises and “the Torah would have been deemed a
fake.” (7) Sarah’s pregnancy is the sign that God decided to
proceed with His plan. The birth of Isaac begins the succession process and is the true
beginning of the Jewish people and its particular relationship with the Almighty. For that
reason, the Torah reading for Rosh HaShanah is not Breishit - the beginning of the
whole world; it is rather Genesis 21: 1-2: “The Lord took note of Sarah as He had
promised, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore a son to
Abraham” (Genesis 21:1-2).
On March 3, 1990, the
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly adopted – only by a
plurality – the responsum advising the inclusion of Matriarchs’ names in the Avot
blessing of the Amidah. (8) As a result, the new Conservative or
Masorti Sabbath prayer book, Siddur Sim Shalom, published by the same Rabbinical
Assembly in 1998, includes the Matriarchs as an alternative - on the “b” page.
In other words, inclusion is not quite normative.
The Committee on Jewish
Law and Standards reasoned that the four women, beginning with Sarah, “function as
significant factors in the unfolding of the covenant between God and the Israelite
nation.” The words “significant factors” are rather weak, not completely
convincing. Weakening their case further, the rabbis departed from the [message of the]
Torah in their conclusion. They used sociological reasoning writing as follows: because of
the increased role of women in modern society, “the Amidah [should] be
modified so that it can speak to all members of our congregations, male and female
alike.” This is superfluous and probably offensive to observant men and women within
the Conservative movement.
The text of the Torah
gives us enough reason for inclusion. We know from a careful reading of the Torah,
particularly her challenge to Abraham in Genesis 16:5, that Sarah is her husband’s
active partner and God’s loyal servant. (Or, maybe we should reverse the order and
say: God’s loyal servant and then her husband’s active partner.) She is a person
of foresight and great strength which she uses unselfishly on behalf of God and her
family. As her descendants, the Jews of today are the beneficiaries. By including Sarah in
our prayers alongside Abraham we pay tribute to this noble and powerful woman.
NOTES:
1. Silbermann ed., 5745, p.47.
2. Rashi, p. 67.
3. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin,
69b.
4. See also Midrash Rabbah,
Genesis XLVII: 1.
5. Vol. II, translated by Wm. G.
Braude, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968, p. 750.
6. This is what God promised to
Abraham, but I think is also applicable to Sarah. Cf. 17:16.
7. Pesikta Rabbati,
p. 734.
8. Rabbi Joel E. Rembaum,
“Regarding the Inclusion of the Names of the Matriarchs in the First Blessing of the Amidah,”
in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative
Movement, 1986 – 1990. New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001.
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