Sarah - Names and Responsibilities
Genesis 17:15-19
Revisit Circumcision – spiritual meaning
Leon Kass – In pagan society it was a rite of passage, In Jewish society it is a paternal duty. The obligation of the father.
- reminder of the generations
- reminder of the spiritual obligations and the gift of a child
- reminder of heritage
-easy to sire – not easy to raise a child
- symbolic gesture and reminder
- mothers also affirm that the child is a gift that is dedicated to the covenant.
- focus is on the responsibility to teach the child.
V15 – Sari becomes Sarah
The yud – possesive singular is replaced by the hey
Becomes a princess who is responsible to others (Rashi)
Gamatria answer – yud = 10 divided into two heys – 5+5
Yud ascends to heaven and cries to God because it was removed. God comforted the yud and added it to Joshuah’s name 4 books later!
Proverbs 12 – mothers – virtuous woman.
SR Hirsch – on Jewish Women – Sarah – the tone setting marks the influence about morality and decency of Jewish women. Women hold a dignified place in the home.
Women dependent on men financially / Men dependent on women spiritually
Sarah now has a new spiritual role.
v16: I will bless her – said twice – a double blessing
Rashi – asks what blessing:
she returns to her youth – smooth skin.
blessed with breast feeding – ability to nourish her son.
Eli Munk – double blessing
Birth of son without pain – overcome the curse of Eve
Raising her son without sorrow, anguish or grief.
Talmud : Name Change / Change of Fate
4 ways to avoid the decree of evil:
Superstition – to change the name of a sick person to confuse the angel of death.
The announcement of the son:
Abraham’s response – he falls on his face and laughs. His laugh is in joy.
Sarah’s response – she laughs in derision – disbelief
Book: You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother by Joyce Antler
Power and Promise
Abraham never tells Sarah – that is why God tells Sarah in the next chapter.
Christian perspective: Walter Brugaman – Abraham and Sarah are models of disbelief in this story.
Shows the difficulty in having faith.
SRHirsch – Birth of Isaac is prophetic of the future of the Jewish people – difficult to believe but true.
History should have wiped out the Jews many times – but it didn’t – God must be intervening somehow.
David Ben Gurion - “ A Jew who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist”
Mark Twain -
“All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.”
Tolstoy - “ The Jew - is the symbol of eternity. ... He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear.
The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”
More quotes like these:
And the paradox of Free Will that we live with!
Revisit Circumcision – spiritual meaning
Leon Kass – In pagan society it was a rite of passage, In Jewish society it is a paternal duty. The obligation of the father.
- reminder of the generations
- reminder of the spiritual obligations and the gift of a child
- reminder of heritage
-easy to sire – not easy to raise a child
- symbolic gesture and reminder
- mothers also affirm that the child is a gift that is dedicated to the covenant.
- focus is on the responsibility to teach the child.
V15 – Sari becomes Sarah
The yud – possesive singular is replaced by the hey
Becomes a princess who is responsible to others (Rashi)
Gamatria answer – yud = 10 divided into two heys – 5+5
Yud ascends to heaven and cries to God because it was removed. God comforted the yud and added it to Joshuah’s name 4 books later!
Proverbs 12 – mothers – virtuous woman.
SR Hirsch – on Jewish Women – Sarah – the tone setting marks the influence about morality and decency of Jewish women. Women hold a dignified place in the home.
Women dependent on men financially / Men dependent on women spiritually
Sarah now has a new spiritual role.
v16: I will bless her – said twice – a double blessing
Rashi – asks what blessing:
she returns to her youth – smooth skin.
blessed with breast feeding – ability to nourish her son.
Eli Munk – double blessing
Birth of son without pain – overcome the curse of Eve
Raising her son without sorrow, anguish or grief.
Talmud : Name Change / Change of Fate
4 ways to avoid the decree of evil:
- Tzedakkah
- Cry to God
- Change deeds
- Change name
Superstition – to change the name of a sick person to confuse the angel of death.
The announcement of the son:
Abraham’s response – he falls on his face and laughs. His laugh is in joy.
Sarah’s response – she laughs in derision – disbelief
Book: You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother by Joyce Antler
Power and Promise
Abraham never tells Sarah – that is why God tells Sarah in the next chapter.
Christian perspective: Walter Brugaman – Abraham and Sarah are models of disbelief in this story.
Shows the difficulty in having faith.
SRHirsch – Birth of Isaac is prophetic of the future of the Jewish people – difficult to believe but true.
History should have wiped out the Jews many times – but it didn’t – God must be intervening somehow.
David Ben Gurion - “ A Jew who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist”
Mark Twain -
“All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.”
Tolstoy - “ The Jew - is the symbol of eternity. ... He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear.
The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”
More quotes like these:
And the paradox of Free Will that we live with!
posted by Chavarah @ 10:29 PM
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