I HOLIDAYS

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The Dreisbach Family

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Rosh Hashanah:
A Lesson In Tensions

MICHAEL BERGER

Special to The Jewish News

(r)

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a Happy & Healthy
NEW YEAR!

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----- Happy New Year
To Our Customers and Friends

146

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991

I

n the Bible, Rosh
Hashanah, unlike
Passover or Sukkot,
recalls no particular event;
it is merely "the first day of
the seventh month" (Lev.
23:23). It was the rabbis who
granted the day its unique
significance, marking it as
the anniversary of the
world's creation, a theme
which permeates the holiday
liturgy.
We might, therefore, have
expected the rabbis to choose
a Torah reading for Rosh
Hashanah featuring the
story of creation. In fact,
however, the creation story
appears nowhere in the
readings for the two days.
Instead, we read Genesis 21
(the birth of Isaac, Abra-
ham' s sending away of
Hagar and Ishmael, and Ab-
raham's covenant with the
Philistine king, Avimelech)
and 22 (the binding of Isaac),
respectively.
It is true that these events
are, by tradition, related to
Rosh Hashanah. The
Talmud maintains that
Sarah and Hannah were
"remembered" — i.e., Isaac
and Samuel were born — on
Rosh Hashanah (Rosh
Hashanah 10b), while the
blowing of the ram's horn —
the Torah's sole command-
ment with respect to the
holiday —was viewed as a
reminder of the ancestral
merit of Isaac's sacrifice
(Vayikrah Rabbah). But if
the holiday truly marks the
world's creation, that fact
should have been reflected
somewhere, to some degree,
in at least one day's reading.
Moreover, the covenant
with the Philistine king,
which begins with verse 22
of chapter 21, seems entirely
unrelated to the day. Nor
was it for lack of narrative
that the latter part of
chapter 21 was included;
even if Rosh Hashanah were
to fall on the Sabbath, neces-
sitating seven aliyot, the
minimum number of three
verses per aliyah would have
been satisfied even without
the inclusion of this episode.
In reality, we have here a
continuous story, read over
two days. The Torah itself
insists that we not divide it:
the story of the covenant

Rabbi Michael Berger is a doc-
toral candidate in philosophy
of religion at Columbia Uni-
versity.

with Avimelech begins "And
it came to pass at that time,"
and the binding of Isaac
opens with the ominous
passage "And it came to pass
after these events." The
rabbis, as perceptive readers
of the Pentateuch, knew that
no single episode of the two
chapters — not even the
deceptively simple birth of
Isaac — could be understood
properly without reading the
entire two chapters. What
did they see?
What they saw was not
Isaac or Sarah, but Abra-
ham. From the 12th chapter
of Genesis, we have followed
Abraham, from the initial
bidding by God to leave his
father's house, through the
covenants of the halves (ch.
15) and of circumcision (ch.
17), to the noble but futile
defense of Sodom (ch. 18). He

The anniversary of
the world's
creation is a theme
that permeates the
holiday liturgy.

not only has entered into a
special relationship with
God, he has even gained
God's trust: God knows that
cN
Abraham will raise his chil-
dren to act righteously and
justly (18:19).
As if to corroborate God's
promise that Isaac repre-
sents the continuation of the
covenant, the Torah relates
the fate of other potential "<
heirs: Lot and Ishmael.
Lot, the nephew adopted
by Abraham, when given the
opportunity, leaves his spiri-
tual father and settles in
Sodom. Abraham's influence
is still noticeable in Lot's
hospitality (19:1-3), but
Sodom leaves its mark on
Lot, resulting in a pitiful
epilogue of passive incest
(19:30-38).
Ishmael as well is cast out,
as the first day's reading
reports. But the act is not
gratuitous; Abraham's
firstborn son is seen
"mocking" at the party
marking Isaac's weaning
(21:8). Sarah realizes im-
mediately that the young
man's actions are a mimicry
of his mother; Sarah refers
to Ishmael as "the son of
Hagar" (v. 9), and she bids
Abraham cast out "this
bondwoman and her son" (v.
10).
At first glance, Sarah's
harsh insistence that Abra-
ham cast Ishmael out ap-