From my home in Ramot, Jerusalem, I can see the tomb of Samuel the Prophet, one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history.
Living so close, I feel a kind of affinity to him and, on Rosh Hashanah when we read the story of his birth in the Haftarah, I think about his mother Channah and what she went through before she was privileged to have this child.
Like Sarah, Rivkah and Rachel, Channah was childless for many years. She too went through the agony of watching another woman bear her husband Elkana’s children. Peninah, Elkana’s second wife had many children and would taunt and mock Channah for her inability to conceive. Our sages tell us that she did this to make Channah pray harder for her own child, but even so this caused immense pain to Channah.
Every year Elkana took his whole family to Shiloh to give offerings at the Tabernacle. Afterwards he distributed portions to Peninah and all her children and gave a double portion to Channah as he loved her the most. But Channah couldn’t eat anything. She felt sick with Peninah’s torments and sitting on her own while Peninah was eating surrounded by all her children.
Elkana couldn’t bear to watch his favorite wife so upset. “Am I not better for you than ten sons?” he pleads with her in an attempt to make her feel better. At this, Channah realized that no one, not even her husband, understood the pain she felt. She left her family and walked off to the Tabernacle to the only One who understood her pain. She entered the Sanctuary, walking past Eli the high priest, and crying bitterly, she poured out her heart to Hashem, begging for a son and promising that if He granted her wish, she would dedicate her son to Hashem. She stood in front of the Holy of Holies for some time, silently mouthing her prayers and openly sobbing.
Eli watches her, and as he has never seen anyone pray in such a way, he concludes that she must be drunk. When he approaches her and asks her when she will stop drinking, she vehemently denies that she is drunk and explains that she is praying with pain and pouring out her soul to G-d. Eli, understanding his mistake, wishes her well and gives her a blessing that Hashem should grant her wish. After receiving Eli’s bracha, she returns to her family with a lighter heart.
One year later, when Elkana returns to Shilo, Channah is not with him as she is nursing and caring for her son Shmuel, whose name means Hashem heard (my prayer). When he is weaned, she once again goes with her husband, and this time she leaves Shmuel with Eli to be brought up in the service of Hashem as she had promised.
We read this Haftarah on the same day that the Torah reading is of Sarah and her long-awaited son Isaac. One of the reasons for this is that Rosh Hashanah is also known as Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance, and in both the stories we are told that on Rosh Hashanah Hashem ‘remembered’ Sarah and Channah and their heartfelt prayers for a child.
If you have ever been in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, you will have noticed how long the service usually is – far longer than an average Shabbat service. Some of the service is sung loudly by the chazzan alone and some with the congregation. Many tunes are well-known, eagerly awaited and sung each year. But when it comes to the Amidah, the longest Amidah of the year, suddenly it’s as though the volume switch is flipped off. The silence is tangible.
We learn how to daven the Amidah from Channah. As we see from Eli’s reaction, no one had ever prayed in the way she did. Her lips were moving (we have to enunciate each word), but her voice could barely be heard. This is how the Amidah prayer is said even today. We also learn from her never to be afraid of ‘bothering’ G’d with our personal wishes. She wasn’t embarrassed to beg Hashem and she openly sobbed as she knew that when all the other gates of prayer are closed, the gate of tears is always left open.
Soon we will all be in shul asking Hashem to grant us another year of life. We will be praying for our health and livelihood and also for the return of all our hostages and the healing of all our wounded soldiers.
Let’s pray that our wishes, for ourselves and our family and for all of the Jewish people wherever they live, will all be granted quickly.
