Berakhot 31
Today’s reading focuses on long-suffering, silent and obedient Hannah: “And Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved and her voice could not be heard.” She is accused of being a drunk because her lips moved but no sound came out. In actuality, as the childless wife of Elkanah, who was cruelly treated by his “more fruitful” wife Pennina, she was praying her heart out begging God to deliver a son to her. Her silent prayers and suffering through the punishing treatment by Pennina and a husband and Rabbi who do not understand her, resonate with the stories of thousands of years of women who suffer in silence.
Hannah is so desperate she offers to undergo a primitive ritual designed to determine if a wife has been unfaithful in order to be given a blessing which will allow her to conceive. Hannah, through all her suffering, demonstrates incredible grace under pressure. She may be praying in silence, but she has great determination and a strong inner voice.
But there are more trials for Hannah. The Rabbi who originally heard Hannah’s fervent prayers threatens to kill the son she eventually conceived, Samuel, because he issued a halakhic in the presence of his teacher and showed disrespect to an authority figure. (It may be that this is a form of hyperbole for some less extreme punishment, but the text says death). Hannah is told not to worry because God “will grant you a son who be greater than this one.” So, she prays again and saves her Samuel and he goes on to be a great man. It is suggested that the son she prayed for with so much patience and passion can be easily replaced. How can a human being and someone’s beloved son be so dispensable? How unlike this passage is from the one in Berakhot28 where there is a place for a young man’s ideas. In this case, a young man who has strong opinions can be threatened with death.
This is truly a difficult passage because it assumed that a barren woman is guilty (of something.) Also disturbing is the text which mentions that an acquitted woman who is barren will be blessed with children who are tall, fair and male. And how horrible for a woman to drink dirty water mixed with a dissolved scroll and debris in order to prove her innocence. It is likely that the water is contaminated, and the woman will fall sick and potentially die. Were women falsely accused for the sake of the husband’s convenience and put through this cruel ritual? What happened to men who engaged in extra-marital affairs? Did they just take another wife?
Hannah’s story reminded me how difficult it is to live one’s life. I thought when I was younger I just had to mature and build a stable life and things would get easier. But life is full of constant challenges and doesn’t really get any easier; we just get older. The career I originally trained for disappeared as research jobs were moved mostly off-shore decades ago and I had to reinvent myself many times since I started working in 1980. People I love have been stricken with illness and died. I was diagnosed with breast cancer about 18 months ago. I am fine now but live with the fear that it will come back. Like Hannah, there seems to always be another difficulty to contend with. I am not under the impression that my “golden years” will in fact be golden. But like Hannah, I have dealt with it all without turning to the bottle.