Rosh Hashanah Week, Saturday Day #1
Torah Reading: Genesis 21:1-34
Mafter: Numbers 29:1-6
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 1:1-20
Genesis 21:1-34
21:1 Hashem visited Sarah as he had said, and Hashem did to Sarah as He had spoken. 2 Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which Hashem had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as Hashem had commanded him. 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “Hashem has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore, she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. 12 Hashem said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. 13 I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” 14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. 16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 Hashem heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of Hashem called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For Hashem has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19 Hashem opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 Hashem was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22 At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “Hashem is with you in all that you do. 23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by Hashem that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”
24 Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25 Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. 26 Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves, mean?”
30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” 31 Therefore, he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Hashem, the Everlasting God. 34 Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Mafter: Numbers 29:1-6
29:1 “‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Hashem: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect; 3 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs; 5 and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Hashem.
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 1:1-20
1:1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Hashem of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Hashem, were there. 4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters; 5 but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah, but Hashem had shut up her womb. 6 Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Hashem had shut up her womb. 7 So year by year, when she went up to Hashem’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore, she wept and didn’t eat. 8 Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of Hashem’s temple. 10 She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Hashem, weeping bitterly. 11 She vowed a vow, and said, “Hashem of Armies, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to Hahsem all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.”
12 As she continued praying before Hashem, Eli saw her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk.
14 Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
15 Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Hashem. 16 Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the Elohim of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.”
18 She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her facial expression wasn’t sad anymore.
19 They rose up in the morning early and worshiped Hashem, then returned and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and Hashem remembered her.
20 When the time had come, Hannah conceived and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Hashem.”
Today’s Meditation:
Two very special women, Sarah and Hannah, whom Hashem remembers and allows them to conceive. Truly a miracle for each of them and a reminder that Hashem hears our prayers, and is an Elohim of hope and love.
On Rosh Hashanah, it is a day of remembrance. We remember creation and anticipate Hashem’s judgment for the actions of our own lives. It is a time of introspection, prayer, and repentance. The shofar sounds to remind us of repentance. We celebrate the coming year by eating apples and honey. We “tashlich” and throw bread crumbs into nearby water to remind us of our sins. And if possible, we attend synagogue services.
Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the 10 days of awe and repentance. It leads to Yom Kippur. It is a very special time of spiritual reflection on the deeds of our past year, and the anticipation of a much better year to come.
