Rosh Hashana 5787 | Chana's Silent Prayer

0:00And welcome back everyone to our week of discussion on the Haftoro. After seven long weeks we've finished the Shibad-e-Nachamta and we should, by all accounts, be back to regular Haftoro but of course we're not because this week is Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Hashanah much like the Haftoro doesn't have a paesha that you read regularly. It has in Yannadeemah, it has the theme of the day as Chosen Mahchazal. So if the theme for the first day of Rosh Hashanah, I'll be honest with you. I could have picked one of the two days. I'm picking the Haftoro that's from the theme we've shown him that has a narrative that's easier to have insights into. Yes, it's the easy way out for me. But it's also very interesting Haftoro and fascinating things to say. Okay, so the first thing is if we're going to read Vaashampakalad Sarah on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, how Sarah was in Akhara and she eventually gave birth to Yitzra Kavino,

1:03it makes sense in the Haftoro and that much explanation needed for why this story of Khanna, who was in Akhara and eventually gave birth to Shmuel, well that's the Haftoro for this week's paesha. As it happens, the Gammara points out that B'Rosh Hashanah nifkida Sarah, Rakhel, Khanna, very difficult to understand why but the idea is it's something unique about Rosh Hashanah and something unique about the pikkida or the redeeming or the remembering of barren women. And we have in our history any number of great women who were barren. And it's another difficult Gammara. The Gammara says that Akhara is a very good friend of mine, and therefore he made them a car out. You know, it's hard to understand why Akhara Shvar would have done that. On the other hand, the idea that Akhara Shvar was made to have El-Tafil-Atainu is a lovely

2:04idea and one that we definitely believe in. Okay, but let's start with the story. The story of course begins in the house of El-Khanna, who had two wives, Penina and Khanna. Penina was blessed with children and Khanna was not. And Khanna not just that she was not, washem-sagad-rahmah. It wasn't just a natural instance of infertility. God stopped her from having children. Khanna was of course the favorite wife. Penina was certainly number two. There's no possible that says that El-Khanna hated Penina like the Pusks seems to say about Leia's relationship with the husband Yaakov. And obviously the Pasha has enormous, enormous parallelism to the story of Yaakov, Raheel and Leia. We'll touch that in a few minutes. But basically that's the setup. It must have been exceptionally hard for Khanna in that house.

3:05You know, she was the word for two wives is Sara and it's not a coincidence. They are at Sara to each other in every way possible. But certainly if one wife like Penina has many children and Khanna doesn't, you know, makes it almost impossible for Khanna. And yet the pastor describes it very, very vanilla like, velosh-tainashem, sheh-machat-khanna ve sheh-mashemid penina, vehilif penina yiladim, ullachhanna-eindiladim. It seems almost like that's just the fact. Nothing much about it. Now the medrusha make clear that penina went out of her way to make Khanna's life miserable. A medrusha bad penna, say, Khanna, aren't you going to get up early to wash your children's clothes for school? Well, she has no children. Aren't you going to prepare snacks for your children after school? Right penina did not miss an opportunity to make Khanna feel bad. And that's really, really hard. It's not revealed in the introduction to the story, but it is revealed later on.

4:10Says the navi, vehilha-yom, vehiz-bach-a-ul-kanna, ve nathan-lifinina, ijtol-hul-khal-banau, uvenot-al-manaut. Right? So as it happens, al-kanna was committed to the idea of al-e-yala-ragel. And so it's a subtext and a half-tar, but you should know. That was a myth for that he was very committed to. That Khanna really wanted to go to the Shiloh to Daventakarashbach, so al-Kanna went with her. But anyway, they were all into that. Ule Khanna, yitain-manaha, khat-a-pahim, ki yad Khanna-ahave, wa-shem-sagar-akhma. Right? So he gave the best portion to Khanna because he loved Khanna and for whatever reason, God did not give children to Khanna. Now, vachhi-assatat-saratat-gam-kass, bavoh-harimah, ki sar-ashem-bad-ra-akhma. And her-hardsara, pinina, you know, tortured her over it and looted it over her and made it clear that she's not getting what God should have given her.

5:14And that hurt Khanna. Vachhain-ya-sash-shana, b-shana-mide-al-otab, we-ta-shem, kaint-ha-kisana, vat-if-ke-valot-okhe-l. Right? And that kind of tortured her every year when they went to the bait-hashem. And Khanna didn't eat, she cried, very sad, really, really, very sad. So it's a curiosity as to why the first positive that we quoted presents things just in a factual way, non-judgmentally, non-emotionally, and later on, it's so-ke-make-e-clear, the emotion that's behind the story. But that's just a side point that we don't have really have time to get into. So what's clear is that Khanna's life is nothing short of hellish. Right? The house is ringing with the sounds of penina and our children and penita and caribbean children and Khanna's by herself. And it must be exceptionally hard for her to live that way. Really so. If you think back to Rakhel-Naya, you know, and you feel Rakhel's pain and jealousy as

6:15the Paul's success at her sister, the same thing must have been the case. Khanna and penina, but even more so, because penina seems to be mean. And penina seems to be shoving Khanna's face in it, and that must have been exceptionally hard. Okay? And then we come to a post-doc that's widely quoted to show El Khanna in a bad light. And I admit to you, first when you look at the post-doc, it does read that way. But I want to say something in El Khanna's defense and it's something that I think is true. The post-doc says, Khanna, why are you so sad? Aren't I better than 10 sons? So most people would say, I'm not saying, I'm not dismissing it. You know, what a fool, El Khanna, he doesn't realize the pain of being infertile. There are two different things. Yes, it's great that you love your wife, but she can't have children. And that's exceptionally painful for her.

7:16And why are you trying to say, oh, don't be upset at the inability to have children. I'm better than 10 children. What could that possibly mean? But I think it does mean something, just like I think it was no coincidence that Khanna was an Akhara. Right? And I think if you're El Khanna, you use one of two approaches. You could say, yes, Khanna, I understand how this is painful and I don't say how difficult it is, but that's one approach. The other approach is you could say, listen, I know how painful it is for you, but I have children from my other wife and I love you so much and I want you to be happy. And I didn't marry you to have children. I married you for you. There is some truth to that. If you see your wife in pain and you can't fix it, and clearly El Khanna was unable to fix it, so you want to fix it in another way. If your wife complains that she doesn't have X in her life, so you tell her X isn't important.

8:18Maybe it's true, maybe it's natural, but if you want to make your wife feel better, you say that. Why does it bother you? How long ago, Anokhi, Toblach, Niasar, Abanim, okay, maybe not literally, but I'm your husband and we love each other and that should be enough. So that's one approach. The other approach is to say, well, maybe El Khanna didn't speak so properly, but he wasn't nearly as bad as Yaka Bavino and we love Yaka Bavino, right? But Tehre Rakhel Kilo Yaldaal Yakaav, Rakhel Soda, she didn't give birth, Vati Kaneh Rakhel Baha'uqotah, she was jealous of Leia. But Tom Rakhel Yakaav, Havoli Bhanim, Vimaiin, Maitanokhi, give me children and if not literally, you know, I'm going to kill myself. And that's horrible stuff. That's the pain of Akharut is just too much to bear. And Yakaav, who we know loved are answers.

9:20Vayikhar Aafiyah Kovbrachal, first of all, the positive tells you, he's angry and you could tell he's angry. She puts him on the spot, give me children, Vimaiin, Maitanokhi. So he's angry. Vayikhar Aafiyah Kovbrachal. Yomar, Hatachat Elohim Anochhi Asyem Anami Nech, Mimech Privatan. Amaiin God's place, God chose not to give you children. I didn't choose not to give you children, right? It's not something I can fix. It's beyond me, says Yaqog. And so he reacts angrily. But the medrish is even worse. The medrish says, Atomachyaisekaba. He used to say, I should do abam for you, like you just struck the abam for Rifka and it all worked out. Ani, Ani, Kaaba. Abba, when my father do abam, Taashem, Lahayulalbanim. Right? He didn't have any children. He didn't have another wife. So he do abam for himself and for his wife. But Ani, Yashni, banim. And then the zinger.

10:20Mimech Manah, Vlomimeni. He gets with holding children from you, not from me. That's really, really mean. And that's really, really harsh. And again, to defend Yaqog, you know, he was put on the spot and he reacted emotionally, he reacted angrily. But that's difficult. Right? And the medrish says, Amalakarash brochu, Ka khonim atameikot. Is that how you speak to a woman who's in pain of what's going on? You mean to her? Khayyachashabana khatidimlamodifne binah. Right? Satsaqash brochu, I swear to you that one day your children, meaning Yuhudah and his brothers, the children of Leya, will have to stand in front of the children of Rahal, meaning Yosef, and beg for his mercy. And that's exactly what happened. So the sense you get, not just the sense, the fact of matter is that Yaqog, you know, he responded much more angrily and much more sharply than did Al-Kana.

11:23I'm not sure why Al-Kana gets such bad press for it, but maybe we'll fix it, maybe we won't. Okay. Okay. So despite what we're going through, you know, watching what his wife went through, Al-Kana doesn't respond in anger. He really tries to speak to her in a way to convince her that having children isn't so critical for her. Again, Al-Kana, you could say she feels terrible for her husband, he doesn't have any children, but Al-Kana had children, right? And so he challenges the premise, my love is the most important thing ever. I think there's something to it. Okay. Fine. The story continues. Batakum khana khare al-Khobishilov a khreisha to vei ni akahin yoh shaybal akise al-Muzuzat hechala sham. So Khana now comes to the kodesh, I know exactly how looked in shilov, and she comes to Daven, an aili who's the calling girl who was watching. Vehi Ma'at naf, an aafash, she's incredibly sad, Batit palel al-Hashem uva khoutif qe'

12:27and she's crying at akah shbahu, Batidor neder va tomar, Hashem tzfakot. I'm raotirab baani amatachah uze khartani, ve low tishkach at amatachah, right? akah shbahu, if you remember me and you respond to me, we not atala amatachah zahana shem and I get pregnant, unetativ la shem kog yameh hayav, umar al-humar al-o ya ala al-rosho. I will give that child back to you akah shbahu, right? I'll give him back to you and Hobir Nazir. So first of all, Khazal point out that it's the first time in history that anybody referred to God as Hashem tzfakot. Okay, all kinds of discussions, you know, what does that mean? Hashem tzfakot in English is least more or less as translet as you know, the God of all hosts. So that fits with the Ghamaran brokhos, as that is Batidor neder va tomar Hashem tzfakot, Meeyom shbahu akah shbahu at olamau, lo haya adam shakir ala akah shbahu tzfakot,

13:35ad shbahu akhana ukrato tzfakot. Right? She's the first person to ever refer to Hashem tzfakot. What does she mean? Amra Khan alif naya akah shbahu, huibonu shalom, mikot svaid sfakot shbahu ataba olamaha ka she baynaha she tithin i baynahaad. Right? Akah shbahu, you created everything in the world. You've created all the world and all the world's hosts and everything about it. One sun is so difficult. Okay? That's the simple pshad. But it also reminds of a possible other pshad that we have made that close in the haftara and it's a fascinating idea. First the psookim and their harp psookim ve elizza kein mo'od, not from the parasha. Isshama eid kala shayya asun banav lukhald israel ve itashayyishkevunat hanashim had ssoboot ptakomoy. A, these two sons, khafni and penhas, they did something bad.

14:37It sounds terrible. Eidashayyishkevunat hanashim had ssoboot ptakomoy. Let's just, we won't even translate. Eidashayyishkevun. But the nashim had ssoboot reminds us of something. That's fascinating. That's possible. Yama lahem, lomat asu kadvoim hoilah ashaan okhish shamati virekhemro im aid kala amla eilah. Why do I have to hit a slush and har about you, says aili, whether he knew was true or not? I don't know. He tells the son to stop. His son's to stop it. So what's really going on? So the pshad is, says the rave mingdan and others. At some level, bnai aili forced women to wait extra time to bring their carbonos in shiloh. And they had to sleep close to shiloh because they had to be there. And the morning, if that's when Khafni and Pinachas chose to bring their carbonos. So it's an opportunity for misbehavior, shall we say, as opportunity for sexual immorality. And that explains the famous gmara. Right?

15:38Erid is heard this in one form or another. Says the gmara in brachas. Amrabalaazar. Amraqhaan alif-niakarashbhachu. He's keelu bribing, not bribing, but threatening him. Rebonish alaulam. Imraamutav. And imlotirah. If you give me a son fine. And if not, ailach ve'est tatar bifne el-kanabali. I will go and get my husband el-kanah to warn me, not to have yichord with ex. Vikev o de mis tatar naa. And once I violate what he warns me, masch kule me sota. So I'll have no choice but to bring me to the shiloh and to give me me my sota. Viyatau sator, traplastair. And you're not going to make you turn to a joke. Shennama, vniksa, vinesraazara. Meaning if you bring a woman and she drinks the me sota and she's innocent, well, then she'll be fertile and then she'll have a child.

16:38So she's threatening a kashborkhu by way of this. And this is Rob Medan's idea. Rob Medan says, the nashim had sova oat that the possekin Shmuel refers to, the next parake by the way, reminds us of the original nashim had sova oat, right? Says it toren, Shmuel's in Lamid ches, the end of safe Shmuel's. Viyatau sator, traplastair. And he says, the nashim had sova oat, the nashim had sova oat. And he says, the nashim had sova oat, the nashim had sova oat. Khanna wasn't just complaining for herself. And she was just begging the nashim, because she wanted the son. She was complaining for all the women who came to the mishkan shiloh and were mistreated by Khafni and Pinchas. She was just asking for herself. Hashem's faqoq reminds us of the nashim had sova oat, right? That's exactly what he's talking about. It's the complaint on behalf of a whole class of women.

17:42Okay, but we're getting a little away from the narrative. The most important point is that Khanna does exactly what Sura did and exactly what Rakhal did. What was that? They offer up something to akharsh Bukhul, they make a deal with him that he finds it difficult to say no, no, no, too. Now, I don't know how many years Khanna had come to shiloh to beg for his son. And I don't know if this is the first time she offered this deal to akharsh Bukhul. But much like Sura, heroically shows up one day and says to Avraham, listen, I'm an akhara, you need to marry Hagar. Now, Sura really believes in that moment that he's going to have a nation with Hagar and not with Sura. And that must have been painful to her. But she wanted Avraham to have the ability to have children and to form his own nation. And so she sacrificed in a heroic way, right? This same thing happened with Rakhalim Aino.

18:44Right after that story, then if I Yikhar Aafiak, O Bura Khel, but you know what, all right, then Rakhal says, okay, take Bihla. Ulai ibanami mana, maybe you'll have children through Bihla and I'll have that's khos. Right? So each of these women granted something, gave something to akharsh Bukhul so that he would respond to them. And now, O Sankhane is saying that, and not atala amat khazera anashim, unetatif la shem cold yume khayav, umorah lo yal ala rohshaw, I will give the son that you give me to you akharsh Bukhul. I'll give him back to you. Something that must have been exceptionally hard. You wait your whole life to have a son and you give him back to akharsh Bukhul. But that's exactly what happened. And she makes that deal. And she makes that deal. And the following happens, wahyaki here betalit pala lifne adonai, veili shamarat pia, so Ali is washing the whole thing. Ve khana, he middhabarat al-libah,

19:45raksif asana oat ve kala lohi shamaya, wa yakhshva aida lishikara. She's moving her lips, but her voice can't be heard. An Ali, Ali assumes, she's drunk. Vayom ala Ali, Admasay tish takarin, haas seriye deyeneikh me alaikh. Right Ali says, who's that really used to sing women in Mishkan Shiloh, he says get out, you drunk. Vatan khana vatoma, lo adonai, Ishak shadru a khanaohi, viyain vi shekhal lo shatiti, wo ashpoh khat naabshi difne adonai. Right khana says, not shu, I'm sober, and I'm pouring out my heart, hakaarashboh khul al-Titanat am al-Thalif ne badliyal, kim arob sikh i bachasi di bati adhina. I'm speaking, I'm dawning, as I'm dawning, kus I'm so overwrought, by what's happened to me. Vayaan Ali, Vayom ala khil ishalom, ve lohi yisrael, yitanat shayla teikh as se shal al-Mai ima.

20:47And Ali says, none are going peace, and God should grant your wish. And I often think to myself, how critical is that moment? Is Ali right now confirming to Khana that how Khil is going to come true, and that's why it came true? Or something else? Is it really Khana's tfila and her offer to God that makes God agree with her? So my sense is that it wasn't Ali. I don't really have a real proof to that. I think first of all, the promise Ali makes, you know, yitanat shayla teikh, it sounds a little vague to me. It's possible that Ali didn't even know what she was dawdling for. So how could he have been dawdling for her? It's a little hard to know. Second of all, I think this is being more compelling. When the Torah tells us about Khana getting pregnant, it says, It doesn't say Vayesqar asham, Khashir dee bear Ali Hakohane, it just says Vayesqar asham.

21:47So the sense you get is that it's Khana's doing, and also the word Vayeda, as we have most Shadrachan's point out, is a very active word. We would have expected to see Vayavo El Khana Ishto. Vayeda means that El Khana had like Kavana, like Khana came home and said, it's gonna work this time, and he had Kavana and all worked out. Okay, finally, the end of the story. And Toma Biyadoni, Khainab Shakhadoni, Aniha Ishahani, Szevet Imhah Bazar, Lidparal Adonai. Khana comes back years later, with her son Shmuel, and she says to Ali, I'm the woman who's dawdling that time, El Hanar Hazahid Palalti, Vayetain Adonai, Li'ad Shaylati, A'shah Shalta Mehimah. I was dawdling for this son, God gave me exactly what I was looking for. Vigam Anokhi, He shilti u ladunoy, Kulha Yami Masha'a,

22:48Yohu Shau ladunoy, Vayishtakhusham ladunoy, right? A lot of joy, a lot of thank you, my karnashbharkhal. So first of all, that line, El Hanar Hazahid Palalti, how many times have we said things like this in our lives? And the answer is not that often, meaning sometimes God does answer our tri-lose, but are we then capable of saying to Akhushbharkhal? Thank you very, very much. This is exactly, this son is exactly what I dovid for, and now you've given him to me, and I'm so grateful, right? What a message for us on Rosh Hashanah, just to be able to say that, to look for something that we wanted, that we got, and then to thank God for it, right? And it wasn't just anybody she got, she gave birth to Shmuel, who was arguably the greatest not the ever, right? The reminder for us is not just that God can answer our tri-lose, is that God does answer our tri-lose.

23:49And when he does so, and we recognize it, that's really, really meaningful. Okay, so that's the story, but one last point, it's impossible to ignore another possible reason why we read the story on Rosh Hashanah, right? Rosh Hashanah is a day of tri-lose. It's a day of us begging Akhushbharkhal for our lives, and for all the things that we want. The half-tower stands for the Kha'ah-hat-filah, right, the power of Tfilah. We learn more halachos of the Havkha'h-hust-filah from the prayer of Hanna than we do for most any place else, right? Just as simple as possible, the Hanna, he medabaret al-Dibah, raks fa sana out, the Kala lo yishamaya, how do we damage Shmuel and astray? We move our lips, but we don't say that loud. Exactly as Hanna did, she was the first person to that way, that's our Manlo Shmuel and astray. We have nine astkarot, because of the Shema Shemus tonight, the all these different things we learned from Hanna. Rosh Hashanah is a yom-tfilah,

24:49not just for Akhharot, but for all of us, and there are all kinds of Akhharot, because Man has that, not just infertile women. There are all kinds of people who don't get what they want, and who are frustrated by Akhushbharkhal. And that's part of it. And that's the gmuran yamas, Yavamas, Yom Ramya Tsukh, we've named Mahayu Avoteno Akurim, really, so you can play Mahayu, we've named Mahayu Emo-teno Akhharot, we've named Shaakashro, Mithavela, Tfilatansh, Sadikim, because Shaakashro, who desires its philote of Sadikim, as difficult as the Ghmura is, the bottom line is, Shaakashro, Mithavela, Lithfilateno. He wants us to dominate him. He wants us to be able to stand in front of us, in front of him on the yom-tfilah den, he wants us to be able to do a moment where we, like Khan Asay, El Hanar, Hazahid Paralty, this is exactly what I was asking for Akhushbharkhal. Shana Toba,

25:49Ketiva Khatima Toba, Lakhal, Khulanu, and see you next week. Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Shalom.