Rabbi Howard Morrison

It could not have been easy for Abraham. When Sarah was barren, she encouraged her husband to have relations with Hagar so that he could have a son. When Yishmael was a young boy, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. One day, Sarah witnessed Yishmael being METZACHEK toward Isaac. Commentaries abound on the perilous behavior displayed by the older half brother Yishmael to his younger sibling Isaac:

Yishmael was mocking Isaac.

Yishmael was persecuting Isaac.

Yishmael was claiming Isaac's covenantal status.

Yishmael was abusing Isaac, perhaps sexually.

Sarah understands that the two boys cannot co-exist. She demands of Abraham that Hagar and Yishmael must go. Unsure what to do, Abraham hears God's voice, "Shma B'Kolah - Listen to her (Sarah's) voice." Abraham listens.

The call by God to Abraham to listen to Sarah's voice could not have been easy. Throughout his spiritual development, Abraham was a unifier, one who sought inclusion and not exclusion. Abraham sought to bring people of all backgrounds into a belief in one God, uniting them under the canopy of the divine presence. The same Abraham challenged God not to destroy two wicked cities if there were even ten righteous among them. The same Abraham fought to rescue his nephew Lot after neighboring kings had taken him hostage. Abraham was principled about unity, inclusion, seeking a peaceful path. It had to have been painful for Abraham to heed Sarah's voice and banish Hagar and Yishmael from the household.

With sympathy to their plight, the Torah makes clear that God did not abandon mother and son, and an angel leads them to fresh water. The Torah then returns to the main narrative, the family of Abraham, Sarah, and Issac.

The day 1 Rosh Hashanah Torah reading is relevant today. The children of Sarah and Hagar, with minor exception, cannot co-exist. Those particular descendants of Yishmael who abhor Israel with violence simply cannot share a same space.

Almost two years ago, those particular descendants of Yishmael living in Gaza were METZACHEK on Isaac's descendants - mocking them, persecuting them, stealing their covenantal status, committing acts of brutality and sexual abuse.

It is right to sympathize with the pain of all who suffer. However, one must also assign the proper blame and responsibility that have caused the suffering - Hamas and its supporters. I must admit I lose sleep when the world at large, fellow Jews, and even rabbinic colleagues spend more energy faulting Israel's leadership and inadvertently enabling the world to almost forget about October 7 and the remaining hostages, who are either emaciated or dead.

I would advise Israel's critics who have never been to the area to spend one week in Israel and one week in Gaza and to share their comparisons and contrasts.

Did you know that already centuries ago with the birth of Islam, the Koran flipped many of the Isaac-Yishmael narratives, turning Yishmael into the covenantal son of Abraham?

I lament but understand that Hagar and Yishmael had to be banished.

I struggle but understand that for the sake of the first Jewish family's very survival, God had to instruct Abraham to listen to the voice of his wife Sarah.

We marvel that in recent years and decades Israel has made peace with Egypt and Jordan; that Israel has a relationship with the UAE - the United Arab Emirates. 

Now we hope and pray for the day when Israel and the Jewish people everywhere can have peaceful relationships with those particular descendants of Yishmael who on this exact day would want us dead.

It is ironic that while I was on vacation, I picked up a used copy of Dara Horn's best seller, "People love dead Jews," for only $10. Written in 2021, I am sure she could write additional chapters since that time to now.

At Abraham's funeral, the Torah informs us that both Isaac and Yishmael stood side by side to bury their father. Did Yishmael repent, as some ancient commentators suggest? Did Yishmael appear on the scene before his father died? Or only after his father died? Did Yishmael repair relationships with Isaac and/or Abraham? Did Yishmael come only for the funeral and then depart again and go his separate ways?

We will never know the answers to these questions. I hope and pray that in our lifetimes, we will see a genuine relationship between Israel and all Jews with those particular descendants of Yishmael who want us dead today. We dare not stop praying and working toward that goal no matter how far off it seems. In the meantime, with great pain and anguish, we understand how a troubled Abraham was commanded by God to listen his wife's, Sarah's voice.

Shana Tova,

Rabbi Howard Morrison