From the Whirlwind: A suggested Torah Reading for Rosh Hashanah 5786 (based on the structure we created and used at TBO, R”H 5785)

Traditionally, two echoing stories are read during the morning services on Rosh Hashanah: On the first day we read the story of the birth of Yitsḥaq and the expulsion of Avraham’s eldest son Yishmael, and on the morning of the second day we read the story of the binding of Yitsḥaq. These two difficult stories tell of internal family strife, of the yearning for belonging and security, of a father who is willing (with pain and sorrow?) to sacrifice his sons. Fortunately for Avraham both his sons survive, but we their descendants, still bear the heavy moral wound that was engraved in the souls of Yitsḥaq and Yishmael.

Last year, on Rosh Hashanah 5785, I realised we couldn’t read the stories on separate days – they each speak the pain of a father’s betrayal, the pain of loss and loneliness. On that Rosh Hashanah, we were about to mark almost one year since the horror of October 7. To my amazement here we are preparing to mark almost two years from that day, and our nightmare and that of our neighbours is not yet over. Two harsh years in which narratives seem to have solidified, shedding their question marks, and at the same time we find ourselves in ongoing conceptual chaos, “And Adonai answered Job from the whirlwind and He said” (Job 38:1), chaos in which even in its horror there is divine manifestation. To be precise, revelation is not necessarily a positive or pleasant thing; it is essentially a moment when the veil is torn, lifted, and we see an image of Creation that is beyond the constructed and orderly human reality. We suddenly experience middat anavah/humility thrown upon us against our will, and the complexity of creation and the complexity of reality are revealed to us, and we stand vulnerable in the face of this understanding.

Good myth takes us into these primordial moments, precisely to the place that is utterly raw, exposed and painful because it is the space of creation and the space of truth. We will not discuss the concept of truth here, but rather myth and the way in which myth and ritual help us create a place in our minds and bodies to contain the chaos, even if only for a moment. Ritual creates a personal and communal space where we are invited to embody myth, to connect with our ancestors, to connect and express our emotions, fears and desires.

The Torah reading ceremony I propose for Rosh Hashanah uses the traditional texts we always read and draws on the complexity of Torah itself and the way our myths create a sacred space, for us to contain a turmoil of narratives. On Rosh Hashanah last year (5785), we opened two Torah scrolls and read the stories of Isaac and Yishmael simultaneously, here’s what I wrote to our Torah readers as we prepared for the High Holidays: “Both these readings tell a many-layered story, but I want us to hear both stories at once. I think one of the things we’ve lost is the ability to make room for multiple narratives, for allowing compassion both for our own people and for others. For our own children and for the children of others.”

This reading does not ask us to collapse our identity and abandon our history; all it tries to do is offer us tools to create a healthier Jewish consciousness and spark hope for a sustainable future.

Setting the stage (“choreography”)

1. Take out two Torah scrolls and place them on two tables, one next to or across from the other. This reading can be done even if there is only one Sefer in the synagogue, as the readings are very close together in the scroll. It is therefore advisable to prepare a table long enough to allow the scroll to be opened for both stories and to place the readers next to each other.

2. Each aliyah has two readers and only one person reciting the blessing! Each aliyah will bring a section from the story of Yitsḥaq and a section from the story of Yishmael. If there are two Torah scrolls, each story is read from a different scroll, and in this way the stories “progress” together. Note: if your community is not Hebrew speaking, you can add a Turgeman/translator, a community member whose job is to read aloud both readings in English (or the local language if they speak another language) at the end of each aliyah.

3. Whether or not a reading in the local language is included, it’s important to help the community notice how the stories speak and echo each other, and in a way, teach us about the deep source of the wound we carry. Such a reading requires the prayer leader to add time to study and reflect on this experience, perhaps not during the service, but certainly before or after, or in the days of Elul that lead us into the new year.

Torah reading
Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:1-19)
Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:1-21)

Aliyah 1

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:1-3)
¹ Now after these events it was that Elohim tested Avraham and said to him: “Avraham!” He said: “Here I am.” ² He said: “Pray take your son, your only-one, whom you love, Yitsḥaq, and go-you-forth to the land of Moriyya/Seeing, and offer him up there as an offering-up upon one of the mountains that I will tell you of.” ³ Avraham started-early in the morning, he saddled his donkey, he took his two serving-lads with him and Yitsḥaq his son, he split wood for the offering-up and arose and went to the place that Elohim had told him of.

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:1-5)
¹ Now YHVH took account of Sarah as he had said, YHVH dealt with Sarah as he had spoken. ² Sarah became pregnant and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the set-time of which Elohim had spoken to him. ³ And Avraham called the name of his son, who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him: Yitsḥaq/He Laughs. ⁴ And Avraham circumcised Yitsḥaq his son at eight days old, as Elohim had commanded him. ⁵ Avraham was a hundred years old when Yitsḥaq his son was born to him.

Aliyah 2

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:4-6)
⁴ On the third day Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Avraham said to his lads: “You stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad wish to go yonder, we wish to bow down and then return to you.” ⁶ Avraham took the wood for the offering-up, he placed them upon Yitsḥaq his son, in his hand he took the fire and the knife. Thus the two of them went together.

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:6-8)
⁶ Now Sarah said: “Elohim has made laughter for me, all who hear of it will laugh for me.” ⁷ And she said: “Who would have declared to Avraham: Sarah will nurse sons? Well, I have borne him a son in his old age!” ⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham made a great drinking-feast on the day that Yitsḥaq was weaned.

Aliyah 3

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:7-9)
⁷ Yitsḥaq said to Avraham his father, he said: “Father!” He said: “Here I am, my son.” He said: “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering-up?” ⁸ Avraham said: “Elohim will see-for-himself to the lamb for the offering-up, my son.” Thus the two of them went together. ⁹ They came to the place that Elohim had told him of; there Avraham built the place-for-slaughter and arranged the wood and bound Yitsḥaq his son and placed him on the place-for-slaughter atop the wood.

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:9-11)
⁹ Once Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Mitsri-woman, whom she had borne to Avraham, laughing. . . . ¹⁰ She said to Avraham: “Drive out this slave-woman and her son, for the son of this slave-woman shall not share-inheritance with my son, with Yitsḥaq!” ¹¹ The matter was exceedingly bad in Avraham’s eyes because of his son.

Aliyah 4

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:10-12)
¹⁰ And Avraham stretched out his hand, he took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But YHVH’s messenger called to him from heaven and said: “Avraham! Avraham!” He said: “Here I am.” ¹² He said: “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, do not do anything to him! For now I know that you are in awe of Elohim – you have not withheld your son, your only-one, from me.”

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:12-15)
¹² But Elohim said to Avraham: “Do not let it be bad in your eyes concerning the lad and concerning your slave-woman; in all that Sarah says to you, hearken to her voice, for it is through Yitsḥaq that seed will be called by your (name). ¹³ But also the son of the slave-woman – a nation will I make of him, for he too is your seed.” ¹⁴ Avraham started-early in the morning, he took some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar – placing them upon her shoulder – together with the child and sent her away. She went off and roamed in the wilderness of Be’er-shava. ¹⁵ Now when the water in the skin was at an end, she threw the child under one of the bushes,

Aliyah 5

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:13-15)
¹³ Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw: here, a ram was caught behind in the thicket by its horns! Avraham went, he took the ram and offered it up as an offering-up in place of his son. ¹⁴ Avraham called the name of that place: ‘YHVH Sees.’ As the saying is today: ‘On YHVH’s mountain (it) is seen.’ ¹⁵ Now YHVH’s messenger called to Avraham a second time from heaven

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:16-18)
¹⁶ And [Hagar] went and sat by herself, at-a-distance, as far away as a bowshot, for she said to herself: “Let me not see the child die!” So she sat at-a-distance, and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ But Elohim heard the voice of the lad. Elohim’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her: “What ails you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for Elohim has heard the voice of the lad there where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and grasp him with your hand, for a great nation will I make of him!”

Maftir

Story of Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:16-19)
¹⁶ And [Elohim’s messenger] said: “By myself I swear – YHVH’s utterance – indeed, because you have done this thing, have not withheld your son, your only-one, ¹⁷ indeed, I will bless you, bless you, I will make your seed many, yes, many, like the stars of the heavens and like the sand that is on the shore of the sea; your seed shall inherit the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸ all the nations of the earth shall enjoy blessing through your seed, in consequence of your hearkening to my voice.” ¹⁹ Avraham returned to his lads, they arose and went together to Be’er-shava. And Avraham stayed in Be’er-shava.

Story of Yishmael (Genesis 21:19-21)
¹⁹ Elohim opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; she went, filled the skin with water, and gave the lad to drink. ²⁰ And Elohim was with the lad as he grew up, he settled in the wilderness, and became an archer, a bowman. ²¹ He settled in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife from the land of Mitsrayim.