By Rabbi Guido Cohen
Asociación Israelita Montefiore Bogotá, Colombia
Parashat Vayeira contains, among other tales, the story of the expulsion of Hagar and her son Ishmael at the request of Sara that they must leave forever the home of Abraham. A powerful and moving tale like few others, the text shows Abraham blindly obeying his wife and God to ‘sacrifice’ his eldest son.
Only a few lines later, Abraham again obeys without question the mandate that imposes on him the sacrifice of his bond with his son and almost the very existence of young Isaac.
It is interesting that Sara, who some chapters ago had seen in Hagar the possibility of ‘building herself up’ and being a mother, now sees ‘that servant’ or ‘the Egyptian Hagar’ in the same person. When Sara needed Hagar, she was the one who could bring her closer to the dream of motherhood, a loyal and generous ally. But when she had her own biological son, then Hagar became a character that had to be marginalized. And with Hagar, little Ishmael, who had to leave Abraham’s camp forever to settle in the Arabic peninsula.
El Colegio Isaac Rabin, Noar y la Congregación Kol Shearith Israel organizaron juntos la 5°Edición del Festival Hazemer 2016 el Festival de la canción judía con canciones de ayer, de hoy y de siempre.
