Shabbat Chaye Sarah

Written by Rabbi Dr Michael Shire Tuesday, 29 November 2005

Chayei Sarah

This week’s parashah, the life of Sarah, reflects two College programmes that are currently taking place and exemplifies the richness of the biblical text in playing a part in rabbinic education. This is the only parashah that is named after a woman and includes within it the story of Rebekah, another of our powerful matriarachs. Despite these explicit narratives outlining the relationships the matriarchs had directly with God and the role they played in shaping the birth of Judaism, rabbinic literature seeks to place women in the category of ‘other’. Since they are not men, they are exempt from the positive time-bound commandments and eventually relegated to second class citizenship. This week for the first time, rabbinic students are studying on an interdisciplinary seminar on the theme of ‘the Other’. This is an experiment to engage all the rabbinic students together in carefully looking at that which is Other from a variety of perspectives: Halacha which sets out a life’s path for a man raises questions about those who are ‘other’. Non-legal Jewish literature especially theology tries to explain or describe that which is ‘Divinely Other’ in our lives. Interpersonal relations especially for rabbis requires engagement with many ‘others’ often raising concerns about the place of the self and self worth. Finally as liberal Jews, we understand that there are other ways of approaching God and coming to learn about ourselves more through the dialogue we have with other faith traditions.

As the story of Abraham and Sarah come to an end in this week’s parashah and before we read of Isaac’s story next week, we are reminded of Ishmael, the key ‘other’ in our national destiny. Beginning with the words that will introduce Isaac; ‘these are the generations of Ishmael’ (Genesis 25:12), we learn of the 12 tribes born to Ishmael and their destiny to become another great nation protected by God. The College’s Jewish Muslim lecture series held at SOAS throughout November in conjunction with the Maimonides Foundation is a testimony to reaching out to the Other and realizing that there is much to learn in this dialogue. As one speaker put it, this dialogue of Jews, Christian and Muslims is not a means to envisage a golden future together, rather it is a reminder that we have such a past as evidenced by the 800 years of medieval Spain and we simply have to recapture its essence.

How important the Other is in our work will be explored by the rabbinic students this week and by participants in Jewish Muslim dialogue. The biblical narrative does not shy away from challenging us to continually look beyond our selves, our communities and nations in order to truly understand the life of Sarah, Abraham and all of us.

Rabbi Dr Michael Shire