What a perfect portion for this morning. We’ve just celebrated the wonderful naming of Ruth. You have brought your child here to give her a Hebrew name, to dedicate her to the Jewish people, to G-d. How appropriate in this month of Kislev, the month of Hanukkah, the word itself means dedicate.
This portion is all about descendants and their names. You didn’t select one of those names.
Our portion begins with Rachel giving birth. She names the child Ben Oni, son of my sorrow but Jacob calls him Binyamin, son of my right hand.
Sadly, she died. Right there on the road to Bethlehem. Near Hebron, also called Kiryat Arbah. Those name places are still in the news, especially at this season.
Children should be seen but not heard was a former method of parenting. Children are a burden, according to an old Scottish story that becomes part of the charming Brownie Story. The poor shoemaker was upset that the children weren’t helping with any chores. The children consult a wise old owl who tells them to be the brownies, the fairies that their father had wished for. They return home and secretly begin doing those chores. They learn that children are a blessing.
Psalms teach us: “Children are a heritage of God, the fruit of the womb is a precious reward.” (Psalm 127:3)
We have just seen right here this morning that children are indeed a blessing.
In the old days, including Biblical times, a woman’s worth was defined by her children. Being barren was seen as a curse from G-d. We have examples of Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah and Racel herself, all of whom were barren. Given birth was a scary event. Jewish women attending a birth would circle the birthing stool with a red thread to protect the mother and child and to ward off Lilith.
If you walk through an old cemetery in New England, you find too many graves that are simply labeled mother or baby. Those babies don’t even have a name. In an agricultural economy, women had many children in order to work in the fields.
Maternal health improved in this country for decades. But access to maternal health care has not been equitable. Sadly, maternal health in this country has slipped in recent years.
“80 percent of maternal deaths are preventable—yet in the US, the maternal health crisis has only worsened in recent years. Even as one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, the US ranks 55th in the world for maternal mortality, according to a 2020 WHO report—the worst of any developed nation.” https://perelelhealth.com/blogs/news/maternal-health-crisis#:~:text=80%20percent%20of%20maternal%20deaths,worst%20of%20any%20developed%20nation.
Those numbers are predicted to become worse as we have heard the stories of women being denied necessary, needed health care with various abortion bans in some states. At this stage we are still lucky in Illinois.
Yet, we have had examples of mothers who have lost full term babies, even here at CKI. We have had women who have wanted to conceive and could not. There was another baby born this week at CKI, and we will be delighted to name her soon and welcome her warmly into the CKI community. The family went through IVF. As their facebook announcement proclaimed: “We hold space and light for anyone struggling with infertility and will always chat with folks who want to learn more about fertility treatments and support systems.”
The text tells us that Rachel wept for her children.
She continued to weep:
Thus said GOD:
A cry is heard in Ramah—
Wailing, bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone.
Thus said GOD:
Restrain your voice from weeping,
Your eyes from shedding tears;
For there is a reward for your labor
—declares GOD:
They shall return from the enemy’s land.
And there is hope for your future
—declares GOD:
Your children shall return to their country.
Jeremiah 31:15-17
On that road to Bethlehem there is a shrine that is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Rachel’s Tomb, Kever Rachel in Hebrew, Qabr Rachil in Arabic. It has been a source of comfort for mothers facing infertility. I have known women who have gone to Kever Rachel for precisely this reason. Yet the borders in that part of the Middle East are still very much in dispute and who has access on any given day can be in question. The security risks are real.
Rachel is still weeping for her children. This has been particularly true this year. I watched a video recently of three Rachels, Rachel Goldberg Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg Polin, Rachel Goldberg, mother of Avi Goldberg who fell in battle, moderated by Rachel Shransky Danziger on the yahrzeit, Heshvan 11 by tradition of our matriarch Rachel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpCxgee7aDY
The weeping continues. When Hersh was killed there were several poems written. I went looking for them in preparing for today. I found one, on JTA, by my dear friend Rabbi Menachem Creditor:
i dreamt I was dreaming
that a crying sky was imagined
that rachel’s cry could still be heard
that comfort would still be possible.
i woke
to my People’s shattered heart
and photos of six precious Jewish children
whose cries are no longer heard.
may their souls finally be at rest.
i walk through a haze
my mind races
my heart cries
rachel, rachel, crying for her child.
i cry with you.
Menachem Creditor
As he said at the end of the article, “As long as any Rachel weeps, our work is not done. We must continue to be her voice, her hands, her hope, building a future where the promise of return and safety is fulfilled for those still in darkness.”
We all cry, just like Rachel. We cry for those unable to conceive, unable to get the health care they deserve, we cry for the remaining hostages and their families, we cry for those displaced in the North and the children going to school in hotel ballrooms, we cry for children used as pawns and human shields. We cry for the children injured in unnecessary wars, in Gaza, in Syria, in Ukraine, in Darfur. We cry. We cry. We cry.
Yet, we dare to hope. We hope right here in Elgin. Because children are our guarantors. Our legacy. Yes. Children are our blessing. Mazel tov!