Sarah’s Laugh and Generational Birth: Reclaiming Sarah Emanu

In the presence of G-d, SarahThe first matriarch, wife of Abraham, and mother of Isaac, whom she birthed at the age of 90. Sarah, in Rabbinic tradition, is considered holy, beautiful, and hospitable. Many prayers, particularly the Amidah (the central silent prayer), refer to God as Magen Avraham – protector of Abraham. Many Jews now add: pokehd or ezrat Sarah – guardian or helper of Sarah. Emanu sat scoffing but secretly fearing:
“Do I deserve the good?
And the grace-flilled?
And the life-giving?”
And although she bore life, she is remembered to have laughed coldly in its face.
But what if her jeer was her coping?
And her knowing?
And her humanity?
We, who greet the miracles amidst the bitterness and the real.
We are like Sarah.
Mother to curiosity.
Mother to doubt.
Mother to the scholar and the Dairy Man.
But moreover, Mother to the generations of women who question the world and, too, the Word.