Mothers

We have learned about the role of the wives and mothers in both Chumash and Navi class. We learned about how the promise of Zerah and Aretz could only be fulfilled through the children of both Avraham and Sarah. We learned about how the two of them prayed for a child. Their prayers were finally answered when they were aged 100 and 90: Yitzchak was born. A similar situation arose with Yitzchak and Rivkah. It took Rivkah roughly thirty years after marriage to have their twin sons, Esav and Yaakov. Once again, both spouses prayed for children. Even though they did this separately, they DID achieve their goal of having children. Yaakov and Rachel went through the same thing.

The mystery arises in Shoftim: the mother of Shimshon, who was also barren, is never given a name. During our analysis in class, Emma pointed out that maybe the fact that she does not have a given name relates to the fact that the Navi does not tell us that she prayed for a child. According to one commentary, during the Plishti oppression, it was dangerous to have children. Shimshon's mother apparently did not want to go through the whole ordeal of pregnancy just to have her only child killed in infancy. As a result, she did not pray. We know in hindsight that Shimshon was an essential player in the Shoftim cycle of his time. Without him, the Jews would have been completely defeated by the Plishtim. Also, the cycle stated that if the people repented, then G-d would send a savior to redeem them from their suffering. If that is the case, why was Shimshon born to people that didn't really want children and didn't make any effort to "beg" G-d for offspring?

Learning about all of these mothers and the power of their prayer (or lack thereof) has given a whole new meaning to being barren. All of these women had to go through some kind of test of faith. I believe that this was it. How would they react to their barrenness? How long would they wait and pray? It's just good food for thought. (I think that Shimshon's mother was nowhere close tot he spiritual level of the others and that she should have gone ahead and prayed for children anyway.)