The Shape of Absence: Parents and Creation in Rosh Hashanah
All the parents we encounter in Rosh Hashanah’s prayers are preoccupied with absences: Sarah and Hannah desire the children they don’t have, Hagar laments the child she is likely to lose, Rachel cries for the children she had lost, and Abraham is called upon to cause his child’s loss himself. Why are these parents introduced to us, primarily, through absence of their children? Why do we recall them as we celebrate the world’s creation? And how can their experiences enrich our lives?