Hannah: A 5-Act Story

The story of Hannah "on one foot":

Hannah was a woman whom the rabbis chose as the model of prayer. In her case, she was praying for a child. She became the mother of the judge and prophet Samuel. She has become an inspiration for Jews suffering from infertility, and her story is the Haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

Act 1

Context: This is the very beginning of the Book of First Samuel. There was no Temple in Jerusalem yet, so people went to Shiloh since that's where the Ark of the Covenant was.

1. At what points could this story have turned out differently?

2. Did Elkanah make the right choice to give a portion of the sacrifice to his wife Peninah and portions to each of her kids, while giving one portion to Hannah?

3. This pairing of an infertile but more loved wife has come up before: Rachel and Leah, Sarah and Hagar. Why is Peninah choosing to taunt Hannah?

4. How might Elkanah be feeling in the face of Hannah's feelings?

5. Hannah could be read as depressed because she is crying, not eating, and "so sad". What would be the more useful thing for Elkanah to respond with?

​​​​​​​Act 2

1. At what points could this story have turned out differently?

2. Why might Hannah have said that her child would be a Nazirite?

3. What might have been an appropriate response if Eli thought that Hannah was drunk?

​​​​​​​4. How can you repay to G-d one of G-d’s gifts to you?

5. This story is read on Rosh Hashanah, a time of new beginnings. In this part of the story, Hannah has taken action to change her life after a repeated annual cycle of despair and torment in Act 1. What change might you want to bring to your life?

​​​​​​​Act 3

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. How might Elkanah have felt about his son being away from him all year?

3. How might Eli have felt to be given this 2 or 3 year old child to care for?

​​​​​​​Act 4

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. Is the idea that G-d lifts up and casts down a comforting idea for you?

3. If Penina heard this song, how might she have felt?

​​​​​​​Act 5

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. How might Samuel have felt about his mother, whom he only saw once a year?

3. What more might there be to Hannah’s identity besides being a mother?

Context: This is from Alicia Jo Rabin’s 2009 album “Girls in Trouble”. Lyrics and discussion questions can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/94839?lang=bi

A Readers’ Theatre Version of Hannah

Adapted from the Book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 1, by David Schwartz

Act 1

(Setting: Shiloh)

Narrator: Elkanah had two wives. Peninah had children and Hannah was childless. Every year, Elkanah went with his family to Shiloh to offer a sacrifice to G-d. He would give portions to Peninah and each of her children, but to Hannah he would only give one portion, even though he loved her the most. Peninah would taunt her each year about not having a child, just to make her miserable, and Hannah would weep and not eat.

Elkanah: Hannah, why are you crying and why aren’t you eating? Why are you so sad? Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?

Act 2

(Setting: Shiloh)

Narrator: After the eating was done, Hannah rose, not noticing that the priest Eli was near her.

Hannah: (weeping) O Lord of Hosts, if You will look upon the suffering of Your maidservant and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant a male child, I will dedicate him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.

Narrator: As she kept praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard.

Eli: How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Sober up!

Hannah: Oh no, my lord! I am a very unhappy woman. I have drunk no wine or other strong drink, but I have been pouring out my heart to the Lord. Do not take your maidservant for a worthless woman; I have only been speaking all this time out of my great anguish and distress.

Eli: Then go in peace, and may the G-d of Israel grant you what you have asked of the Lord.

Hannah: You are most kind to your handmaid.

Narrator: So Hannah left and she ate, and she was no longer downcast.

Act 3

Scene 1

(Setting: Elkanah’s house)

Narrator: Early the next morning they bowed low before the Lord, and they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah and the Lord remembered her. Hannah conceived, and at the turn of the year bore a son. She named him Samuel, meaning “I asked the Lord for him.” When Elkanah and his entire household were going to offer the annual sacrifice, Hannah did not go.

Hannah: When the child is weaned, I will bring him. For when he has appeared before the Lord, he must remain there for good.

Elkanah: Do as you think best. Stay home until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill G-d’s word.

Scene 2

(Setting: Shiloh)

Narrator: Hannah stayed home and nursed her son until she weaned him. Then she took him to Shiloh, along with three bulls, some flour, and a jar of wine. After making her sacrifice, she brought Samuel to Eli.

Hannah: Please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you and prayed to the Lord. It was this boy I prayed for, and the Lord has granted me what I asked. I, in turn, hereby lend him to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.

Narrator: And they bowed low there before the Lord.

Act 4

(Setting: Shiloh)

Hannah: My heart exults in the Lord; I have triumphed through the Lord. I gloat over my enemies; I rejoice in Your deliverance. There is no holy one like the Lord, truly, there is none beside You; there is no rock like our G-d. Talk no more with lofty pride, let no arrogance cross your lips! For the Lord is an all-knowing G-d; by G-d actions are measured. The bows of the mighty are broken, and the faltering are girded with strength. Men once sated must hire out for bread; men once hungry hunger no more. While the barren woman bears seven, the mother of many is forlorn. The Lord deals death and gives life, casts down into Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; G-d casts down, and G-d also lifts high. G-d raises the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the dunghill, setting them with nobles, granting them seats of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s; God has set the world upon them. G-d guards the steps of G-d’s faithful, but the wicked perish in darkness — for not by strength shall man prevail. The foes of the Lord shall be shattered; G-d will thunder against them in the heavens. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. G-d will give power to G-d’s sovereign, and triumph to G-d’s anointed one.

Narrator: Then Elkanah and Hannah went home to Ramah, and the boy entered the service of the Lord under the priest Eli.

Act 5

(Setting: Shiloh)

Narrator: Samuel was engaged in the service of the Lord as an attendant, girded with a linen ephod. His mother would also make a little robe for him and bring it up to him every year, when she made the pilgrimage with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife Hannah.

Eli: May the Lord grant you offspring by this woman in place of the loan she made to the Lord.

Narrator: Then they would return home. The Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Young Samuel, meanwhile, grew up in the service of the Lord.

Appendix A: Jewish Infertility Resources

1 in 8 women (and many men) struggle with infertility. For Jews, that number goes from 12% to 17%. However, there are resources to provide emotional and financial support:

- Hasidah (providing financial support): https://hasidah.org

- Yesh Tikva (providing free psychosocial support): https://yeshtikva.org

- ATIME (providing emotional support and Shabbes support during treatment): https://www.atime.org

- Bonei Olam (providing financial grants and insurance advocacy): https://www.boneiolam.org

- Puah (providing financial grants and rabbinic counseling): https://www.puahfertility.org

- I Was Supposed to Have a Baby (providing community through Instagram): https://iwassupposedtohaveababy.org

- Uprooted (providing emotional support): https://weareuprooted.org

- Nechama Comfort (providing support for pregnancy loss): https://www.nechamacomfort.org

- A Jewish Blessing (providing information about egg donation): https://www.ajewishblessing.com

- Jewish Fertility Foundation (providing online support groups, and funding in Atlanta, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Tampa): https://jewishfertilityfoundation.org/

- Free loan societies (specifically ones that fund fertility treatments in South Florida, New York, and Los Angeles): https://blogs.rj.org/blog/why-infertility-jewish-issue-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

- Hebrew Free Loan Society (providing financial support in New York): https://hfls.org/loan-programs/fertility/

- Jewish Family and Children Services (providing support and funding in Chicago): https://www.jcfs.org/our-services/jewish-community-programs/adoption-support and https://www.juf.org/guide/detail.aspx?id=31844 (for Jewish adoption support in Chicago)

- Stardust Foundation (providing financial support in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York): https://www.stardustfoundation.org

- Priya (providing financial and emotional support in Kansas City): https://priyakc.org/about-us/

- Fruitful (providing financial and emotional support in Arizona): https://www.fruitfulaz.org

- Gefen (providing emotional support in Israel): https://www.kerengefen.org

- Jewish rituals for dealing with infertility: https://ritualwell.org/topic/infertility/; https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/trying-to-conceive-infertility/ (some of which invoke Hannah)

- MazorNet (providing reading about infertility from a Jewish perspective): http://www.mazornet.com/infertility/index.htm

- The first annual Jewish fertility summit: https://youtu.be/dbby1CQzGeY

Appendix B: The Full Story

Appendix C: Hannah as Real-Life Inspiration

INFERTILITY

A Surprising Antidote to My Infertility Frustration

By Judith Rosenbaum Feb 4, 2014

I had been trying to get pregnant for a year. Twelve months of charting my body’s rhythms, of turning sex from an art into a science; twelve times allowing my hopes to soar and then scraping them (and sometimes myself) off the floor.

I felt like I was beginning to lose my mind. Every pregnant woman on the street was a personal affront, every baby shower invitation an assault. When Britney Spears announced her pregnancy, I ranted about it to anyone who would listen. I organized our schedule around my ovulation and measured upcoming events by what month I would be in if we were successful this time around. I stopped sleeping.

The lack of control was maddening for a control freak like me, but even worse was the waiting. I’m task oriented; if I had to wait around for this pregnancy thing to happen, I needed to feel like I was taking concrete steps that would contribute to our eventual success. Give up caffeine? Done. Track my temperature? Daily. Obsessively check for fertile cervical mucous? More often than I care to admit. Though it put us into a new and scary category of “medical problem,” I was actually relieved when the insurance company finally cleared us to begin fertility treatment, because it meant there would be new action to take and new partners helping us in this seemingly intractable process of getting pregnant.

As the new Jewish year approached, however, I felt stuck, frustrated, and powerless. We had to wait until the beginning of my next cycle to do the first round of fertility tests and then it would be at least another month until we could begin any treatment. What was I supposed to do in the meantime? In the dark hours of my insomnia, I picked up a book about the High Holy Days, figuring I might as well use my very empty time for some spiritual reflection.

That was when I remembered the story of Hannah and suddenly found myself in unexpectedly comforting company. Hannah was happily married to a devoted husband, but did not have any children. (She also had a very fertile sister wife, which made her situation worse than mine). Though her husband wondered why his love wasn’t enough for her, Hannah yearned for a child. One year, when her family made pilgrimage to the temple in Shiloh, Hannah’s desperation brought her to appeal directly to the ultimate Source. Her silent prayer was so fervent that the priest who witnessed it was sure she was drunk. The pure intensity of her prayer not only worked–she conceived–it also earned her honored status in the eyes of the rabbis of the Talmud, who cite her petition as the model of heartfelt worship.

Though I had no intention of offering any child I bore to the service of the Temple priests as Hannah did, I felt a kinship with her. The determination and boldness of her plea bolstered my own growing urge to call out to God with wild abandon.

Hannah’s words gave me the opportunity to do so, and I requested the honor of reading the Haftarah on Rosh Hashanah. Standing on the bima that day, I began chanting quietly, hesitantly, a little bit afraid of my own emotions. My voice wavered but soon rose strong and clear. I immersed myself in the words so deeply that when I reached the final verses– my eyes brimming with tears, my voice thick–I was surprised to look up and see the congregation seated before me. Like Hannah, I had been alone with my impassioned prayer, momentarily unaware of the others in the room.

I’ve chanted that Rosh Hashanah Haftarah every year since then. Sometimes it’s the only time I’ve been present in the service, the remaining hours spent chasing my twins around outside or noshing with them on apples and honey. And every year, it’s meant something different to me–a prayer of thanks the second year, when my belly was big and full and my breath short from the two little beings kicking where my lungs used to be. The next year, as I approached weaning, sadness seeped into my chanting, and I focused on the verses in which Hannah weaned her son, Samuel, and brought him to the priests to begin his service.

Each year, the haftarah is my own deep, unmediated mother’s prayer of gratitude and yearning, looking forward to what the new year will bring even as I mourn what is lost in time’s swift passage.

​​​​​​​https://www.kveller.com/a-surprising-antidote-to-my-infertility-frustration/

Appendix D: A Prayer for Infertility

Now Hannah was praying in her heart;
only her lips moved,
but her voice could not be heard.”

Hannah’s prayers could not be heard,
but we know them in our hearts.

Her voice catches in our throats every time
the test is negative
the drugs are injected
the eggs do not fertilize
the embryo does not attach

Her voice catches in our throats
when the pregnancy arrives, but is finally lost
in clots of blood, hopes, and dreams.

“In her wretchedness, she prayed to God, weeping all the while.”

Every person’s silent prayer
is based on Hannah’s voiceless cry,
but only some of us know the words,
words injected by syringes
words of doctors and nurses
words made of acronyms, made of letters, and longing,
words of bargaining, please, this time,
please let it be different –

words that never fill our wombs.

“And she made this vow: ‘O LORD of Hosts,
if You will look upon the suffering of Your maidservant
and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant,
and if You will grant Your maidservant a child,
I will dedicate him to the LORD for all the days of his life.’”

God, please remember us, as you remembered Hannah.
We cannot promise You our children,
but we can raise them with compassion
for all of Your creation.

Our children cannot serve in Your Temple,
but we can teach them to see
Your world as a Holy Place.

Shema Koleinu, hear our voices, God,
God of Hannah, Sarah, Rachel, and Rebecca,

so that our children and our children’s children
may hear our words one day:

words of compassion, words of praise,
words of love.

https://ritualwell.org/ritual/hearing-our-hearts/

Appendix E: Hannah in the Talmud