We revere Abraham
So much that he is always the central character
even when the chapter is in someone else’s name
The Torah focuses us on him
And yet
if we look closely
there is a whole supporting cast
Two wives, or maybe three,
or maybe more, unnamed,
And a whole slew of household servants
who also take up arms for him
when called upon
and who manage his affairs
and who venture off to find a suitable wife
for his favoured son
What would Abraham be without Eliezer?
Without Sarah, and Hagar and Keturah,
and all the others?
Like in the films where they are listed as “extras”
As “man with walking stick”
“woman nursing child”
“warrior number one”
Would he have achieved all of this without them?
Or any of it?
Or would HE have been the nameless one
if not for them?
Why do we champion the King Bee
and not the worker bees?
Why do we tell his stories and not theirs?
Why do we laud the leader and not all those upon whose shoulders
he stands?
I am tired of hearing about Old Abe.
I want to know
more
about the one who cooked the lamb;
who brought the water to wash the feet
I want to know
who Hagar whispered her secrets to
And who Isaac went to visit
When he left the mountain, alone.
I want to know of the Life of Sarah
Not of her death
Not of the business transactions that followed
I want to hear about Rivkah’s childhood
And the friends she surely
left behinr
