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The Paradigm of the Barren Woman: How God ‘Remembers’ on Rosh Hashanah
The liturgical readings of Rosh Hashanah tell of Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah being “remembered” by God, making barrenness and conception the locus of divine providence.
Published: September 29, 2016
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Last Updated: October 28, 2026
b. Rosh Hashanah 11a, cf. b. Berakhot 29a.
b. Rosh Hashanah 11a:
אמר רבי אלעזר: אתיא פקידה פקידה, אתיא זכירה זכירה: כתיב ברחל ויזכר אלהים את רחל, וכתיב בחנה ויזכרה ה’, ואתיא זכירה זכירה מראש השנה, דכתיב שבתון זכרון תרועה. פקידה פקידה – כתיב בחנה כי פקד ה’ את חנה, וכתיב בשרה וה’ פקד את שרה.
The nine zikhronot include three verses from each section of the Tanakh, which feature the root ז-כ-ר., in which God is the subject of the remembering most often for the sake of salvation: Gen. 8:1, Exod. 2:24, Lev. 26:42, Ps. 111:4, 5, and 106:45, Jer. 2:2, Ezek. 16:60, and Jer. 31:20 (and another is tacked on at the end: Lev. 26:45).
Robert Alter, “How Convention Helps Us Read,” Prooftexts, 3 (1983), pp. 120-126 (115–130).
Robert Alter borrows the term “annunciation scene” from Christian iconography. In the New Testament, Elizabeth (wife of the priest, Zechariah, and mother of John the Baptist), as well as Mary, mother of Jesus, also experience an “annunciation” (Luke 1), consciously modeled on the earlier paradigm from the Hebrew Bible.
Susan Ackerman, “Child Sacrifice: Returning Godʼs Gift,” Bible Review 9:3 (1993), p. 56 (20-28, 56).
The Hebrew expression harat ‘olam is taken from Jeremiah’s lament (ch. 20), though with very different connotations on Rosh Hashanah:
טו אָרוּר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר בִּשַּׂר אֶת אָבִי לֵאמֹר יֻלַּד לְךָ בֵּן זָכָר שַׂמֵּחַ שִׂמֳּחָהוּ.טז וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ הַהוּא כֶּעָרִים אֲשֶׁר הָפַךְ יְ־הֹוָה וְלֹא נִחָם וְשָׁמַע זְעָקָה בַּבֹּקֶר וּתְרוּעָה בְּעֵת צָהֳרָיִם. יז אֲשֶׁר לֹא מוֹתְתַנִי מֵרָחֶם וַתְּהִי לִי אִמִּי קִבְרִי וְרַחְמָהֿ הֲרַת עוֹלָם.
15 Accursed be the man Who brought my father the news And said, “A boy Is born to you,” And gave him such joy! 16 Let that man become like the cities which YHWH overthrew without relenting! Let him hear shrieks in the morning wind battle shouts at noontide —17 Because he did not kill me before birth woe that my mother might be my grave, and her womb big with me for all time [harat ‘olam].
The prophet wishes he had never been born, that his mother had remained pregnant forever [harat ‘olam]. In biblical Hebrew, ‘olam is a marker of time—“forever,” “eternally”—whereas in liturgy and rabbinic Hebrew it is also a marker of place—“the cosmos,” “the whole world.”
Editor’s note: For a historical-critical approach to this text, see Marvin Sweeney, “For Whom Does Rachel Weep?” TheTorah (2016).
The model for that divine compassion might broadly be translated, in more gender-neutral terms, “as a parent (mother or father) be merciful towards his or her children.
