The Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah have always caught my attention. On two of the holiest days of our calendar we focus on the character of Yitzhcak. One day on the story of his birth and the second on the story of the akeida. To focus on such a significant and holy character makes sense to me so at first glance I appreciated it. But after looking more closely, the question of some of the surrounding characters surfaced-why do we learn about Hagar and Yishmael too? How do they better help us connect to Rosh Hashanah? Tonight we will go back to where all these characters are first introduced and start to develop the incredible messages they are trying to convey as well.
