Hagar & Sarai: Two Women Wronged
The text, loosely translated, reads: I have been wronged, and it's YOUR fault. Sarai says these words to Avram. (Genesis, 16:5) She is jealous of Hagar's pregnancy and thinks Avram now favors her maid. This work reinterprets the tradition. These words could be said of each woman to the other. Hagar, shown abandoned behind the fence, feels wronged by Sarai when she is forced away with her son, Ishmael, whose line becomes the Muslim people. Sarai, pleading, feels wronged by Hagar. The wrongs felt by both women stay with us today. They are part of our tragic legacy.