אַיֶּכָּה - "where are thou?"

"The first question in the Bible was not asked by man. Logically it should be man asking of God, 'who am I? What am I doing here? Why did you bring me here? Why did you create me?' Not at all. The first question is when Adam flees from God and God asks, "Ayecha?" - "Where are thou?"

There is a marvelous story of a very great Hasidic master, a philosopher, a mystic, who was in jail, and the warden of the jail was a biblical scholar. So the warden came to see the master and said, 'Rabbi, I heard you were here. I know you're a great scholar, and you must answer me something. In Genesis I read that God asked, 'Ayecha?' Is is conceivable that God didn't know where Adam was?' And the Rabbi answered, 'God knew, Adam didn't.'

That is why you ask questions.

That is why we ask questions."

-elie wiesel.

shortcomings.

"Of course, one could invent all kinds of excuses to whitewash our matriarch. We have mentioned a few. Hagar's arrogance, the bad influence Ishmael had on his little brother, the fate and future of Israel: if we try hard, we can exonerate Sarah. But apologies no longer have a place in our tradition. We are sufficiently mature to admit our shortcomings - especially since Scripture itself chooses not to conceal them. The patriarchs are neither infallible saints nor angels. They are human beings with impulses of grandeur and weakness. They love, they know fear, they hate and say so, they try to go beyond their condition and share in God's vision of creation. When Sarah is hurt, she admits it; when she is jealous, she shows it. Whatever she is, she is no hypocrite."

-elie wiesel, wise men and their tales.

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