Erev Rosh Hashana… Our collective memory… Yearning for a child.

We read about Hannah and her prayers for a son. But is it only about women?

I heard the following from a man I met in L.A. this summer. He made me aware of the men’s voice that also cries out in pain:

"Our collective memory regarding the pain of those who do not have children is filled with voices of women:

Rachel Imenu (Rachel our mother) beseeching her husband, Yaakov -

"Give me children if not, I will die".

Hannah – challenged by her husband Elkana - "Hannah, Why do you cry?  Am I not better than 10 children?"  

The painful voices are of women. The husbands are "there", but they are not expressing their pain.

This leaves me, as a man, voiceless. Where are the sources that can echo my pain? 

We, men, are expected to be supportive, to endure, to be accepting, to be stoic. But we also need to be heard and to be recognized".

Gefen wants to reach out not only to women, but also to men. We want to find a way to let everyone`s voice, the two partners in creation, be heard.