Hannah חנה
her prayer at Shiloh became the model for how prayer itself is to be said
Elkanah had two wives; Peninnah had children, Hannah had none. Every year they went up to Shiloh, and every year the same thing repeated: the rival taunted her, Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband said words the text leaves without comment: am I not better to you than ten sons?
At Shiloh she stood by the doorpost of the sanctuary and prayed "in bitterness of soul," without a sound: her lips moved, no voice was heard. Eli the priest, sitting there, decided she was drunk and said so. Her answer is one of the most restrained replies in Scripture: no, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Eli answered with a blessing.
Her vow was this: if You give me a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life. Samuel was born; when he was weaned she brought him to Shiloh and left him there for good, "and he bowed there to the LORD."
Her song of thanksgiving — "my heart exults in the LORD" — is read as the haftarah on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
The Talmud (Berakhot 31a) derives from her prayer the rules that hold in halakhah: one must pray with directed intent, with the lips moving but the voice not heard, and standing beside a wall. Megillah 14a counts Hannah among the seven prophetesses of Israel.
On the timeline
Sources
Tanakh
- Shmuel I 1:9–18 — the silent prayer and Eli's rebuke
- Shmuel I 1:24–28 — she brings her son to Shilo and leaves him there
- Shmuel I 2:1–10 — Chana's song; the haftarah of the first day of Rosh Hashanah
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Berakhot 31a — the rules of prayer derived from her prayer
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.