Hannah - Marat Nefesh (bitter soul) and Ani (affliction)

I Samuel 1:10-11 says of Hannah (my translation and emphasis)

¹⁰ With a bitter soul she prayed to [against, upon] the Lord and wept copiously.

¹¹She vowed a vow, saying: Lord of Hosts, if seeing, You will see the affliction of Your handmaid, and remember my request and not forget Your handmaid, and You will grant to your handmaid male seed, I will give him to YHVH all the days of this life, and a razor will not go on his head.

Bitter soul in the Hebrew is marat nafesh.  Marat  is a form of the word mar, meaning bitter, and nafesh  is translated sometimes as soul, spirit, or life-source.

The word translated as affliction is ani. 

In “Reading Ruth” Aviva Zornberg discusses the uses of the word mar (bitterness) and ana ( a form of ani - affliction) in relationship to Naomi.  Zornberg’s interpretations can help us to understand Hannah. 

We start by listening to Naomi say Hashem ana vi, which may be translated as “God afflicted me.”  Zornberg discusses what this means. 

What exactly does “afflict” mean?  Rashi says, “He testified against me, that I had been guilty in his presence.”  I had been guilty of something.  He testified against me, that I am incriminated of some unknown crime.  Then Rashi quotes another reading.  Ana vi: midat hadin, God’s faculty of judgment has afflicted me.  God in his role as judge, as punisher, has come out and afflicted me.  So ana vi can mean to afflict, to impose pain on me, or it can mean to testify against me. (pg 68).

Naomi’s bitterness comes both from suffering the losses of her husband and the sons she has borne and raised, and from feeling humiliated that God is afflicting her.  Zornberg goes on to say

Naomi assumes that all who witness her suffering know she must be guilty.  In interpreting Hashem ana vi- God has born witness against me – Ibn Ezra supports this translation by reference to a verse in Job.  [He] refers us to Job 10:17: techadesh edekha negdi – you are constantly sending new witnesses against me.  The chapter of bitter complaint in which Job says this begins by his saying, adabra bemar nafshi, let me speak in the bitterness (mar) of my spirit. 

[JPS translation of Job 10:1 is I am disgusted with my life;  I will give rein to my complain, t Speak in the bitterness of my soul]

The word mar, of course, echoes one of the words Naomi uses regarding herself several times.  What does Job say in the bitterness of his spirit?  “I say to my God, don’t condemn me.  Let me know why you quarrel with me” (Job 10:2).  Let me know why You have it in for me.  I feel there is a mystery in the destiny You have imposed upon me.  I must be guilty – I assume I must be guilty – but I am not clear why.  At least tell me exactly what it is that justifies this terrible suffering.  “If I am wicked, woe to me.  But if I am righteous, yet I still can’t lift up my head: (Job 10:15).  In the next phrase, listen carefully to the Hebrew: Seva kalon u-reeh onyi – because I am filled with shame, and look upon my affliction.  Onyi – from the same root as ana in Naomi’s ana vi.  I’m filled with shame as I look on my affliction knowing that the affliction must mean guilt.  (pg 69-70)

How does this help us to understand Hanna’s bitter sprit and her affliction?
Naomi calls herself mara, bitter.  Job refers to speaking bemar nafshi, out of the bitterness of his sprit.  And Hannah is in marat nafesh, bitterness of spirit.  The midrash interprets that the use of a common word in different verses suggests a common meaning.  Naomi and Job both find themselves feeling that God is witnessing (testifying) against them.  The are both afflicted (ana or onyi) and their bitterness arises out of their affliction.  Right after Hannah mentions her marat nafesh she asks God to “look upon her affliction (oni)”  We have learned from Ruth and Naomi that the affliction is related to feeling that God is punishing them for something;  although neither of them may know why, they do feel the weight of the punishment.  Hannah, in her “affliction” feels punished by God as well.  God has sealed up her womb.  Hannah does not know why.  Her bitterness of spirit may come, therefore, not from being childless per se, but from feeling that God has punished her for some unknown reason by sealing up her womb.

Supplemental Texts - more detailed:

BITTER  mar -  Hannah’s bitter soul

1 Sam 1:10 With a bitter soul

v’hee marat nafesh

 וְהִיא, מָרַת נָפֶשׁ

On my part, I will not speak with restraint;

I will give voice to the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. (במר נפשי) (b’mar nafshi)

Job 7:11

I am disgusted with life;

I will give rein to my complaint,

Speak in the bitterness of my soul. (במר נפשי) (b’mar nafshi)

I say to God, “Do not condemn me;

Let me know what you charge me with.”

Job 10:1-2

“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied.  “Call me Mara, for Shaddai has made my lot very bitter.  I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.  How can you call me Naomi, when the Lord has dealt harshly with me (ו'הוה ענה ב') (Adonai ana vi), when Shaddai has brought misfortune upon me!”

Ruth 1: 20-21

Oh, no, my daughters!  My lot is far more bitter than yours מר-ל' מאד)) (mar li meod), for the hand of the Lord has struck out against me.

Ruth 1:13

AFFLICTION   ani   – Hannah’s affliction

1 Sam 1:11 You will see the affliction of Your handmaid

tirah ba’oni amateyha

תִרְאֶה בָּעֳנִי אֲמָתֶךָ

Aviva Zornberg talks about affliction in relationship to Naomi and Job (in Kates, Judith A. and Twersky Reimer, Gail, eds.  Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story.  New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.).

Naomi uses this strange expression: Hashem ana vi, God afflicted me.  What exactly does “afflict” mean?  Rashi says, “He testified against me, that I had been guilty in his presence.” I had been guilty of something.  He testified against me, that I am incriminated of some unknown crime.  Then Rashi quotes another reading.  Ana vi: midat hadin, God’s faculty of judgement has afflicted me.  God in his role as judge, as punisher, has come out and afflicted me.  So ana vi can mean to afflict, to produce pain, to impose pain upon me, or it can mean to testify against me.    Zornberg, pg 68

In interpreting Hashem ana vi – God has borne witness against me – Ibn Ezra...refers us to Job 10:17: techadesh edekha negdi – you are constantly sending new witnesses against me.   Zornberg, pg 69

So sated am I with shame,

And drenched in my misery. (עניי) (anyi)

Job 10:15

You keep sending fresh witnesses against me.

Job 10:17