Letter from Lhasa, number 184. (Novick 2008): On the Wings of Shekhinah
by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi
Novick, L., On the Wings of Shekhinah. Rediscovering Judaism’s Divine Feminine, Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, IL, USA, 2008.
(Novick 2008).
Rabbi Léah Novick
From the Encyclopaedia Judaica (2007): “SHEKHINAH (Heb. שְׁכִיָנה ; lit. “dwelling,” “resting”), or Divine Presence, refers most often in rabbinic literature to the numinous immanence of God in the world. The Shekhinah is God viewed in spatio-temporal terms as a presence, particularly in a this-worldly context: when He sanctifies a place, an object, an individual, or a whole people – a revelation of the holy in the midst of the profane. Sometimes, however, it is used simply as an alternative way of referring to God himself, such as “The Holy One Blessed be He,” or “The Merciful One.” [...]”
“The understanding of Shekhinah as Ruach ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) also became a way of explaining dreams, intuition, vision, and prophecy among gifted humans.”
(Novick 2008, p. 6).
What is precisely Ruach ha Kodesh?
Let again speak the Encyclopaedia Judaica (2007): “RU’AḤ HA-KODESH (Heb. הַקֶֹּדשׁ רוּחַ; lit. “the Holy Spirit”). Although the phrase Ru’aḥ ha-Kodesh occurs in the Bible (cf. Ps. 51:13; Isa 63:10), its specific connotation as divine inspiration is wholly post-biblical. In rabbinic thought it is the spirit of prophecy which comes from God, a divine inspiration giving man an insight into the future and into the will of God. [...]”
“[...] Shekhinah is present in ha domeh (the stones), ha stameach (the plants), ha b’heimah (the living creatures), and ha ‘m’dabeyr (those who speak, that is, humankind).
“Despite that belief in the ubiquitous nature of God’s presence, the wandering Israelites proceed to build an ark to house the Shekhinah.”
(Novick 2008, p. 30).
In some way, (Novick 2008) historicizes Hebraism with some connection with Egyptian and other cultural roots. Paganism was and is present, in various ways, even in monotheism.
“Over centuries of dispersion – whether east or west – the concept or memory of Shekhinah was sustained. While we cannot assess how this was embedded in daily life, we can discern from the sacred literature that the concept remained very much alive for scholars, who probably reflected popular belief in some way.”
(Novick 2008, p. 69).
In Kabbalistic literature, Shekhinah is interpreted as divine providence in its left/feminine/punitive action:
“Like the awesome Hindu goddess Kali, Shekhinah has her moments of expressing divine retribution, especially toward those who have persecuted her treasured people. The Zohar places Shekhinah in charge of the armies of God, as well as the angels, and the midrashic literature cites the role of Shekhinah in punishing the Egyptian armies for their persecution of the Hebrew slaves by drowning the Egyptians in the Red Sea.”
(Novick 2008, p. 82).
However, the goal of the book is contributing to the rhetorical construction reality as feminine and, so, to present Judaism as feminine:
“Shekhinah, in her aspect of Malkhut, has been understood in Kabbalah as the energy that connects all the beings on the planet, in effect the planetary Gaia. In her supernal aspect as Binah, the mother of the cosmos, she is the source of all the planets and stars. All the souls, all planets, all stars, and all beings are woven together in a celestial pattern of intergalactic connection established by the higher force. Scientific understanding of the diversity of life forms suggests a similar concept. ”
(Novick 2008, p. 135).
Catholics have Saint Mary. This variety of Judaism invents or presents the Divine Mother. This outcome is reached abandoning the initial operation of de facto, perhaps unconsciously, looking for and finding Egyptian and pagan roots and nurturing of the same Judaism.
Judaism is, inevitably perhaps (other monotheist religions are not different), a malist religion and culture. Such was ancient world, although, finally, inevitably masculinity and femininity variously combined also at cultural and religious level. This kind of operations, (Novick 2008), confirms that, “opposing” [actually not opposing but confirming this malism] to it an artificious feminism. -Isms are complementary. These operations are not the solution of an eventual problem. The malist roots of Judaism could be eventually broken and overcome historicizing it and making such a historicization universally accepted. What seems an improbable achievement, for the moment.
Novick, L., On the Wings of Shekhinah. Rediscovering Judaism’s Divine Feminine, Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, IL, USA, 2008.
