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Home , Bahya ben Asher, Binah (Kabbalah), Moses de Leon, Shekhinah

Divine Qualities and Real Women

The Feminine Image in

Long before women gained entry into the halls of Jewish learning, Jewish mystics explored and extolled feminine aspects of the Divine

ithin the Jewish religious tradition, the literature of WKabbalah is second to none in its engagement with the feminine. The mystical authors of medieval and southern , the men who produced the and related texts, were averse to simplistic conceptions of gender.

{By BITI ROI

62 | Summer 2010 Divine Qualities and Real Women /// Biti Roi

Their sensitive attunement to sexual, as a synonym for . Grammatically, it is mental, physiological and social aspects of a feminine Hebrew noun, but the female existence is strikingly manifest in initially lacked any female attributes or their imaginative contemplation of God and even a distinctive identity of its own. In the speculations about the interplay of the divine works of early kabbalists, however, it was and earthly realms. Indeed, the contemporary transformed into a queenly personification discourse on women in – which is of the Godhead, the Matronita: still bound up with Talmudic categories and How many thousands, how many myriads the strictures of halacha – can benefit greatly of holy camps does the blessed Holy One from the riches of kabbalistic imagery and have! … Above them He has appointed perceptions of women and . Matronita to minister before Him in the Sefer Ha-Zohar – “The Book of Splendor” – is a sprawling masterpiece that presents palace … Every mission that the King a complex conception of divinity based wishes issues from the house of Matronita; upon an intricate exploration of the hidden every mission from below to the King meanings of the . Its mystical enters the house of Matronita first, and quest is structured in the form of teachings from there to the King. Consequently, of the 2nd-century Mishnaic sage Matronita is agent of all, from above Shimon bar Yohai (“Rashbi”) and a handful to below and from below to above … of his contemporaries, written in an and no secret is concealed from Her. dialect that is unlike any other in Jewish (II Zohar 51a) writings. The authorship of the Zohar is The Shekhinah is far from being passive. traditionally attributed to Rashbi himself, In times of need, her charms save the People but modern scholars have demonstrated of from being abandoned by the male that it was composed by a group of Castilian God: kabbalists of the 13th and 14th centuries, a circle that included de Leon, Joseph It is like a man who was in love with a Gikatilla, and Bahya ben Asher. Having woman who lived in the street of the acquired a canonical status, the Zohar tanners. If she had not been there, he continues to inspire traditional students would never have set foot in the place; but and scholars of , as well as because she was there it seemed to him like adherents of the popular spirituality of the the street of the spice merchants, where 21st century. all the finest scents in the world could be found. (III Zohar 115b) No Secret is Concealed From Her The kabbalistic study of the Shekhinah The cornerstone of the kabbalistic perception seeks to reveal its many different faces: she of the feminine is the study of the dynamic is the connecting point between the heavenly interrelationships within the Godhead, the realm and earthly reality. For the kabbalists, mystical representation of the divinity. In the Godhead is not detached from real life: the face of a tradition overshadowed by the the divine reality is reflected in every concrete masculine God of the Bible, the kabbalists object on earth. Within this worldview, each developed a conception which consists of and every woman represents, in a sense, key feminine elements within the Godhead, the figure of the Shekihnah. Contrary to the the foremost of which is the figure of the medieval philosophical system that conceives Shekhinah. of the world as comprised of static essences, Before the emergence of Kabbalah in the in the Zohar the Shekhinah holds a dynamic middle ages, the term Shekhinah was used relationship with the Godhead as its queen

HAVRUTA | 63 (Matronita) and lover. This relationship extends to life on earth, or as the Zohar puts it in its unique Aramaic, she is alma de-nukba – the feminine world. Each and every woman represents, in a sense, the figure of the Shekhinah.

The earthly presence of the Shekhinah in general, and in womankind in particular, is also extrapolated from the literal meaning of the word. The Hebrew root shakhan, from which the word derives, means “reside” or “inhere.” In his mystical work Sha’arey Orah (gates of light), composed in the same period as the Zohar, Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla finds a biblical precedent for the notion of alma de-nukba: “The Shekhinah, in the time of Abraham our forefather, is called Sarah, and in the time of Yitzhak our forefather is called Rivkah, and in the time of Ya’akov our forefather is called Rachel…” Reflecting a similar view, the Zohar concludes that “all of the females in the world share in her knowledge of the divine secret” (II Zohar 105b). Medieval Jewish philosophers, on the other hand, could not accommodate a conceptualization of a dynamic divinity, let alone the notion of a divinity with overt feminine attributes. For them, the inferiority of women was grounded in such proofs as Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib, and manifested in “essential” female qualities like deceit, inquisitiveness, garrulousness and pride. The influential Provençal philosopher, scientist, and biblical exegete (Ralbag) (1288-1344) placed women on an interim rank between beasts and men. In his commentary on Genesis 3:30, he observed: “‘And Adam named his wife Eve,’ in accord with his perception of her feebleness of mind, that is, that she did not

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transcend other animals considerably… for corners of streets and highways in order most of her functions were indeed adapted to attract men … This is the finery that to physical matters, to the feebleness of her she uses to seduce mankind: her hair is mind and for her servitude of Man.” Even long, red like a lily; her face is white and the sophisticated , writing pink; six pendants hang from her ears … in Cairo in the 12th century, employed her tongue is sharp like a sword; her words classical philosophical categories to draw smooth as oil; her lips beautiful, red as a a comparison between men (who are both lily, sweetened with all the sweetness in “matter” and “form”) and women (who are the world… “matter” alone): The fool turns aside after her … and Matter is in no way found without form and is consequently always like a married woman commits harlotry with her … What does she who is never separated from a man and is do? She leaves him asleep on the bed … The never free. (Guide of the Perplexed, III 8) fool wakes up, thinking to sport with her as before, but she takes off her finery, and While the modern reader may find them odd, turns into a fierce warrior, facing him in a such observations preclude the possibility garment of flaming fire, a vision of dread, of understanding the feminine in a complex terrifying both body and soul, full of horrific and interesting way. eyes, a sharpened sword in his hand with The kabbalists too conjured up negative drops of poison suspended from it. He kills images of women, but these did not always the fool, and throws him into Gehinnom. (I represent them as inferior. The Jewish Zohar 148a-148b, Sitrey ) mystics were obsessed with the magical powers associated with women’s bodies – In an era dominated by rigid sexual their hair, fingernails, womb, blood – and in identities, the early kabbalists appreciated some Zoharic depictions, women appear as the fluidity of gender. Here, in the Zohar, demons: the female demon morphs, in a seamless transition, into a male warrior. The Jewish mystics were Mother, Lover and Creator fascinated by the magical Perhaps the most important contribution of the Zohar to Jewish theology is the powers associated with elaboration of a symbolic framework known women’s bodies – their as the sefirotic system. Literally meaning “sphere” or “region,” each sefirah – there hair, fingernails, womb, are ten in all – represents an emanation of a different aspect of the Godhead, and blood. is interconnected with the other in myriad ways that the mystics sought to untangle and elucidate. Two evil spirits are attached to one The Zohar’s multifaceted presentation another. The male spirit is fine, the female of the feminine is most conspicuous in spirit spreads out down several ways and the distinction between two sefirot: Binah paths, and is attached to the male spirit. (understanding), which stands for the Eve as warrior, from a Mother; and Malkhut (kingdom), which is the fresco in Villa Carducci She dresses herself in finery like an (Soffiano, ), by wife and lover, or in some cases the daughter. Andrea del Castagno, abominable harlot and stands at the If the figure of the Shekhinah marks the c.1450.

HAVRUTA | 65 kabbalistic acceptance of woman as part of descriptions of the relations of Binah with its the heavenly realm, then the contemplation subordinate sefirot. of Binah and Malkhut is an attempt to explore The kabbalistic link between childbirth aspects of the feminine in order to gain and the creation of the world is derived from deeper understanding of the world. a creative reading of Proverbs 2:3, a verse In his Sha’arey Orah, Rabbi Joseph conventionally rendered as follows: “If you Gikatilla identifies Binah with abundance, cry out for insight” – ki im labinah tikrah – pregnancy and nourishment. He calls it the “and raise your voice for understanding.” The “Mother,” progenitor of the seven sefirot that kabbalistic reading revocalizes one key word are situated beneath it in the structure of – a common ploy in rabbinic interpretation of the Godhead. Other designations of Binah, the Bible – turning im, “if,” into em, “mother,” according to Gikatilla, include olam ha-hayim producing a new meaning: “For you will call (world of life); mekor ha-hayim (source of binah, Mother.” life); hayim (the living God); and sod As men who considered themselves ha-hayim (the secret of life). All of these part of a long line of biblical interpreters, reflect feminine qualities that the kabbalists the members of the Zoharic circle often identified within the Godhead, and indicate drew on Talmudic teachings. It is therefore that these men conceived of Binah as the unsurprising that the rabbinic reading of the ground of the whole of existence. creation of Eve, out of the rib of Adam, also In this spirit, the authors of the Zohar associates binah with femininity, in a nice identified this sefirah with the beautiful play on words: “And God built [vayiven, the imagery of Genesis 2:10: “A river flowed out biblical form of banah] the rib which he took of Eden to water the garden.” For them, this from Adam into a woman” (Genesis 2:22), verse was expressive of the notion of divinity shows that the blessed Holy One endowed as the source of the all-encompassing flow of the woman with more understanding life, an emanation of the maternal sefirah. As [binah] than the man” (BT Niddah 45b). This an aspect of the Godhead, Binah is thus the insight apparently eluded the philosopher power of creation. Indeed, certain kabbalistic Gersonides, though not his kabbalist traditions perceive the Creation as God’s act contemporaries. of childbirth. In contrast with the maternal Binah, the The notion of Binah as a womanly creator sefirah of Malkhut represents God’s partner and is supported by a linguistic analysis of the lover – the erotic side of the feminine. Malkhut name. In the , binah is considered desires, seduces, pines, yearns, and also envies, a specific type of wisdom, related to the suffers rejection, expulsion and banishment. “ability to surmise one thing from another” Her relations with the “male” sefirot above her (BT 31a). The kabbalists go a step (she is the lowest sefirah) are amorous, and farther, arguing that binah not only denotes are manifested by waves of attraction and a cognitive function (discernment), but also repulsion, union and separation. But Binah a maternal function (procreation). Gikatilla, and Malkhut have their own relationship as in his Sha’arey Orah, observes that “another well, that of mother and daughter. When reason why she is called Binah is because she is Malkhut reveals herself during the pilgrimage the secret of conceiving sons and daughters.” to the Temple, Binah, her mother, lends The author plays upon on the similarity Malkhut garments and jewelry, as we learn at between binah and the Hebrew word ben, the opening of the Zohar (I:1b): meaning “son” or “offspring.” Indeed, the The demon , rendered by Dante maternal functions of conception, childbirth [A]nd Mother lends Daughter her Gabriel Rossetti, 1868. and breastfeeding appear in many of the garments, though not adorning her with

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HAVRUTA | 67 Rendering of medieval demonic figure Hulda (Holla), by Israeli artist Yael Ramot, 2006.

her adornments. When does she adorn The characterization of Binah as partaking of her fittingly? When all males appear Din is pivotal to the kabbalists’ conception of before her, as is written: “[All your males femininity. Din, through Binah, is not only shall appear] before the Sovereign, God” associated with and punishment, but (Exodus 23:17). also describes a refining and limiting quality, The maternal aspects of Binah, however, which discerns the infinity of details that are only part of the essence of this sefirah. Just constitute the world. Without Din, the world as importantly, it is identified as possessing would be an undifferentiated influx of divine elements of harshness and judgment that grace; Binah presides over its allocation to her belong to the divine quality of Din (law). As subordinate sefirot. The maternalBinah , which defined in Talmudic writings, Din is the polar represents divine abundance, also disburses it opposite of divine grace and mercy (Hesed) . as appropriate and withholds it if necessary.

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Talking a Good Game men, the kabbalists returned home to women of flesh and blood: their mothers, sisters, For the kabbalists, Binah endows the world wives and daughters. The question of how with form: the emanation that it receives from these women informed the mystical works the higher sefirah of Hokhmah takes shape of the Zoharic circle is most fascinating, and within her. This helps explain the kabbalistic unresolved. Quite plausibly, the women who association of the two feminine sefirot with breastfed and raised their children, cooked, the organs of language and speech - Malkhut cleaned and ran their households, also served with the mouth, and Binah with the tongue. as the muses for such mythical figures as the In midrashic and medieval Jewish writings, omniscient Matronita, the discerning and Biti Roi, women’s verbal skills are often stereotyped fecund Binah, or even the terrifying demonic a fellow at the as gossip and chatter. The Zohar, however, seductress with the sharpened sword. Shalom Hartman chooses to emphasize, regarding women’s use Historical evidence is too scanty to allow of language, the ability to describe abstract Institute, is a doctoral us to determine whether such fanciful candidate at Bar-Ilan entities and to differentiate one thing from imagery also reflected a more lenient University. A veteran another. approach to patriarchal norms within the lecturer in Jewish family and community. Bold literary visions , Kabbalah In midrashic and medieval do not necessarily translate into practical and Hasidism, Biti changes in cultural or economic life, or has taught at such Jewish writings, women’s psychological adjustments in the day-to-day institutes as Drisha, world. Therefore, one must treat with caution YCT Rabbinical verbal skills are often any claims that that the kabbalists were the School and Stern College. She is a precursors of contemporary feminism. stereotyped as gossip and former Jerusalem Fellow at the chatter. One must treat with Mandel Institute for Educational Furthermore, in the Jewish tradition, the caution any claims that Leadership. world was created through speech. In rabbinic midrashim, and in the ancient mystical text that the kabbalists Sefer Yetzira (“Book of Creation”), the world were the precursors of is created by ten divine statements. For the medieval kabbalists, Binah’s procreative contemporary feminism. and discerning attributes and Malkhut’s association with the mouth converge in olam During the next golden age of Kabbalah, in hadibur, “the realm of speech.” In addition to 16th century , the Zoharic tradition was its divine connotations, this “realm of speech” further elaborated and enriched. Shabbat was also the mundane domain in which the hymns such as Rabbi Shlomo Elkabetz’s Lecha kabbalists lived and worked, spending most Dodi depicted the holy day as queen and bride. of their time talking to one another as they The leader of the Safed kabbalists, Rabbi Isaac studied Torah and endeavored to decipher Luria (the “Ari”), established a custom whereby the secrets of its language. a man would kiss the hand of his mother at But since women were barred from joining the hour that Shabbat began, as a symbolic in such lofty activities, it is rather ironic that greeting of the Shekhinah. Such a gesture, abstract feminine entities were designated reflecting respect for real women and their to define the essence of kabbalists’ daily mystical counterpart, provides one charming practice. After a hard day of contemplating example of how kabbalists wove their abstract the feminine aspect of the divinity with other ideas into the fabric of daily life.

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