contemporary Jewish discourse, the term shekhinah most commonly refers to the divine feminine, or to the feminine aspect of God — God as mother, nurturer, protector and compassionate one. Though the term — from the Hebrew root meaning to “dwell” — is found throughout early rabbinic literature, in its early usage it referred generally to God’s presence among the people and had no gender associations. The connection between shekhinah and femininity emerges mainly in Jewish mystical literature. The concept was later embraced by Jewish feminists as a counterbalance to prevailing masculine notions of God as king, father and judge.
Early Appearances
The term shekhinah does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. The closest reference is two verses in Exodus in which God promises to dwell [v’shachanti] among the Israelites once they have built the tabernacle. (The Zohar, the core work of Jewish mysticism, would later associate the tabernacle, in Hebrew mishkan, with the shekhinah, both of which derive from the same Hebrew root.) The term shows up in a handful of places in the Mishnah, perhaps most famously in Pirkei Avot 3:2, which states that if two people sit together and share words of Torah, the shekhinah abides among them.
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Answer:
contemporary Jewish discourse, the term shekhinah most commonly refers to the divine feminine, or to the feminine aspect of God — God as mother, nurturer, protector and compassionate one. Though the term — from the Hebrew root meaning to “dwell” — is found throughout early rabbinic literature, in its early usage it referred generally to God’s presence among the people and had no gender associations. The connection between shekhinah and femininity emerges mainly in Jewish mystical literature. The concept was later embraced by Jewish feminists as a counterbalance to prevailing masculine notions of God as king, father and judge.
Early Appearances
The term shekhinah does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. The closest reference is two verses in Exodus in which God promises to dwell [v’shachanti] among the Israelites once they have built the tabernacle. (The Zohar, the core work of Jewish mysticism, would later associate the tabernacle, in Hebrew mishkan, with the shekhinah, both of which derive from the same Hebrew root.) The term shows up in a handful of places in the Mishnah, perhaps most famously in Pirkei Avot 3:2, which states that if two people sit together and share words of Torah, the shekhinah abides among them.
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