Dark Beauty

Shechorah Ani veNa’vah

“Black I am, and beautiful” – Shir haShirim 1:5

This verse is one of great esoteric importance.

Kabbalah connects the color black with Ein Sof – G-d in “Himself,” apart from any relationship to the created world (for that characterization of Ein Sof, cf. http:www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_

0006_0_05655.html).  For example, regarding the initial Sefirah (Keter) that emanated from Ein Sof, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (Or Ne’erav 6:4) states, “by virtue of being with the Emanator, it is black.”  Daniel Matt (The Essential Kabbalah p. 171) comments, “Since Keter is joined with Ein Sof, it partakes of the unknowability of the infinite, symbolized by the color black.”

The association of the color black or of darkness with the Infinite Depth of G-d is not confined to Jewish esoteric sources.  In Christian mysticism, G-d, considered not in relation to creation or any other activities, is regarded as a “super-essential Radiance of the Divine Darkness,” not an absence of light but a superabundance of light that is “a deep but dazzling Darkness” (cf. http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Volume II/MysticalTheology.html).  In Islamic Sufi mysticism, night represents the Unmanifest, the Divine Essence, as in the story of Laila and Majnun, in which the feminine beloved Laila (the Arabic word for night) represents the Divine Beloved, a blackness that absorbs all light, a beauty that is above manifestation, That which lies beyond Being (cf. http://psychspiritual.blogspot. com/2012/04/islam-divine-feminine.html).  Similarly, for Shakta Hinduism, Kali is depicted as black because black is the color in which all other colors merge – “Just as all colors disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear in Her” (Mahanirvana Tantra).

Thus, we have here in Shir haShirim a mystical statement regarding the Divine Essence, and the words used are feminine in form, thereby evoking the “Femininity” of that Essence.  As previously explained, one can legitimately regard either the “masculine” or “feminine” aspect of G-d as including both aspects.  In this verse, we see the “feminine” aspect as the very Essence of G-d.  It is worth noting that “Atzmut” and “Mahut,” the Hebrew words for the Divine Essence, are feminine.  Such is also the case in Arabic, where the word for the Divine Essence, “al-Dhât,” is feminine.  The Sufi master Najm al-Din Kubra wrote of “al-Dhât” as the “Mother of the divine attributes” and  Ibn al-‘Arabî wrote that “I sometimes employ the feminine pronoun in addressing Allah, keeping in view the Essence.”  So, the Jewish esoteric perspective should be regarded as fully in consonance with the Islamic one, with the role of Laila in Sufism being that of the Shulamit here.

Ruach and Chochmah

The extra-Biblical book called “Wisdom of Solomon” equates Sophia (“Chochmah”) with the “Holy Spirit” (9:17) and characterizes “Her” as Divine “Breath” (7:25).  The extra-Biblical book “Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sirach)” states that Sophia (“Chochmah”) came out of the mouth of G-d (24:3).   Thus, it would appear that there is good reason to consider “Chochmah” of the Biblical book “Mishlei (Proverbs)” as equatable with G-d’s “Ruach” from Gen. 1:2 and elsewhere.  Some have raised the objection that while G-d’s “Ruach”, like breath in humans, must be regarded as essential (inherent) to G-d, not a creation by G-d, “Chochmah” appears to have been created (Prov. 8:22-25; Ben Sirach 1:4, 24:9).  In fact, in one case, an attempt has been made to consider Sophia (“Chochmah”) as a created angelic nature of G-d’s “Ruach” existing in “hypostatic union” with “Her”, akin to the relationship of human and Divine natures in Jesus per Christian Nicene theology (cf. Sophia, The Holy Spirit: The Divine Feminine p.16).  However, a careful examination of the verses said to assert the creation of Sophia (“Chochmah”) suggest that “She” is not a creation.  First, the Hebrew verbs used in Proverbs 8:22-25 are a qal form of “qanah”, a niphal form of “nasak”, and a pulal form of “chul”.  The first word can mean “create” but in the Tanach much more commonly means “possess or acquire”.  The second word means “installed” or “anointed”, and the third means “born” or “brought forth”.  So, a plausible translation of Proverbs 8:22-25 is:
 
Y-H-W-H possessed me as the beginning of His way,
   before His works of old.
I was installed from everlasting, from the beginning,
   or ever the earth was.
When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth;
   when [there were] no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills,
   I was brought forth.
 
Turning to the ancient Greek translation of Proverbs (the so-called “Septuagent”), we find that the Greek words used to translate Hebrew “qanati” are “ektise me”, with “ektise” from the verb “ktizo”.  Forms of this very same Greek verb appear in both of the other verses under consideration (Ben Sirach 1:4, 24:9).  In addition to “qanah”, the Greek verb “ktizo” is used to translate a variety of Hebrew verbs in Greek translations of the Tanach, some relate to creation (“bara”, “yatzar”), but others have a variety of meanings, such as “yasad” (found or establish), “kun” (set up), and “shakan” (dwell or settle).  So, while some are eager to use the Greek verb as evidence for the creation of “Chochmah” (Sophia), the matter is not so simple, and one can legitimately understand the Greek as “The Lord established me as…”.  Furthermore, some have pointed to the linguistic relationship of “ktizo” and “ktaomai”, which means “acquire” or “possess”.  With that relationship, we may consider that the forms of “ktizo” used to translate Proverbs 8:22 and the two Ben Sirach verses (no Hebrew version of these verses has yet been discovered) are expressing “possess” just like “qanah”.

So, we are left with no legitimate reason to regard “Chochmah” (Sophia) as created.  Instead, like G-d’s “Ruach”, we should understand “Her” as something inherent (essential) to G-d, which is “brought forth” in the process of creation, as with the “breath” in creating “words”.  So like “Ruach”, there are two aspects – the one that “comes forth” (the “outward breath”, “Chochmah” as “brought forth from G-d”) and the one that is “within” (the “inward breath”, “Chochmah” as “possessed by G-d”).  The latter reflects the essentiality of the “Ruach”/ “Chochmah” to G-d, the Divine Freedom to assume limitation that is inherent in the Divine Freedom from any limitation, while the former represents the sense of separateness/distinction from G-d that marks the actualization of the Freedom to assume limitation and constitutes the very finitude of creation itself and concomitantly defines G-d as “Creator”.  The understanding that limitation, that creation, is an aspect of G-d’s “Ruach”/”Chochmah”, and that G-d’s “Ruach”/”Chochmah” is an aspect of G-d is a two-fold process that is the birth of the “Kingdom of G-d on Earth”, the realization of Oneness with G-d even in the diversity of our own existence.  This process starts with love for the Beloved, including reverence for all “Her” forms (e.g., harmlessness to all creatures as the cornerstone of daily living), and culminates in the realization that “He is She and She is He”.    

Another Pasuk (Biblical Verse) Evoking the "Feminine" Aspect of God

Job (Iyov) 33:4, in English:
"The Spirit (Breath) of G-d made me, the Breath of the Almighty (Breasted One) keeps me alive".

Two different words that both mean "breath" are used as synonyms here, with slightly different nuances - "ruach" (as we saw in a previous post, conveying the idea of soft, involuntary breathing, but also associated with speaking the things of the universe into existence) and "neshamah" (which in Gen. 2.7 is associated with the more voluntary action of G-d blowing the breath - neshamah - of life into Adam and not with speaking things into existence).  One may envision the usage here as conveying that the Divine Breath both has been used to speak a creature into existence in the first place and also to silently continue to keep the creature alive.  These two facets of the Divine Breath are presented as aspects of G-d since they doing the actions of making and life-sustaining here, and they are explicitly "Feminine", given the feminine nouns and verbal forms.  This verse thus evokes the "Feminine" aspect of G-d.  

Additionally, the verb "made" ('asah) here literally conveys acting or doing - a making from oneself, as in acting or doing in a certain way.  So, the assertion is that the "Feminine" Breath of G-d is the "material" cause, which is particularly apt since the Divine Breath is the very substance of the all-formative Divine Word, just as ordinary spoken words are comprised entirely of breath driven through the vocal apparatus to create sound.

One may also add that "Shaddai", usually translated as "Almighty", has been credibly understood as "Breasted One" (cf. http://www.academicroom.com/article/god-breasts-el-shaddai-bible) and even has been plausibly seen as an archaic West Semitic grammatically feminine word (cf. Harriet Lutzky’s 1998 Vetus Testamentum article “Shadday as a Goddess Epithet”), thereby reinforcing the "feminine" emphasis here.  In fact, if these interpretations of “Shaddai” are correct, then one may comprehend that its use here is a reflection upon the truly “androgynous” nature of the G-d Who possesses a “Feminine” Breath, i.e., this essential (inherent) “Feminine” activity of G-d manifests the reality of G-d as El (“Masculine”) Shaddai (“Feminine”).  “He is She and She is He”, which is to say:  the Divine Freedom from any limitation is the Divine Freedom to be all limited things and vice versa, for without the freedom to be all limited things, there is no freedom from that limitation, and without the freedom from any limitation, there is no freedom to go beyond the limits of self.