L’Yachadah Qud’sha B’riq Hu USh’khinteih

“To unite the Holy One Blessed Be He and His Shekhinah (Feminine Divine Presence)”

This is an Aramaic statement of intention that the sixteenth century mekubal, the Arizal, prescribed to be uttered before doing any mitzvah (commandment). It is commonly used, often in one of several variations, by Sephardim and Chassidim, although it is less frequently used in other Jewish streams, and some have rejected it outright, fearing that it impinges on the absolute nature of Divine Oneness. The meaning of this intention, as commonly understood, is that our doing a mitzvah is intended to bring about a revelation of the unity of G-d’s transcendence and immanence, to show that G-d is fully present even in the most mundane circumstances.

Among the earliest archeological texts associated with ancient Israel are the late ninth or early eighth century BCE ostraca from Kuntillet Ajrud (Horvat Teman) that state “berakhti etkhem l’Y-H-W-H shomron (or in other cases teman) ul’Asherato”, “I bless you (plural) by Y-H-W-H our guardian (or of Samaria/Teman) and by His Asherah”. Another text, from an eighth century BCE tomb at Khirbet el-Kom near Hebron, reads: "Blessed be Uriyahu by Y-H-W-H, for from his enemies, He saved him by His Asherah.” Some secular scholars have suggested that these texts are evidence of Israelite worship of the Canaanite goddess Asherah, but “His Asherah” is not a formulation known outside of the Israelite texts (Asherah taking the personal possessive pronoun, like El and Ba’al, because it is not just a name but a title), is remarkably similar to “His Shekhinah” in the Arizal’s statement of intention, and bespeaks something belonging to G-d, not a separate being, like a goddess. The sixteenth century mekubal, the Ramak, makes it clear that “Asherah” is a term for the Shekhinah, the Feminine Divine Presence (e.g., Or Ne’erav, chelek zayn, but also in his work Pardes Rimonim). Moreover, this equation also occurs in some manuscripts of the Zohar (cf. Zohar I, 49a and Matt [2004] in Volume 1 of his Zohar translation pp. 270–271, notes 1259-1264). Thus, although the Arizal’s formulation is comparatively recent, it reflects a very ancient tradition of regarding G-d as having a “Feminine” aspect.

Now, several questions arise. First, is there any evidence for this in the Written Torah? Second, is this “Feminine Presence” truly an aspect of G-d or a merely a creation, as some medieval Jewish sources suggest? Third, if it is indeed an aspect of G-d, are we to take it as a “hypostasis”, introducing a measure of independence that would represent plurality in G-d, like the “persons” of the Christian Trinity?

The very beginning of the Torah affirms that at the start of creation, before G-d metaphorically spoke creation into existence, “ve-ruach Elokim merachefet ‘al p’nei hamayim” (B’reishit [Gen.] 1:2) – “and the breath of G-d fluttered over the face of the waters”. Note two things about this verse – ruach literally means “breath”, which is exactly what the Latin “spiritus” (spirit) conveys, and the word is feminine, as made clear by the feminine verb form “merachefet” (a bird-like fluttering used to poetically characterize the light breathing in and out of involuntary breath). So, before “speaking” creation into existence, G-d’s “feminine breath” was present, just as breath precedes any human speech. Breath in humans is an involuntary and continuous activity, and without it, the human being will die – it is an essential activity. So to take the Torah’s own metaphor further, G-d’s “feminine ruach” must be regarded as essential to G-d, not a creation by G-d. But, while essential, it is an activity, not having the degree of independence of a “person” or "hypostasis".

There is a further implication of “ruach”. Going back to B’reishit 1:2 and what follows, it is clear that “ruach Elokim”, like breath in humans, not only precedes but also is the actual basis of G-d’s creative “speech” (cf. also Tehillim [Ps.] 33:6), a further activity that is entirely voluntary (unlike “breath”) and thus, represents the Divine assumption of limitation in that G-d’s activity of “speech” is existentially limited by its own inessentiality. Therefore, “ruach Elokim” is the G-d’s freedom to assume limitation. What is more, this freedom to assume limitation is a facet of G-d’s freedom from any limit. Indeed, freedom from any limit is the freedom to assume every limit, and vice versa. For without freedom from any limit, there is no freedom to assume every limit, since the latter would be limited by not being free from its own essential limit. Similarly, without the freedom to assume every limit, there is no freedom from any limit, since the latter would be limited by not being free to assume limit. Thus, “ruach Elokim” is not merely a power or mediator of G-d, but is truly an integral aspect of G-d.

This realization returns us to an early post here from Wednesday, May 5, 2010, which indicates that the Divine Name Y-H-W-H itself reflects this very same truth. There, it was shown that Y-H-W-H means “He will be”. As indicated there, “He will be” should be understood to mean that the “He” (i.e., the self) does not yet exist. However, in order to ensure that one does not mistakenly assume that G-d is locked into this negative, no negative is used, but instead the positive expression of the verbal imperfect. Moreover, the verbal imperfect does not only convey the future sense of “not yet” (“He will be”) but also conveys the contingent sense of “can” or “may” (“He can be” or “He may be”). Thus, the Name Y-H-W-H presents us with a freedom, not a negation – a freedom from self (the most basic limitation), even from the non-self construed as a self, and a freedom to take on self. So, the Name Y-H-W-H itself points us to “masculine” G-d and the “feminine” “ruach Elokim”, the Holy One Blessed Be He and His Shekhinah, Y-H-W-H and His Asherah. The mistake of seeing separate deities here (as in “Paganism”) or of hypostatizing here (as in Christianity) is effectively shut down by the meaning of the Name reflecting these integral, equal aspects of Divine Freedom, Divine Infinity.