Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site zehntel.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!steve From: steve@zinfandel.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Female Jewish Deities? Nonsense! - (nf) Message-ID: <1577@zehntel.UUCP> Date: Fri, 17-Aug-84 04:19:41 EDT Article-I.D.: zehntel.1577 Posted: Fri Aug 17 04:19:41 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 19-Aug-84 02:01:29 EDT Sender: root@zehntel.UUCP Organization: Zehntel Inc., Walnut Creek, CA Lines: 23 #R:rdin:-44900:zinfandel:20600010:000:895 zinfandel!steve Aug 15 13:24:00 1984 Just hold on to your "Nonsense!" a second, Andrew. I had a hunch that the Gnostic concept of Sophia might have cross-pollinated into Jewish Mysticism, so I dug into it a little deeper (but not too deep--Encycl. Brit.), and found out that this is so. In the "Sefer ha-bahir" (Book of Brightness) a ca. 12th century Midrash of Jewish Mysticism, the universe comprises a hierarchy of divine powers. The deity at the bottom of this hierarchy is in charge of the visible world. A la the Gnostic's Sophia, this deified Presence (Shekhina), is characterised as a feminine being, and while being one aspect of the divinity, is a daughter or wife, who owns nothing herself, and receives all from her father or husband. So even if she is divine, she still gets the short end of the stick, the bottom of the totem pole and (at least with the Gnostics) the blame for the mess. zinfandel!steve nelson