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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
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Posted: Fri Aug 17 04:19:41 1984
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#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