Shekhinah

SHE LEAVES WITH THE EXILES. The kabbalistic myth has God's Bride declare that she will abandon her spouse and go into exile with her children — which makes her the one figure in this key whose story is a separation from God rather than a service to Him. Her gendering is itself historical: early rabbinic usage carries no gender, and the feminine identification emerges in the mystical literature.

Domains

• the indwelling divine presence
• the divine feminine
• exile with israel
• the tenth emanation
• the temple as bridal chamber

Sources

• Reference treatment of the Shekhinah: the term comes from a Hebrew root meaning to dwell, and literally means the act of dwelling; in early rabbinic literature it referred generally to God's presence among the people with no gender association, and the connection with femininity emerges mainly in Jewish mystical literature; in the Zohar the Shekhinah is compared to a mother, sister, daughter and bride, and is clearly identified as God's Bride, the coupling between God and the Shekhinah described in specifically erotic terms with the Temple as a sacred bedchamber; she is the tenth and final emanation from the hidden divinity Ein Sof; in the kabbalistic myths the destruction of the Temple — the Shekhinah's home in this world — and the impending Babylonian exile provoke a confrontation in which God's Bride declares her intention to abandon her spouse and go into exile with her children, the Children of Israel; the ministering angels who serve the Shekhinah are called virgins, betulot.
• Zohar