The Privileged Status of the Divine Feminine in Theosophical-Theurgical Kabbalah: Examining Keter Malkhut

263 Pages·1.091 MB·English

by  Idel, Moshe

Moshe Idel
The Privileged Divine Feminine in Kabbalah
Perspectives on Jewish Texts
and Contexts
Edited by
Vivian Liska
Editorial Board
Robert Alter, Steven E. Aschheim, Richard I. Cohen, Mark H. Gelber,
Moshe Halbertal, Christine Hayes, Moshe Idel, Samuel Moyn,
Ada Rapoport-Albert, Alvin Rosenfeld, David Ruderman, Bernd Witte
Volume 10
Moshe Idel
The Privileged
Divine Feminine
in Kabbalah
ISBN 978-3-11-059744-8
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-059980-0
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-059760-8
ISSN 2199-6962
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952920
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
“[She…] is higher than all.”
Zohar, Tiqqunei Zohar, R. Moshe Cordovero, R. Hayyim Vital, R. Naftali
Bakharakh, R. Abraham Yehoshu‘a Heschel of Apta, R. Shlomo Eliashiv
“Since whatever is done, is always done only by [means of] Malkhut.”
R. Shlomo Eliashiv, Leshem, Shevo ve-’Ahlemah, Sefer De‘ah, 2, fol. 158a.
“Put me under Your Wings
And by my mother and sister.”
,ךְפֵנָכְּ תחַתַּ ינִיסִינִכְהַ
תוֹחאָוְ םאֵ ילִ ייִהֲוַ
Chaim Nachman Bialik

Preface
The present study addresses a complex topic: the preeminent status of the divine
feminine power, referred to also as Female, within the theosophical structures
of many important Kabbalists, Sabbatean thinkers, and Hasidic masters. The
complexity derives from the usual compact and allusive language of Kabbalists,
whose discourse was not oriented toward analytical expositions; nor were they
concerned with dealing with issues of sex and gender in the way they are con-
ceived in modern, direct types of discourse. Their treatment of such important
topics is, in many cases, oblique. The greater complexity is not only a matter of
the opacity and intricacy of many Kabbalists’ texts; an additional factor stems
from mediation based on modern scholarly concepts in which an exploration of
issues related to sex and gender has become an intrinsic part of scholarship in the
humanities. At present, this approach is more than simply a tool for empowering
women, part of the struggle against misogyny, or the striving for social changes in
the present – indubitably very laudable developments. The problem arises upon
attempts to apply this methodology for an understanding the past, including
texts that do not subscribe to the ideals forged in some circles during the last
century, and to judge them by these standards. Analyzing the past with the use
of modern techniques has become a way of unmasking its darker sides; in many
cases, this does not represent an effort toward a new understanding of a differ-
ent culture but, unfortunately and preeminently, a critique of ancient or medie-
val cultures, which, naturally, do not comply with the requirements of political
correctness with regard to attitudes toward sex and gender. Frequently, critiques
precede a sustained effort at understanding, and scholars’ neglect of most of the
texts analyzed below, constitutes just one example of this approach.
Despite the two main theses of this study as to the relatively privileged status
of the divine Feminine and the importance of what I call the three phases gender
theory, this is by no means an attempt to defend Kabbalah or Kabbalists, or
even less Judaism, from criticism of their androcentric attitudes, which, indeed,
exist there substantially. Nor do I intend to emulate the Kabbalists’ more positive
approaches to the divine Feminine, mainly ignored in scholarship in the field.
My aim is to highlight the existence of other attitudes that have been ignored
or neglected in scholarship. I therefore do not recommend viewing my conclu-
sions as any recommendation for a new understanding of Judaism as a whole
or as a source of inspiration for a spiritual reform of Judaism or its theology. Nor
are the texts addressed below helpful in formulating a “feminine character” as
Kabbalists envisioned it. My primary aim here, as in my other studies, is to gain
a better understanding of some aspects of a vast literature by pointing to the
richness and diversity found in Kabbalistic literature. Such a project requires a
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110599800-201
VIII   Preface
non-ideological attitude that differentiates among diverse voices, not only within
the broad spectrum of Kabbalistic literature as a whole but also in the writings of
individual authors. In fact, I postulate that one can discern diverse types of theo-
sophical thought in Kabbalah that shaped the understanding of the divine femi-
nine powers. Occasionally, a careful inspection of the diapason of voices reveals
isolated theosophical theories, and I shall deal with various discussions that con-
stitute what I call circular theosophy in Kabbalah. In this work, I advance beyond
my earlier studies in which I dealt with the many cases of equality between the
divine Male and Female, of reciprocity in their relationship, and of what I call two
distinct categories: “feminine theurgy” and “Female’s theurgy,” Scholarship has
overlooked so many quintessential discussions concerning gender in Kabbalah;
moreover, my analysis of these debates, presented here for the first time, offers a
totally innovative picture.
I wish to emphasize that I am not attempting here or elsewhere merely to
rescue a few marginal voices from oblivion or to contribute to an archeology of
the suppressed, although those are worthy undertakings. Rather, I want to high-
light a major topic that has been ignored or suppressed, sometimes by scholarly
misinterpretation of Kabbalistic thought, despite and perhaps even because of the
recent wave of interest in feminism as an ideology. From this point of view, this is
an unfashionable study. The extent of this trend’s impact on other modern develop-
ments outside Judaism is a separate matter. Nevertheless, I believe that it is possible
to lay the groundwork for a tentative understanding of the transition of a particu-
laristic, ethnocentric, approach such as that which most of Kabbalah embraced,
though in a modest manner, to the thought of some Renaissance and subsequent
modern thinkers, which, in turn, probably influenced modern feminism.
Many thanks are due to the Matanel Foundation for establishing and sup-
porting the Matanel Chair for Kabbalah at the Safed Academic College, and to the
Kogut Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. They
enabled me to spend time on the research and writing of the present study, which
is part of a broader project.
Last but not least: thanks to the editor of the series, Prof. Vivian Liska of the
series, who kindly accepted this book for publication and to Dr. Stefani Hoffman
for her excellent editing.
Jerusalem, January 2018
Contents
Preface   VII
1 I ntroduction – Theosophical Kabbalah:
Complexity and Dynamism   1
2 Reification and the Ontological Status of Thought and
Action in Early Kabbalah   28
3 The Gender Addition to “Action”   35
4 O n the Elevated Status of the Divine Feminine in Theosophical
Kabbalah   41
5 The Father, the Head, and the Daughter   47
6 Sefer Ma‘arekhet ha-’Elohut and its Reverberations   67
7 R . Moshe Cordovero and R. Shlomo ha-Levi Alqabetz   77
8 R. Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, His Kabbalist and Sabbatean Followers   103
9 R. Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto: 1707–1746   135
10 The Privileged Female in Some Later Kabbalists in Ashkenaz   148
11 Some Hasidic Examples of the Three-Phases Gender Theory   159
12 Some Wider Terminological Considerations   172
13 Concluding Remarks   185
Primary Sources   221
Bibliography   225
Name Index   245
Subject Index   248