Reddit mentions of On the Wings of Shekhinah: Rediscovering Judaism's Divine Feminine

That was a pretty interesting article. Some of the things mentioned in it are actually ideas that have been speculated about in Jewish-feminist circles (like Wisdom personifying a divine feminine in Proverbs 3). I also thought it was intriguing that it so often cited the Jewish concept of the Shekhinah, because that's what we primarily focus on when discussing the Divine Feminine. In the service we have every Friday, we invite the Shekhinah in as the Shabbat Queen. Some people talk about certain righteous acts drawing the Shekhinah closer to us. It's also been an important concept when it comes to Jewish exile. In the Talmud (TB Megilah 29a), it says "R. Simon b. Yohai said: Come and see how beloved are Israel in the sight of God, in that to every place to which they were exiled the Shekhinah went with them. They were exiled to Egypt and the Shekhinah was with them, as it says, 'Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt.' They were exiled to Babylon, and the Shekhinah was with them, as it says, 'for your sake I was sent to Babylon.' And when they will be redeemed in the future, the Shekhinah will be with them, as it says, 'Then the Lord thy God will return with thy captivity.'" I feel like it's kinda hard to connect the concept of Shekhinah to the goddess Asherah though.

Some Jewish feminists theorists have also sought to reclaim Asherah, but I'm sorta speculative of doing that. The Bible condemns Asherah worship, as can be seen in Exodus 34:13. The Hebrew word used here is a possessive formation of Asherah (A-S-R-Y-W; the name Asherah itself is A-S-R-H). Another issue I have is that Josiah didn't just destroy Asherah poles, he also ended Baal worship, ended sacred-prostitution (which itself was associated with Asherah), ended child sacrifice to Molek, and put a stop to necromancery and idolatry. For all of this, the Bible affirms that Josiah was a great king. I feel like it's difficult to affirm that Josiah was a good king, but at the same time rescue Asherah from condemnation (which is what the article tries to do in the section "The Greater Apostasy"). This method also necessitates accepting the Documentary hypothesis and questioning the authority of the Deuteronomist books (Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings). Just seems like a hard line to walk. Like, I'm personally supportive of movements looking for the Divine Feminine in the Bible, but I'm just not too sure if focusing on Asherah is the best way. I'm just mentioning this because it's something that's brought up sometimes in the Jewish community as well.

Another thing the article mentions that's also been mentioned in the Jewish community is the possibility of Shaddai (S-D-Y) being referential of breasts (S-D-Y-M) and implying female fertility. The article mentions Jacob's Blessing and the possible wordplay with breasts (S-D-Y-M). One thing not focused on in the article is that the last word in that verse is "womb" (R-KH-M). That word is the same as the word for mercy or compassion (R-KH-M). So in places like Psalm 25:6, what it's sort of saying is, "Remember, O LORD, your wombfulness..." Just kinda a cool thing.

Anyway, it was a good read. Thank you for sharing it. I really appreciate it.