This myth is parallel to that of the Removal of the Shekhinah, in which each major sin of Israel resulted in the Shekhinah moving further away from this world. See the commentary to “The Earthly Dwelling of the Shekhinah” for a discussion of it.
Sources:
B. Rosh ha-Shanah 31a; Lamentations Rabbah 25; Avot de-Rabbi Natan 34; Otzar Ma’asiyot; Zohar 3:45b; IFA 10020.
73. THE LAMENT OF THE SHEKHINAH
Since the destruction of the Temple, the Shekhinah descends night after night to the place of the Temple, enters the Holy of Holies, and sees that Her dwelling-house and Her couch are ruined and soiled. And She wanders up and down, wails and laments, and weeps bitterly. She looks at the place of the cherubs and lifts up Her voice and says, “My couch, My couch, My dwelling-place, where My husband would come to Me and lie in My arms, and all that I asked of Him, He would give Me. My couch, My couch, do you not remember how I came to you in joy and contentment, and how those youths, the cherubim, came forth to meet Me, beating their wings in welcome? How has the Ark of the Covenant which stood here come to be forgotten? From here went forth nourishment for all the world and light and blessing to all. Now I seek My husband in every place, but he is not here. My husband, My husband, where have You gone? Do You not remember how You held Your left arm beneath my head and Your right arm embraced me, and You vowed that You would never cease loving Me? And now You have forgotten Me.”
This myth offers a moving account of the Shekhinah as a spurned lover. It follows the explicit husband-wife imagery of “The Sacred Bedchamber,” which derives from the same source, Zohar Hadash.
Sources:
Zohar Hadash, Midrash Eikhah, 74b.
74. THE WAILING OF THE SHEKHINAH
Each person of Israel is a member of the Shekhinah. If any one of Israel abandons his faith for another, he is cutting himself off from the Shekhinah. Then the Shekhinah wails and says: “As long as the member is connected, there is some hope that it will recover, but when the member is cut off, no repair is possible.”
This teaching is attributed to the Ba’al Shem Tov. The people of Israel are considered to be the members of the Shekhinah—each person functions like an arm or a leg. But when they are converted—as happened in the time of the Ba’al Shem Tov to the Frankists, who converted to Christianity—they not only cut themselves off from their people, but also from the Shekhinah. And like an arm or leg that has been amputated, there is no longer any hope of repair.
Sources:
Shivhei ha-Besht, no. 44.
75. THE EXILE OF THE SHEKHINAH
When the Temple was still standing, Israel would perform their rites, and bring offerings and sacrifices. And the Shekhinah rested upon them in the Temple, like a mother hovering over her children, and all faces were resplendent with light, so that there was blessing both above and below.
When the Temple was destroyed, the Shekhinah came and went up to all those places where She used to dwell, and She would weep for Her home and for Israel, who had gone into exile, and for all the righteous and the pious ones who had perished.
At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, questioned the Shekhinah, and said to her, “What ails you?” And She replied, weeping, “My children are in exile, and the Sanctuary has been burnt, so why should I remain here?” Now the Temple is destroyed and the Shekhinah is with Israel in exile and there is no joy to be found, above or below.
The exile of God and His Bride is a primary example of the emergence of the Shekhinah as an independent mythical figure. The story also resembles the conflict between an angry couple, where the wife leaves the husband and accompanies the children, here the children of Israel.
From the perspective of the Zohar, the fact that the Shekhinah accompanied Israel is evidence of God’s attachment to Israel: “All the time Israel was in exile, the Shekhinah was in exile with them. And since the Shekhinah was with them, God remembered them, to do good to them and bring them out of exile” (Zohar 1:120b).
The exile of the Shekhinah is presented in the form of a parable about a king in Sefer ha-Bahir, in which the king had a beautiful wife and children, but when the children turned to evil ways, the king became angry with the children and their mother. The mother then went to the children and upbraided them for their behavior and its consequences until they changed their ways and did the will of their father. Then the king remembered them and loved them as much as he did in the beginning, and also remembered their mother. The king, of course, is God, and the king’s wife the Shekhinah, while the children are the children of Israel. According to Rabbi Shlomo Rabinowitz of Radomsk, “The Shekhinah protects Jews like a mother taking care of her children” (Tiferet Shlomo on Deuteronomy 29:27). The myth of the exile of the Shekhinah found in the Zohar follows this earlier parable closely, and the earlier parable may well be the inspiration for it. It is interesting to note that in the parable from Sefer ha-Bahir, the queen is responsible for the well-being of her children, and the fate of the queen depends on the fate of her children. When the children repent and God loves them once again, He also remembers His love for their mother, the queen.
According to the Zohar, the exile of the Shekhinah that took place at the time of the destruction of the Temple was not Her first exile, but Her second. The first took place when Adam sinned, and the Shekhinah went into disgrace and was dismissed from the celestial palace, going into exile. Thus a distinct parallel is drawn between the consequences of the sin of the forbidden fruit and the destruction of the Temple. Both are regarded as cosmic catastrophes.
The weeping of the Shekhinah in this myth has parallels with the weeping of Rachel in Jeremiah 31:15, and with the weeping of Mother Zion in Jeremiah 15:9, 4 Ezra 9:38-10:24 (where there is a Mother Zion-type of figure) and in Pesikta Rabbati 26:7. Indeed, it is likely that Mother Zion was a precursor figure to the medieval kabbalistic evolution of the concept of the Shekhinah into the Bride of God. See “Mother Zion,” p. 46. The weeping of the Shekhinah is also central to the sixteenth century tale, “A Vision at the Wailing Wall.” See this story, p. 63.
The kind of conflict between God and the Shekhinah reflected in this myth resembles the marital disputes between Zeus and Hera in Greek mythology. See the Introduction, p. lxv, for a discussion of the parallels between Zeus and Hera and God and the Shekhinah. See Graves, The Greek Myths, 13c, 13.l.
Sources:
Sefer ha-Bahir 76; Zohar Hadash, Midrash Eikhah, 92c-92d; Zohar 1:202b-203a; No’am Elimelekh; B. Megillah 29a; Tiferet Shlomo on Deuteronomy 27:2-7.
76. MOURNING OVER THE SHEKHINAH
After the Temple had been destroyed and the Shekhinah had gone into exile, all the angels went into mourning for Her, and they composed dirges and lamentations for her. So too did all the upper and lower realms weep for Her and go into mourning.
Then God came down from heaven and looked upon His house that had been burned. He looked for His people, who had gone into exile. And He inquired about His Bride, who had left Him. And just as she had suffered a change, so too did Her husband—His light no longer shone, and He was changed from what He had been. Indeed, by some accounts God was bound in chains.
God said to the ministering angels, “When a mortal king mourns, what does he do?” They said, “He extinguishes his torches.” God said “I too shall do that. The sun and moon will become black, and the stars stop shining” (Joel 4:15).
God said, “When a mortal king mourns, what does he do?” They said, “He sits in silence.” God said, “I too shall do that. I will sit alone and keep silent.”
God said, “When a mortal king mourns, what does he do?” They said, “He sits and laments.” God said, “I too shall do that.”
Here God and the angels are shown in mourning over the exile of the Shekhinah. Even the heavens and the earth are said to mourn, as in the verse, “I clothe the skies in blackness and make their raiment sackcloth” (Isa. 50:3). So too is the mourning of the angels confirmed with a prooftext: The angels of peace wept bitterly (Isa.
33:7).
The most daring part of the myth is the suggestion that, having lost the Shekhinah, God’s glory has somehow been reduced—“His light no longer shone, and He was changed from what He was before.” What has been lost is the feminine aspect of God, and without it God is incomplete. This myth seems to contradict the general view that God is unchanging and eternal, and makes God dependent on His Bride in the same way that a husband is dependent on his wife. Indeed, God is here referred to as a “husband.” In Zohar 1:182a God’s diminishment is explained as follows: “The secret of the matter is that blessings reside only where male and female are together.”
The explanation in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 13:9 that God was bound in chains, derives from God’s promise that “I will be with him in distress” (Ps. 91:15), so that when Jeremiah was bound in chains, so too was God.
Sources:
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 13:9, 15:3; Zohar 1:182a, 1:210a-210b.
77. THE SUFFERING OF THE SHEKHINAH
Wherever Israel is exiled, the Shekhinah is exiled with them and suffers with them. Those who are in this bitter exile should not be concerned with their personal distress, but should only lament the exile of the Shekhinah. For through Torah study and prayer, one is able to repair the limbs of the Shekhinah that were shattered in exile.
Here the exile and suffering of the Shekhinah are seen as a communal expression of the exile and suffering of Israel. Therefore, individuals “should not be concerned with their personal distress, but should only lament the exile of the Shekhinah.” A similar view was expressed by Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov (1780-1845), the scribe of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, in writing about the meaning of Rabbi Nachman’s story “The Lost Princess” in Sippurei Ma’asiyot: “Everyone in Israel is occupied with the search for the lost princess, to take her back to her father, for Israel as a whole has the character of the minister who searches for her.” See “The Shekhinah Within,” p. 63. For more on the limbs of the Shekhinah see “The Wailing of the Shekhinah,” p. 56.
Above all, this myth insists that the quest to end the exile of the Shekhinah is a communal one for all the people of Israel. And until that takes place, the suffering of the Shekhinah must be shared by all of Israel. Rabbi Dov Ber offers a different perspective on the concept that all Jewish souls are the limbs of the Shekhinah, identifying each Jewish soul as a tiny particle of the Shekhinah, like a drop in the ocean (Maggid Devarav le-Ya’akov 66.)
Note the parallel here to the exile of the Shekhinah and the Ari’s myth of the Shattering of the Vessels. Indeed, from a mythic perspective they are one and the same. The search for the lost princess is identical to the effort that must be made to Gather the Sparks, and in both cases the ultimate aim is to bring about the messianic era. See “The Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks,” p. 122.
Sources:
No’am Elimelekh; Iggeret ha-Kodesh 31 in Tanya; Maggid Devarav le-Ya’akov 66.
78. LILITH BECOMES GOD’S BRIDE
After God dismissed His Bride, the Shekhinah, from His presence, at the time of the destruction of the Temple, God brought in a maidservant to take Her place. Who is this maidservant? She is none other than Lilith, who once made her home behind the mill, and now the servant is heir to her mistress, as it is said, A slave girl who supplants her mistress (Prov. 30:23). She rules over the Holy Land as the Shekhinah once ruled over it. Thus the slave-woman has become the ruler of the House, and the true Bride has been imprisoned in the house of the slave-woman, the evil Lilith. There the Bride is held in exile with her offspring, whose hands are tied behind their backs, wearing many chains and shackles. That is a bitter time for the exiled Bride, who sobs because Her husband, God, does not throw His light upon Her. Her joy has fled because She sees Her rival, Lilith, in Her house, deriding Her. And when God sees his true Bride lying in the dust and suffering, He, too, will become embittered and descend to save Her from the strangers who are violating Her.
So it is that in the days to come news will come to God’s consort, Lilith, that the time has come for her to go. Then she who plays the harlot will flee from the sanctuary, for if she were to come there when the woman of worth was present, she would perish.
Then God will restore the Shekhinah to Her place as in the beginning, and God and His true Bride will again couple with each other in joy. As for the evil slave-woman, God will no longer dwell with her, and she will cease to exist.
This startling myth describes the ascent of the demoness Lilith, in which she becomes God’s consort after His separation from his Bride. It is based on an interpretation of the verse A slave girl who supplants her mistress (Prov. 30:23). The identification of Lilith as once living behind a mill is based on the verse about the slave girl who is behind the millstones (Exod. 11:5). In folk tradition, Lilith was especially likely to be found in places such as a ruin or behind a mill. Here a strong contrast is made between her low beginnings and her ascent to become God’s consort.
This myth represents the apex of Lilith’s ambitions, but it is also understood that her position is only temporary—until God’s true Bride, the Shekhinah, returns at the time of the coming of the Messiah. The ruling presence of the demonic Lilith over the Holy Land, as she takes the place of her predecessor, is offered to explain the long exile of the Jews that followed the destruction of the Temple and subsequent exile.
Note that in this version of the separation of God and the Shekhinah, God is described as having dismissed Her rather than an alternate version, also found in the Zohar (1:202b-203a), in which the Shekhinah and God have a confrontation about the fate of the Temple and the children of Israel sent into exile, and she decides to leave on Her own. See “The Exile of the Shekhinah,” p. 57.
It is impossible to read this myth without seeing a parallel to the story of Abraham and Hagar. Hagar was Sarah’s maidservant, but when Sarah remained barren, Abraham conceived Ishmael, his first child, with Hagar, And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem (Gen. 16:4). The enmity between Sarah and her maidservant is thus parallel to that of God’s Bride and the maidservant Lilith.
The Zohar (3:97a) adds a fascinating explanation for the link between Lilith and the Shekhinah: “This recondite mystery is that of two sisters.” In kabbalistic mythology, the Shekhinah represents the feminine aspect of the side of holiness, while Lilith represents the feminine aspect of the side of evil. Thus they are tied together, like two sisters.
The myth ends by predicting the reunion of God and the Shekhinah and the end of Lilith’s existence. It is unstated but understood that this will take place at the time of the coming of the Messiah.
Sources:
Zohar 2:118a-118b, 3:69a, 3:97a; B’rit ha-Levi 7; G. Scholem, Tarbiz, vol. 5, pp. 50, 194-95.
Studies:
The Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai, pp. 96-111, 221-254.
79. ISRAEL AND THE SHEKHINAH IN EXILE
Whenever Israel went into exile, the Shekhinah was with them. When they were exiled to Babylon, the Shekhinah was with them; when they were exiled to Elam, the Shekhinah was with them; and when they were exiled in Edom, the Shekhinah was with them.
When Israel were journeying in the wilderness, the Shekhinah went in front of them, and they on their side followed Her guidance. The Shekhinah was accompanied by clouds of glory, and when She journeyed, the Israelites took up their march.
When the Shekhinah ascended, the cloud also ascended on high, so that all men looked up and asked: Who is She that comes up from the desert like columns of smoke? (S. of S. 3:6). For the cloud of the Shekhinah looked like smoke because the fire that Abraham and his son Isaac kindled clung to it and never left it, and by reason of that fire it ascended both as cloud and smoke; but for all that it was perfumed, with the cloud of Abraham on the right and with the cloud of Isaac on the left.
And when Israel returns from exile, the Shekhinah will return with them, as it is said, With me from Lebanon, O bride, with me you shall come from Lebanon (S. of S
. 4:8).
The presence of the Shekhinah is indicated here by a series of prooftexts. Thus the presence of the Shekhinah in Babylon is linked to the verse On your account I was sent to Babylon (Isa. 43:14). The verse And I will set My throne in Elam (Jer. 49:38) is linked to the presence of the Shekhinah there. Likewise, the presence of the Shekhinah in Edom is linked to the verse Who is this who coming from Edom? (Isa. 63:1).
This myth demonstrates how the fate of the Shekhinah and the people of Israel is entirely entwined, and that the Shekhinah led the people in their desert wanderings.
Sources:
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Shirata 3:67-73; Sifre on Numbers 84:4.1; Zohar 2:134a.
80. GOD’S EXILE WITH ISRAEL
When the Temple had been destroyed, and Israel was being banished from Jerusalem, God said, “Whom among the Fathers would you have lead you? Whether it be Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, whether Moses or Aaron, I shall raise up any one of them from his grave, and he will lead you. Or if you would prefer David or Solomon, I shall raise either of them and he will lead you.”
The congregation of Israel replied, “Master of the Universe, we do not wish to choose any one of these. You are our only Father.”
God replied, “Since that is your wish, I will be your companion, for I Myself will accompany you to Babylon.”
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