A Woman's Right to Spirituality
By Rabbi Max Weiman
As more advances are made in struggles against discrimination and
gender-based harassment, many turn their gaze towards traditions of
spirituality and assume, since the ancient traditions look backwards
in time, instead of forwards, that men have an unfair advantage in a
system of enlightenment from antiquity.
When it comes to Kabbalah, although
its study has certainly been dominated by men, women are not
precluded. A glance at the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings
indicates clearly that women have the ability to climb to the top of
the ladder of spirituality in this system.
At the very top is the status of
being a prophet/prophetess. This is the pinnacle of achievement for
anyone in pursuit of greater holiness, and women are well
represented there. In fact the prophets mentioned in the holy
writings number 48 to 7 men to women, which considering the
circumstances is a very significant number of women. (Many more
prophetesses and prophets who lived during those times were not
mentioned because they didn’t have a prophecy that was needed for
future generations.)
Our tradition states that true
prophecy has not existed since Temple times (2000 years ago), and
therefore the highest level of spiritual achievement for men and
women is called Divine Inspiration. Gender does not inhibit your
ability to become holy. Spirituality runs deeper than your personal
philosophy of life, country of origin, etc. and therefore anyone can
access truth if they so desire. Spiritual blemishes like lying,
stealing, and other acts of immorality can make it difficult to
access spiritual truth, but not impossible. And as you can see,
www.kabbalahmadeeasy.com is open to anyone who wants to log on.
While some articles require a basic knowledge of Judaism, most
articles are understandable even to readers without any background.
Do men and women have different
souls?
The concept of male and female is
deeper than most people realize. Our physical existence is an
expression of a spiritual reality. Just as there are males and
females in the physical world, so too in the spiritual world there
is such a thing as male and female, but on a spiritual level. Some
of the metaphors in the Bible allude to this. God, though obviously
genderless and infinite, is often referred to as “He”, and humanity
or Israel is called “she”. This is because the nature of our
relationship to God is, from one standpoint, one of giving and
receiving. God gives and we receive. We are the recipient of His
beneficence and boundless love. We can’t give to an Infinite
Being. Yet “He” tells us that “His” desire is to give to us, so the
more we allow “Him” to give, by doing “His” will, the more we are
giving, so to speak, to “Him”.
There are, of course, many references
to female attributes of God, the primary one being the “shechinah”,
God’s presence. Those familiar with Hebrew recognize when the
various names of God or the holy attributes are in a feminine form
or a masculine form. These two forces, male and female are found
throughout the universe and therefore nouns in Hebrew will almost
always take either a masculine or a feminine form. (Though not our
topic at the moment, we see similarities to the eastern philosophy
of Yin and Yang)
Women who want to access their true
inheritance of spirituality would do well not to look at the
superficialities like wearing a kippah, tallis, or tefillin. These
are outward displays of spirituality, and women are more sensitive
to, and can achieve more through, the inner core. Women have the
right and the ability to access the highest realm of spirituality
there is, as it says in the book of teachings by Elijah the Prophet,
“I testify before the heavens and the earth, whether someone is
Jewish or not, man or woman, slave or maidservant, everything is
dependent upon deed. That’s what causes Divine Inspiration to rest
on someone.” Elijah then goes on to say that Devorah made wicks and
had her husband bring them to the temple. That act was the catalyst
that caused her spiritual growth into a prophetess.
Our spiritual potential is waiting to
be accessed. Find your spiritual core and take advantage of your
abilities. The sky’s the limit.
Rabbi
Weiman's website:
http://kabbalahmadeeasy.com