Product Description

A historical examination of the goddess in Judaism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188803 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Publisher
"The Hebrew Goddess" demonstrates that the Jewish religion, far from being pure monotheism, contained from earliest times strong polytheistic elements, chief of which was the cult of the mother goddess. Lucidly written and richly illustrated, this third edition contains new chapters of the Shekhina.

Customer Reviews

The Jewish Queen of Heaven?...
Dr. Raphael Patai, a noted Hebrew scholar and anthropologist and author of the HEBREW GODDESS is also the co-author of HEBREW MYTHS with Robert Graves (THE WHITE GODDESS). Those who wish to continue reading about the goddess in ancient religions will find parts of the HEBREW GODDESS quite interesting, however, Patai's book is not as lyrical as Graves' and not as readable in some sections as others. I found passages dealing with archeology in the Holy Land and quotations from the Old-Testament more interesting, and the sections dealing with the rabbinical writing of the Talmudic period proved difficult to follow (and stay awake).

Essentially, Patai is not suggesting Judaism has reverted to polytheism or kept a goddess in the closet all this time. He says "the legitimate Jewish faith, beginning with the earliest formulations of its belief-system ...has always been built upon the axiom of One God. He says Maimonides, the greatest medieval Jewish philosopher said, "God is not a body, nor can bodily attributes be ascribed to him." Still, mere mortals have had difficulty understanding God as an abstract concept, and thus have ascribed human characteristics to "him.".

Patai says throughout it's history Judaism has stressed the moral and intellectual aspects of God and often neglected the affective and emotional dimensions. However, since the earliest times, the Jewish people have understood God through myths and these myths personify God. This personification of God has included the goddess worship Jerimiah decried, the female attributes of the Cherubim that guarded the Ark of the Covenant, the myths of Lillith, the visions of the Shekina during the Talmudic period, and the rise of the Matronite in the 15th-18th Centuries.

Kabbalism during the Middle Ages was mass movement among Jews. During this period, a popular-mythical version of the Matronite overtook and dominated the scholarly-mystical variant. The attachment among Jews to the Matronite (mother of God) had a marked resemblance to Marioloatry among Christians in the Latin countries. Kabbala mysticism was associated with the Sephardic and Hasidic elements of Judaism which also associated with the Latin countries.

Apparently, the Ashkenazi Jews were not as "irrational" and after the Jewish Enlightenment, their perspective became the dominant Orthodoxy. Still, the Sephardic practicies associated with the Sabboath, which men were instructed to keep "Holy" continued. Patai describes the rituals of Friday night which included the Seder meal and sexual consumation of the scholar and his wife as serving the purpose of reuniting God with his wife--Shekina.

Patai's original book has been expanded with new chapters covering the Shekina in greater detail. Although he stresses the importance of the theological it is not clear even yet that ordinary practicioners understand the difference between the Goddess personified and the female aspect of the One God.

Was the Hebrew God a Woman?
The Bible gives the impression that all ancient Jews shared a common belief system ... with only an occasional group straying from the fold. But the evidence paints a different picture. As Dr. Patai states, "... it would be strange if the Hebrew-Jewish religion, which flourished for centuries in a region of intensive goddess cults, had remained immune to them." Archaeologists have uncovered Hebrew settlements where the goddesses Asherah and Astarte-Anath were routinely worshipped. And in fact, we find that for about 3,000 years, the Hebrews worshipped female deities which were later eradicated only by extreme pressure of the male-dominated priesthood.

And then there's the matter of the Cherubim that sat atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Fashioned by Phoenician craftsmen for Solomon and Ahab, an ivory tablet shows two winged females facing each other. And one tablet shows male and female members of the Cherubim embracing in an explicitly sexual position that embarrassed later Jewish historians ... and even the pagans were shocked when they saw it for the first time.

This cult of the feminine goddess, though often repressed, remained a part of the faith of the Jewish people. Goddesses answered the need for mother, lover, queen, intercessor ... and even today, lingers cryptically in the traditional Hebrew Sabbath invocation.

The Feminine Aspect of G-d
As a Jew and a student of Judaism this sits among the most important books I have read, although it took ten years for me to finish it. In a few words, it provides me with a factual-critical-intellectual basis for my engagement with the feminine in my tradition.

I am only sorry the Dr Patai has passed on, may his memory be a blessing, so he will not be able to update The Herbrew Goddess to account for:

a) more recent archaeology, and
b) the recent flowering of the femininine in Judaism

David