12. VAYHI

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, in GODWRESTLING -- ROUND 2, 12/10/2004

[This essay was originally written for the book GODWRESTLING, published in 1978, and then incorporated in GODWRESTLING — ROUND 2 (Jewish Lights, 1996; available by clicking on the "Bo

Rabbi Phyllis Berman and her smikha sisters, 12/27/2004

SMICHA WEAVE AND PHYLLIS DVAR TORAH

(BEGINNING WEAVE)

Breishit : In the beginning of the process of creating four women rabbis and a rabbinic pastor there were five women living in three co

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The Breasted God

ONE OF THE DEEP ISSUES that today bedevils the Jewish people, and the human race, is how to understand God.

For many people, some of the old concepts — King of the Universe, Lord, Judge, for example — no longer seem adequate or honest. In a generation when human beings can destroy life on this planet, can create new species, can overthrow Pharaohs — all the powers we once located in a ruler far beyond us — it no longer seems truthful to invoke such metaphors. And many women, with some men, have pointed out that the old metaphors for God are overwhelmingly and pointedly masculine, bespeaking men's spiritual experience but rarely women's.