Male and Female

By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)

 

In Human Beings: 1

In a Building: 2

Sex Organs. 3

Sex and sin. 3

In the Hebrew Alefbet: 4

In Speech: 6

In The Months. 6

Light 7

Reflected Light - Ohr Chozer - חזר אור  – Feminine Light 8

Direct Light - Ohr Yashar – Masculine Light 9

“Ohr Makif – The Encompassing Light”. 9

 

 

In this study I would like to examine some of the aspects of male and female, which are manifest in the physical world. The fusion of opposites is the goal of the union of male and female. These two opposites have no power alone, but, when united they have the power to create in this world.

 

All male and female, or abstract-plan and concrete-building pairs, consist of the same basic elements.

 

The process of the transformation of a potential into a reality has two distinct elements. First, you must have an understanding of what it is that you desire to actualize (desire is the key to a creation), this is the male component. Second, you must have an understanding of how to fit the proposed object of your desire into the actual reality of the outside world, this is the female aspect.

 

The male brings the multi-potential spiritual into the physical. The multi-potential spiritual is manifest in the physical with millions of possibilities. Thus the male aspect, of any thing, consists of millions of possibilities, all of which have a only potential form in the physical world. In the physical world this is manifested by millions of sperm (seed). The power to bring down any type of spiritual potential into physical reality, is described by the Torah as male.

 

The female selects one of the millions of potential possibilities and builds it into the reality of one form in the physical world. Thus the female aspect, of anything, consists of the selecting and building one final, real, form in the physical world. The form is complete with all of its details. This is manifested in the physical world by the one female egg. The power to build any type of potential, in its minimalist physical form, into reality, is described by the Torah as female.

 

The male and female aspects are mainfest in many things. We see it in human beings at it’s most tangible and understandable form, a baby. We also see these two aspects in the building of a building. Finally, we see it in the Hebrew alefbet which was used to build this world. Thus we understand that male and female are the two roles that HaShem uses to build this world.

 

In Human Beings:

 

In the interaction between an Ish - אּישׁ, a noble man, and an Ishah - אשה, a noble woman, we see two completely different, and complementary, views:

 

 

The interaction of the male and the female in Marriage is a pretty bizarre concept. It must have been HaShem’s idea. Who else could think of such an odd plan to bring together two opposites and unite them under one roof to share and create a life, a baby, wherein HaShem dwells? This body is the pattern for the Temple!

 

An Ish (a noble man), in an ecstatic moment, takes a multi-potential soul and brings it into the physical in the form of millions of multi-potential sperm. The sperm are just an infinitesimal speck of physicality. They have just enough form and shape to exist in the physical world, and no more.

 

The ecstatic moment takes all of the memories of the Ish, plus the soul given by HaShem, and in a moment of time, brings them from the intangible spiritual world, and gives them the most imperceptible form in the physical world. An Ish, a noble man, gives.

 

An Ishah (a noble woman) takes the multi-potential, infinitesimal speck of physicality, which was given to her, and selects just one sperm and rejects all others. She takes that one sperm and nurtures and cherishes it for a long time, a total of forty weeks. She carefully fans the spark of her husband. She builds it step by step into a complete human being, the perfect fusion of the spiritual and the physical. The birth of her child is the ecstatic moment for the Ishah.

 

The Ishah can not reach into the spiritual world, but, she excels at taking the barely perceptible and patiently building it into reality in the physical world. An Ishah, a noble woman, receives and builds.

 

In the physical realm, the man earns the income and provides the woman with the raw materials from which she feeds and clothes her family. So, too, in the spiritual realm, the man learns Torah, deriving the truths. He transmits these abstract truths to his wife who applies them to build into the home and into the children.

 

These male and female ideas affect even our mind. It is the bonding of inner (daat) and outer wisdom (logic and reason) and their harmony which is the beauty of the mind; that inner marriage which is the core of our being. When the two bond correctly, the outer wisdom remaining under control, subjecting its input to the grasp of the daat, and the daat understanding all of the outer wisdom appropriately, then thought is fruitful. Only when the male and female elements of thought blend can fertile, creative thought-energy be generated. This is the secret of the bar-mitzva: the child acquires daat when his body becomes fertile.

 

In a Building:

 

A building = Plan vs. Construction

 

 

In Hebrew, the word “yom / יום – day” is masculine and “leila / לילה – night” is feminine. Day is the time for people to do, and night is the time to connect. This is also why when a woman tries to express an issue to a man he focuses on trying to solve it (the do / give aspect) even though what she really wants is for him to just listen (the connect aspect).

 

This highlights an important dichotomy between male and female.

 

The female has the physical as can be seen from her body shape where she is larger in the lower body / world. The female constantly seek that which she does NOT have – the spiritual. The female wants an upper world connection.

 

The male, on the other hand, has the spiritual because he is larger in the upper body / world. The male constantly seek that which he does NOT have – the physical. The male wants a lower world connection.

 

This can be clearly seen in the marital relationship where the male constantly seeks the female for  physical relations, where the female seeks the male for spiritual relations. The man wants sex and the woman wants conversation and a religious experience.

 

Sex Organs

 

Our sex organs betray our spiritual disposition.

 

 The male genitalia is is visible and distended which mirrors the arogance and visibility of the male persona. The male organ is used for giving sperm to the female. It is the aspect of giving that defines maleness. That is why HaShem is always referred to by male pronouns.

 

In a similar way, a man’s body shape has it’s bulk in the shoulders which indicates his closer connection to the spiritual world. This explains why males are so concerned with the physical aspects of the female. They lack the connection to the physical so they constantly seek the physical connection. That is why husbands seem to be only interested in their wife’s body and not her spiritual components (her words, ideas, and other non-physical components).

 

The female genitalia are hidden and and internal betraying the modesty and hiddenness of the female. The female organs are meant to receive the male organ and his sperm. Femaleness is defined by receiving.

 

In a similar fashion, the female body has it’s bulk around the hips which denotes a strong connection to the physical. This is why she constantly seeks the spiritual connection with her husband because this is what she lacks. She has no significant interest in her husband’s body. She is only interested in the spiritual components which she lacks.

 

When the male arouses the female with the spiritual (his comforting words, actions, and miniscule sperm which is too small to fit in the physical world) and descends from above, into the female, he completes them both. She provides the vessel with which to receive the spiritual from the male. She becomes the house. She is her husband’s house and her child’s house. As her husband dwells in her, so also does her child dwell in her. From this act we derive, in Jewish law, that the woman has complete dominance in the way the home is kept and the children are raised.

 

Sex and sin

 

1 Corinthians 6:16-20 Have you not known that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body [with her]? For, says he [Adam] "they shall become one" (Genesis 2:24). 17 And he who is joined to the Master is one in spirit; 18 Flee therefore prostitution; every sin, that a man may commit is without the body, but he who is committing prostitution, against his own body does sin. 19 Have you not known that your body is a sanctuary of the Spirit of Separation in you, which you have from God? and you are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price; glorify, then, G-d in your body and in your spirit, which are G-d's.

 

This passage teaches:

 

1. That a man who has sex with a woman becomes one with her in body and spirit.

 

2. That said man, must then atone for the spiritual sins of the woman he has slept with as when he has become one with her, her spiritual sins are now upon him by virtue of becoming one with her.

 

3. That before a man has sex with a woman he should be aware that there is a price to pay, her sins now become his sins!

 

4. That therefore, a woman's sins are atoned as far as she is concerned by the act of having sexual relations with a man.

 

5. That the sexual act brings forgiveness to the woman and a woman who has no regular sex with a man is therefore laden with much guilt and unforgiven sin.

 

6. That it is a great act of kindness on the part of a man to have regular sex with his wife, as he has to seek forgiveness and atonement not only for his sins but also those of his wife, provided that he has sex regularly with her. Conjugal relations is one of three things[2] that a man promises his wife in the ketubah.[3]

 

7. Man's relationship to HaShem, therefore, must be constant with Him, since he is responsible not only for his sins but those also of the woman he is having sex with.

 

8. This principle also touches on the idea that in intimate relationships both goodness and blessings are shared.

 

 

In the Hebrew Alefbet:

 

ATBASH[4] = Male vs. Female letters

 

ATBASH is a letter substitution cipher. In this form of Gematria, we take, for example, a male letter and substitute it for the corresponding female letter, and vice versa.

 

In ATBASH, if a word contains a ת tav, we substitute it for the corresponding male letter so that the ת tav becomes an א aleph.

 

Similarly, a ב beit becomes a ש shin.

Lets take a look at an example from the Tanach:

 

This ATBASH device is to be found in the Book of Yiremiyahu (Jeremiah) where in verses 25:26 and 51:41 the word “Sheshach” is an ATBASH for “Bavel”, and in 51:1 “Lebkamai” is an ATBASH for “Kasdim” (Chaldea). It appears that the Psalmist of chapters 25 and 34, having omitted the “vav”, now compensate for this omission by concluding with a “peh” — which is, of course, a vav in the language of ATBASH!

 

ATBASH is a letter substitution cipher. In this form of Gematria, we take, for example, a male letter and substitute it for the corresponding female letter, and vice versa.

 

Male    = The letters of genesis or beginning.

Female = The letters of building or construction.

 

The following chart shows this relationship in ATBaSH:[5]

 

 

An example of ATBaSH from the Torah regarding Ketoret (קטרת) is cited by Rashi elsewhere:[6]

 

"[On the second day of the dedication of the Mishkan, the leader of Yissachar brought as his offering] one golden spoon weighing ten (units), full of Ketoret." (Bamidbar 7:18). "One golden spoon ("Kaf")" - This represents the Torah, which was given to us by the hand ("Kaf") of Hashem. "Weighing ten (units)" - Representing the Ten Commandments. "Full of Ketoret" - The Gematria [= numerical value of the letters] of the word Ketoret is 613, which is the number of Mitzvot in the Torah -- provided that the letter "Kuf" (the first letter of the word Ketoret) is replaced by the letter "Dalet," using the At-Bash system (whereby the first and last letters of the Alef-Bet are interchanged, and so too the second with the second to last, etc.).

 

קטרת = דנגא

 

The following chart shows this relationship in ALBaM - אלב"ם:[7]

 

 

נפש (nephesh - soul) is an ATBASH of  תוב (tov - good). So, in HaShem’s world, the male world of creation, you have tov, good. This intangible male word is given concrete, female, reality in the nephesh, the soul of man. A nephesh, a soul, is the ability to connect, as we have seen before. That nephesh which connects with HaShem is tov, is good. That soul which burns and makes the connection, is tov, is good. This נר, this ner – this flame, this nephesh[8] and ruach,[9] when it becomes lit up, it becomes tov, good. Where does the flame of connection between us and HaShem burn? It burns in the Beit HaMikdash, HaMakom, The Place of connection. Thus our nephesh connects with HaShem in The Place of Daat, the place of connection, the place of knowledge. That is what the menorah signifies!

 

The western lamp of the menorah miraculously burned continuously:

 

Shabbath 22b  Said Rab: That was the western branch [of the candelabrum ] in which the same quantity of oil was poured as into the rest, and yet he kindled [the others] from it and ended therewith.

 

Aleph is the most male of the letters. It is the most potent letter of creation. It is so high that it is silent, it has not yet condensed into this world. Aleph in Hebrew means to teach, to raise to a higher spiritual level. Elef means 1000, the highest letter of the number system. Aluf is the highest rank. All of the aleph words are words of elevation. Aleph is two yuds with a vav, which is equal to 10 + 10 + 6 = 26 = yud (10) hay (5) vav(6) hay(5), the tetragrammaton, the name of HaShem. An aleph is the ultimate letter of connection. A yud coming down from the higher world, a yud going up from the lower world, and a vav, a hook, connecting them. These three pieces form a connection, as we have spoken about earlier. Aleph also has a Gematria of one, it is a unity, a total unity. When HaShem came down on har Sinai, His first word was anoki, I am, which begins with an aleph.

 

The Beit, the number two, means fragmentation. That is why creation begins with a Beit. Then the letters break down into more detail.

 

The female starts with detail and builds to unity, just the opposite of the male letters. The female brings reality into the world. She catches the male spark and produces real fruit in the world.

 

Male and female are always opposites. The female always starts with detail and works towards totality. The male always starts with totality and works down to detail.

 

In Speech:

 

There are male and female aspects of speech.

 

The male aspect is purposeful communication. The female aspect is talk. The soul needs to express itself, using both.

 

In The Months

 

The Jewish months are twelve in number but in Torah reality they are viewed as a structure of six pairs that are back to back with each other. This pairing is seen in many aspects, but is most vivid in the bi-modality (see also BIMODAL) of the festivals and of the shmita, or septennial, Torah cycle lectionary when viewed as two triennial Torah cycles.

 

 

Each of the festivals in their respective month, also has the male and female nature. Consider the following examples:

 

Pesach (masculine) – is the Nisan festival of the firstborn because the firstborn male was spared from destruction when HaShem passed over the houses with the blood on the lintel and doorposts. Because of the we always redeem the firstborn male who opens the womb. Now, Israel is called HaShem’s firstborn. It is this firstborn that HaShem demanded of the Egyptians. Since they would not let His firstborn go, then the Egyptian firstborn were destroyed. Thus we see the masculine aspects of this festival.

 

Shavuot (masculine) – is the Sivan festival of the giving of the Torah. Giving is a masculine trait.

 

Yom Teruah - Rosh HaShanah  (feminine) – is the Tishre festival where the primary mitzva is the blowing of the shofar. The shofar is the shape of the birth canal, a feminine characteristic.

 

Succoth (feminine) – is the Tishre festival where we dwell in a temporary dwelling, a succah, for seven days. We “dwell” in a succah much as a man “dwells” in his wife during the act of marriage. Further a child “dwells” in his mother until he is born. Thus the nature of Succah shows a feminine characteristic with the masculine dwellers. Succoth is a plural feminine noun.

The etrog is also considered to be feminine, while the lulav is masculine.[10] The mitzvah is fulfilled only when the two are put together.

 

One of the major ceremonies, for Succoth, involved the hakafot, the circuits around the altar in the Temple. Today these hakafot are used to circle the bima in the esnoga. These seven circuits remind us of the seven circuits that a bride makes around her husband at their wedding. The purpose of her circuits is to make herself into her husbands house.

 

Chanukah (feminine) – is the second chance to celebrate Succoth and is essentially feminine. On Chanukah, many women have the custom not to work during the thirty minutes that the Chanukiah's candles are obligated to burn. The Chanukiah is a part of a house (which is feminine) and is on the side of the door opposite the mezuzah. The multiplicity of candles also hints to the woman who is able to duplicate herself.

 

Purim -  There is a Kabbalistic concept that the spiritual is the "male" element of creation while the physical is its "female" aspect. Thus, in the book of Esther, Mordechai related to the spiritual or "masculine" constituent of Purim, while Esther identified with its physical or "feminine" dimension.

 

Purim is the festival of the Jewish body. Mordechai, too, recognized this when, together with Esther, he instituted a series of decidedly physical observances for Purim: gifts of food and money, and the joy achieved through feasting and drinking.

 

Light

 

The Kabbalists speak of two sorts of movements in the universe: from Heaven down to earth, known as Ohr Yashar (“Light [that emits] straight [and heads downward]”), and from earth back up to Heaven, known as Ohr Chozer (“Light [that emits] backward [or, heads back up]”).

 

When the light comes down from Binah to Malchut through the seven Sefirot it’s called Direct Light, Ohr Yashar. When the light is reflected from Malchut with the actions of restrictions it creates Returning Light, Ohr Chozer.

 

Ohr Chozer - חוזר אור - Talmud Bavli

Ohr Chozer is a “returning” or “reflective” light. The Ohr Chozer comes into existence when the illuminating radiance from the EIN SOF is returned with G-dly intentions from Creation, such as the light from a Chanukah MENORAH or SHABBAT candlelight that reaches the heavenly realm with the BRACHOT (blessings) that are spoken. Light that is obscured by the resistance of matter is also referred to as Ohr Chozer, Light that has become indirect or reflective. Later Kabbalists called the Ohr Chozer the “second Breath from KETER,” in contrast to the “first Breath of Keter,” which is the OHR YASHAR, the Direct Light.

 

Ohr Yashar - ישר אור - Talmud Yerushalmi

The Hebrew phrase Ohr Yashar refers to the Light that comes directly from G-d into Creation. Often referred to as “the Straightforward Light," Ohr Yashar is an illuminating radiance that comes, in a straightforward way, from the world of Atzilut, the place of G-d’s infinite and unlimited Benevolence, into Creation. The Ohr Yashar flows from above to below, and is the ultimate Truth of G-d’s Being. It encompasses all aspects of existence, as it is the very source of Creation itself. Ohr Yashar represents the concept of causality, and in this instance Keter is the cause of all things and Malkhut is the effect. Further, because cause cannot exist without effect, the effect itself is seen as the “cause of cause.” It is in this regard that Malkhut is the concept of Ohr Chozer, or Reflected Light.

 

The portion of the Ohr Yashar that is absorbed into the inner essence of a person who performs Mitzvot and studies Torah is called the Ohr P’nimi. That portion of the Ohr Yashar that is not absorbed into a person’s inner essence remains with them and forms the Ohr Makif, the “Encompassing Light.” Later Kabbalists called the Ohr Yashar the “first Breath from Keter," in contrast to the “second Breath of Keter,” which is the Ohr Chozer, the Reflected Light. See Olam (Olamot), Ohr P’nimi, Ohr Chozer, and Ohr Makif.

 

In Torah Itself there's Ohr Yashar (from top down) and Ohr Chozer (from the bottom up). Ohr Yashar is when one is tapping into Torah's light. this includes both ta'anug (delight) light and intellectual light.

 

Birurim. Two types 1) Ohr Yashar redeeming the good. The evil is then disposed of. 2) Ohr Chozer dealing with the disposal of what isn't good. The evil is now (more) transformed and made good.

 

Chassidic teachings explain that the spiritual purification that comes about through studying the revealed Torah is called “Ohr Chozer,” a reflected light (from below to above). This is the work of a baal teshuvah, who transforms his past negative deeds to holiness. The lights drawn down through studying the hidden parts of Torah is called “Ohr Yashar,” direct light, from above to below, which is the work of a tzadik. The Zohar states regarding Moshiach that he will “cause the tzadikim to do teshuvah.” In other words, he will merge the two approaches of “direct light” and “reflected light,” by studying the revealed Torah as illuminated by the teachings of Chassidus.

 

Reflected Light - Ohr Chozer[11] - חזר אור  – Feminine Light

 

In the cosmic process, direct light is always more powerful. How­ever, Ohr Chozer  - reflected light may be more sustaining. Reflected light may be compared to the ascending mist of a waterfall.

 

The Maggid of Mezeritch, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov, teaches that the verse “A woman of valor is the crown of her husband” alludes to the form of the letter zayin. The zayin, whose form is similar to a vav, though with a crown on top, reflects the Ohr Yashar of the vav as or chozer (“returning light”).

 

“Who is a good [literally, "kosher"] woman? She who does her husband’s will.” Chassidut explains that the word “does” also means “rectifies,” as said in the completion of the account of Creation (the seal of the seventh day, Shabbat): “that which God created to do”– “to do” in the sense of “to rectify” (thus implying that HaShem has given us the task to consummate the rectification of His Creation), as explained by the Sages. Thus the “kosher woman” is she who rectifies her husband’s will by elevating him to ever new awareness of previously superconscious realms of soul.

 

Direct Light - Ohr Yashar – Masculine Light

 

The previous letter, vav, portrays the Ohr Yashar (“straight light”) descending from HaShem into the worlds.

 

“Ohr Makif – The Encompassing Light”

 

 

Related Essay

 

“Consider Her Ways”

by Rabbi Noson Weisz

 

One of the most problematic areas of Jewish law for the modern mind to comprehend is the law of niddah, “menstruation”.

 

Although a normal part of the female cycle, menstrual bleeding renders a woman tamey, “spiritually impure”.  Whatever and whomever a woman who is niddah touches become somehow spiritually impure as well, and all relations with her are strictly forbidden.

     

The law of niddah is not a rabbinic law, as its basics are clearly delineated in our Torah portion among other places in the Torah and, therefore, cannot be dismissed as the invention of later chauvinistic rabbis.

     

Yet to the modern mind all this smacks of sexism, and seems to be indicative of the worst sort of male chauvinism.

     

However, we must start from the assumption, as we always do, that HaShem exists, that the Torah is true, and that it was given to us by HaShem as instructions for living.  It should be immediately self-evident that the attribution of these laws, which come from HaShem, to sexism or chauvinism is absurd. HaShem, being incorporeal, is neither male or female in the human sense, and has absolutely no reason to favor men over women. So, beginning with a fresh slate, abandoning any a priori assumptions, how do we begin to rationally understand the niddah laws? 

 

STARTING POINT: HEAVEN AND EARTH

     

A logical place to begin, is to attempt to comprehend the concept of male and female from a Torah perspective.

     

The very first verse in the Torah reads:

 

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

     

In Hebrew, the word for heavens is shamayim, and the word for earth is aretz. These are both very peculiar words to describe the things that they are meant to describe.

     

The root of the word aretz (earth) is ratz which means “to run”.  Thus the earth, the aretz, is apparently running somewhere. Shamayim (heaven) is a composite word: sham mayim, literally meaning “there is the water”.

     

If we put these ideas together conceptually, the Torah is telling us at the outset that the earth runs to the heavens because they are the source of water and energy. Without water and energy, the earth is incapable of producing life.

 

Thus the very first verse in Genesis introduces the idea that the universe is a composite of two things, the heavens - shamayim, the giver, and the earth - aretz, the recipient. The purpose of the universe is hinted at as well.  The heavens supply the earth with water and energy, which the earth takes into itself and transforms into the new life that springs forth out of its depths.

     

The character trait associated with giving for its own sake is chesed, “benevolence”. The character trait associated with receiving is gevurah, or “strength”, for the recipient must remain passively expectant patiently awaiting the input supplied by the donor, without becoming fidgety or distracted. This requires self-control and discipline, which in turn requires force and strength.

     

When the union between donor and recipient has an intended outcome, knowledge and planning are required in addition. The donor must locate precisely the proper recipient at the right place and the right time, and the recipient must patiently await the arrival of this particular donor at the designated place and time and avoid accepting input from less than the ideal source.

 

MALE AND FEMALE

     

Armed with this information, we can now explain the Torah concept of male and female and the bond between the two.

     

The male or zachor in Hebrew is the donor. He provides the seed of life, called chesed, and pours it into the female, called nekevah in Hebrew, a word that literally means “opening”, who is the recipient. She takes the chesed and transforms it into life.

     

In a curious twist, the word zachor in Hebrew also means to remember. The role of the male in the production of life is only a memory; the actual appearance of life is totally associated with the female. There is a long gestation period between the union and the birth, so that by the time a child is born, the father is only a memory.

     

The union between male and female is referred to as daat, literally “knowledge”. As in:

 

Genesis 4:1 Adam knew his wife Eve.

     

Daat is the combination of chesed and gevurah in the proper proportions. Life requires planning. It is based on an explosive outburst of creative energy, but this energy must be carefully organized and controlled. Explosion and control are diametric opposites. The proper combination of the forces of giver and receiver requires the understanding and knowledge to balance the extremes and make the union possible.

     

We have only to think of the hydrogen bomb to clearly see this. As a destructive force, we can exploit the explosive energy contained in atoms by building bombs that can be encased in a simple shell that is roughly the size of a suitcase. To harness this same energy in a constructive controlled way, we have to build nuclear reactors, large structures that occupy acres of territory and are equipped with masses of complex machinery and staffed with hundreds of technicians. The control of explosive energy requires a great deal of knowledge, planning, and organization. 

     

Without new knowledge the world would be a static place. All progress and growth, including progress and growth in the physical world has its origins in new knowledge and understanding,  both of which are spiritual forces. The world feeds many more people than it could a hundred years ago without having become any larger or richer in natural resources. The difference in potential is due to new knowledge and technology, both products of the human spirit. The importance of new human life is in the fresh soul that enters the world, not the new body which is merely the envelope in which it is wrapped.

     

Spiritual birth requires spiritual union. Thus the most significant aspect of the union between male and female is spiritual rather than physical. The physical union is merely representative of the spiritual oneness that can be attained. To bring a soul down from heaven to earth that is capable of “watering the earth” and supplying fresh energy to the world, the couple must aim for a spiritual union rather than a physical one.

 

MAKING SOULS

     

Genesis 12:5 Abram took his wife Sarai and Lot, his brother’s son, and all their wealth that they had amassed, and the souls they made in Haran and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

     

The Ohr HaChaim Hakodash, one of the most important Kabbalistic commentators on the Torah, notes that although at this point in their lives Abraham and Sarah were still childless, that does not mean that their union was without issue. Whenever they “knew” each other through their many barren years, they brought souls down from heaven to earth. As yet these souls lacked corresponding physical envelopes. Nevertheless, these souls were already part of the spiritual Jewish family, and went along with them when they left Haran to be later inserted into bodies born to them or their offspring.

     

But not only is the spiritual union of male and female the source of all new human souls, this union is the chief repository of the Divine presence on earth.

     

In Hebrew, a man is an ish, while a woman is an ishah.  His name contains the letter yud - י, hers the letter hey - ה, in all else they are identical. Between them they contain yud heh - יה, the name of HaShem.

     

Because the male-female union is the very crux of all spiritual existence in the universe, the spiritual lives of males and females is shaped around it. 

     

The male, the repository of chesed, representing the heavens in the first verse quoted above, is expected to spend his active spiritual life clinging to the heavens. To do so, he has to  study the Torah and observe the commandments that he is required to perform at specific times. He must develop self-discipline to do this properly, and this, in turn, requires mastering the character trait of gevurah.

     

Divine wisdom decided that the life of the male, the repository of chesed should center around the acquisition and perfection of gevurah. Another word that means male in Hebrew is gever. The negative trait of aggression, the outward expression of this character trait is associated primarily with males. 

     

The female is the recipient, and is therefore the chief repository of gevurah.  As the caregiver and nurturer, she is expected to master the character trait of chesed. The chief distinction of the Jewish woman throughout history has been her dedication to chesed.

     

Through the spiritual activities imposed on them by the Torah, both male and female become a perfect blend of chesed and gevurah in their individual selves, and thus become capable of perfect union as a couple.

 

GIVER OF LIFE

 

Genesis 3:20 Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she had become the mother of all the living.

     

Rashi explains that her name Eve, Chava in Hebrew, is a derivation of chaya, meaning “giver of life”, except that in turning the verb into the noun the yud - י becomes transformed into a vav - ו.  (As we pointed out earlier, the name of HaShem yud hey - יה, emerges from combining the Hebrew words for man and woman.)

     

We are finally ready to return to the laws of niddah. Life makes its appearance in the world through the woman.  It is also through her that life departs.

     

Man’s first contact with the snake was through Chava. It was she who initiated the first sin,  eating from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that ushered death into the world.  The Ohr Hachaim points out that this is also hinted to in the name of Chava. One of the names of snake in Hebrew is chivya, which is spelled almost identically with Chava.

     

The flux of life dominates the being of the woman, who is the basic receptacle of life. The menstrual cycle, which is the physical manifestation of her power to give life, oscillates between life and death. It delivers the eggs which are intended to receive the new life, and it flushes them out and discards them when they die and are no longer suitable for this purpose.

     

But why should this process be considered tamey, “spiritually impure”?

     

As only the woman can serve as the recipient for the input of new life, the negative forces in the universe are more interested in pursuing her than pursuing males.

     

The snake, a parable for this negative force which is impenetrable to Divine light and therefore the source of tamey, also wants to express himself spiritually. As all such expression is through the human spirit, and he wants his own input into fresh human life. The address for attaining such expression is at the gate where life enters, the woman. This is why the snake was initially interested in Chava not Adam.

     

Jewish souls come into the world through mothers according to Jewish law. The non-Jewish mother gives birth to a non-Jewish child even if the father is a Jew. The father is only a memory at birth. He does not have sufficient power to force the entry of a Jewish spirit through a non-Jewish gate. The Jewish mother always gives birth to a Jewish spirit, no matter who is the father of her child. Being the true repository of gevurah, she does have the spiritual power to force her own stamp on any source of life and insist on expressing it only through her own way.

 

THE POSITIVE SIDE OF NIDDAH

     

But enough of the negative. There is a very positive side to the laws of niddah as well.

     

Genesis 24:67 And Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother.  He married Rebecca, she became his wife, and he loved her.  And thus was Isaac consoled after his mother.

     

Rashi explains that as long as Sarah was alive, the lamp stayed lit in her tent from one Sabbath eve to the next, her dough was blessed and the cloud of HaShem’s presence hung over the tent. When Sarah died these blessings ceased, but when Rebecca entered the tent they resumed.

     

The Maharal explains that the phenomena described by Rashi represent the Divine response to the performance of the Torah commandments that are the special province of the Jewish woman.

     

As she rolls the dough it is her task to separate a part of the dough that is presented to the Kohen, and HaShem’s response to her diligence is to bless the household bread. She is the one who ushers in the holiness of the Sabbath by lighting the Sabbath candles, and this keeps the light of spirituality and happiness flowing in the Jewish home through the week that follows. Greatest of all, she creates the purity and sanctity of the Jewish home by the observation of the niddah laws, and it is her efforts that allow HaShem’s presence to find a comfortable resting place in the Jewish family.

     

The holiness of the union between male and female that is the goal of the Jewish marriage is entirely dependent on the spiritual purity maintained in the sexual relationship. Sexuality can easily become the simple expression of physical romance and can even descend to lasciviousness. The sexual organs were the ones that Adam and Eve felt compelled to conceal as soon as they established their connection to the tamey force in the universe by partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

     

The sexual union was intended to be a graphic expression of the spiritual oneness that can be attained in marriage through the love between the partners.  This is true when the love is based on mutual respect and admiration for each other’s spiritual qualities. Without extreme care and vigilance, the love is more likely to turn into a means of gratifying romantic fantasies or the simple satisfaction of physical desire.

     

It takes great wisdom and understanding to attain holiness in this aspect of life. The maintenance of the spiritual purity of sexuality was entrusted to the Jewish woman and is guarded by her through her observance of the laws of niddah. These laws are a constant reminder that there is a tamey aspect to sexuality and allowing it freedom will result in women being regarded as sexual objects rather than repositories of daat.

     

The need to purify oneself spiritually in mikveh, the ritual bath, before engaging in the sexual act at the beginning of each new menstrual cycle serves as a constant reminder to the Jewish couple.  It reinforces the Torah teaching that the physical aspect of their union has so much holiness that it requires an act of spiritual purification before it can be renewed. This transforms an act of potential self indulgence into a quest for holiness.

     

Our society regards sexuality as a force that separates men and women. Their sexual difference places them into competition with each other. Each one is programmed to pursue identical goals and therefore society is struggling to arrive at fair rules of engagement, so that they can coexist in a state of friendly rivalry rather than hostility.

     

The Torah aims for more. HaShem enters the world only through the human spirit. Only a male and female joined together in the serene harmony comprises an entire human spirit. Neither the man nor the woman can be spiritually complete in themselves.

     

Thus only a couple can serve as the gateway through which the Divine presence can enter the world. The woman, being the chief repository of the trait of gevurah in the world was the logical choice to be the one selected to guard the purity of this precious resource. The niddah laws and their observance help her do that, and in so doing serve as the foundation of the sanctity and purity of the Jewish family.

 

 

* * *

 

This study was written by

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David

(Greg Killian).

Comments may be submitted to:

 

Rabbi Dr. Greg Killian

12210 Luckey Summit

San Antonio, TX 78252

 

Internet address:  gkilli@aol.com

Web page:  http://www.betemunah.org/

 

(360) 918-2905

 

Return to The WATCHMAN home page

Send comments to Greg Killian at his email address: gkilli@aol.com