There is a great debate in the history of Jewish philosophy and Jewish theology

that asks us to reconcile these two truths. Truth number one, the creator of the heavens

and earth, God is beyond humankind. God does not have human attributes.

Unlike the polytheistic pantheons of other cultures, the God which we know about from the Hebrew Bible,

does not have human emotions or a corporate bodily presence.

But then there's truth number two, for the God who has no bodily

corporate presence is quite often described in bodily terms in the text of the Hebrew

Bible, as indeed he is in elaborations of that text in the rabbinic tradition and in Jewish

prayer. The reconciliation of these two truths has stimulated some of the great works

of Jewish thought. Today we focus on the fact that God is described by means of human analogies,

however problematic that may be for Jewish theology. At the poignant heights of the liturgical year,

Jewish worshippers refer to the Creator of the Universe

as Avino Malkenu, our Father, our King. And very often in Jewish prayer, God is described as a

father, as indeed God is so described in the biblical text itself. And for that reason, it's perhaps

understandable why God should be thought of in paternal

terms in the Jewish imagination. But that's not the whole story, and in fact, God, who is beyond

embodied attributes like sex, plainly can't be fully comprehended as father, and indeed there must

be aspects of womanhood, and in particular

motherhood, and specifically the creative, generative capabilities that are unique to motherhood

that can teach us about God. And perhaps that is why God is also presented in the Hebrew Bible

as not only a father, but also as a mother.

Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. Today, we probe the Hebrew

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