Myths and Folklore Series

Yahweh By Dr. Ilil Arbel

This article is not intended as a religious discussion. It relates only to the mythological and historical aspects of the use and development of the name of God. No attempt will be made to discuss the values and strengths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three great religions that hold God as their core. Such an attempt will be well above the scope of one article; the interested reader is encouraged to pursue the wealth of material available to everyone.

The name YHVH or YHWH is written with four consonants only; it is the holy Tetragrammaton, or in Hebrew, Shem Hameforash. Hebrew has no vowels. In ancient times, it didn't even have vowel points. These were added much later, and at that time pronouncing the name was already forbidden for generations. So no one knows how the most ancient name of God was pronounced. The vowel points make it sound like Yehova, and later it was anglicized to Jehovah. The reader may not say it. He or she must say instead the name Adonai, which means "My Lord." The name occurs about seven thousand times in the Bible. Every taboo has a reason. In ancient times, names had power. If you knew the real name of an entity, you had power over it. Often, an entity had two names, one widely-known and one secret. It is quite possible that in the very early stages, Yahweh was God's secret name and was used to influence or even control Him. Later use of the Shem Hameforash in the Kabbalistic tradition points to this direction, and will be discussed later in the article.

Photo: The Talmud.

This practice is close to magic and idol worship, so as monotheism developed and broadened, the magical use of God's name was objected to. So while the name Yahweh remains written in Jewish liturgy, Jews felt that an invisible, omnipresent, omniscient part of reality cannot have a name. Only titles are allowed: God, Most High, Holy one, etc. Today, among the Jews, Yahweh or Jehovah is never used.

To understand the relationship of the name to the entity, one must pay attention to the historic and mythic development of the concept of God, and particularly to the development of monotheism in Judaism. The most important document for such a review is the Bible. It is the core , the major source of Judaic mythology. It covers a period in the development of Judaism which was transitional between Polytheism and monotheism. The Bible is full of demigods, monsters, giants, and larger than life heroes. Animals talk and angels roam the earth, discoursing with common people. God is supreme - there is no argument that He is the Almighty, but he is not alone. This is not only part of Genesis, where creation myths would allow it, but even in the books of the prophets and in the poetry. Nor did the myths stay there. They went on into the two Talmuds, completed around 400 and 500 CE, and on to the midrashic literature and the mystical literature, all the way to the thirteenth century.

These later traditions actually allow more latitude than Genesis, being considered less sacred. In Genesis, God creates the entire world by speaking. In the later literature, he commits heroic deeds and battles with such evil entities as "The Prince of Darkness," "The Prince of the Sea," and various monsters that actively object to His creation. He either kills or imprisons them, thus sealing His supremacy as the fiercest warrior God; he is not, however, the only one. The opening act in the great epic drama of the Jews as a separate nation was the original encounter between Abraham and Yahweh. A covenant was declared. Abraham and his descendants would follow Yahweh's instructions and obey His commandments.

Photo: Asherah.

The only commandments requested at this stage were the circumcision of all males, and the taboo on human sacrifice, as later expressed by the significant story of the Binding of Isaac. More divine demands would come later, eventually leading to the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Yahweh would treat Abraham's descendants as his Chosen People -- not better than any other nation, but certainly different. This difference is the intangible reward. The tangible reward would be the eternal possession of land of Canaan, later named the land of Israel, after Abraham's grandson, Jacob-Israel. It was understood that other nations worshiped various gods. Idols often existed even in the households of the patriarchs, though generally ignored by them and worshiped only by other members of the household. Eventually, Yahweh won over all other gods, and became first among them, but they didn't really go away. He issued the command that He would be the only God - but the struggle with other gods and their priests and priestesses continued not only in the early and the desert years, but even later, with the Jews settled again in the land of Israel, long after Exodus. The Bible mentions them often - Asherah, Baal, Anath, El, Dagon, and many others; their temples existed side by side with the worship of Yahweh. Some even had special relationships with Him.

When Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt, each tribe was gathered under its own banner -- illustrated with an image of a god. A lion was depicted on the banner of Judah, probably looking much like the Egyptian Sphinx. A serpent, named Nechushtan, was depicted on the banner of the tribe of Dan. Later, a bronze image of Nechushtan was placed in Solomon's temple -- and stayed there until much later, when King Hezekiah melted the bronze from which the idol was made. It is possible that the tribes adopted these gods during the hundreds of years they spent in Egypt. Or perhaps the tribes were never part of the descendants of Abraham that accepted Yahweh during the covenant, and only joined this loose alliance of tribes later. Possibly, the covenant never happened and was only a later myth, added to the cycle of origin stories in the Bible. No one really knows. But the images on the banners were there, showing the tribes' alliances to other gods. The tribe of the Levites, with whom Moses was associated, was another matter altogether. They worshiped a thundering, fierce god, whose location was either Mount Horeb, or Mount Sinai. Very likely the two mountains are one and the same -- there is no proof either way. Was this god the same Yahweh, the God of Abraham? Very possibly. If not, the two entities, Yahweh of Abraham and the warrior god of the Levites were combined into one impressive entity that Moses, very likely a full-blooded Levite himself, had adopted as his own God. That is proven by the fact that later, only the Levites acted as priests to Yahweh in the various Temples.

The Israelites had to physically leave Egypt to worship Yahweh. They could not, under any circumstances, worship Him in Egypt, because they could not even see him there. Exodus is very specific as to what they had to see: "They took their journey from Succoth and encamped at Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. The Lord Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night (Exodus 13:21)." This is a clear and simple description of an active volcano- - smoke by day, fire by night. Then, to fully prove this assumption, they gathered around this mountain, and were told that they were never to climb or touch it, on danger of death. "Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever touchesth the mount shall be surely put to death (Exodus 19:12)." The mountain must have been dangerously hot to the touch. The passage continues: "And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord Yahweh descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." Another clear description of an active volcano. And at this emotionally impressive location Moses gave the Israelites a Code of Law, and reforged a covenant which was to become the basis for the development of monotheism. Time passed. Judges, kings and prophets presided over the Israelites. Yahweh continued side by side with the other gods. The first attempt to create pure monotheism, one God without an image, was conceived by the prophet Isaiah. Philosophically inclined, Isaiah was extremely advanced in his views about monotheism, well ahead of his time. His vision could not tolerate other gods next to the one, universal God. He prompted King Hezekiah to remove the image of the serpent, Nechushtan, out of the Temple, and melt it down. They also removed all the lion-shaped idols, gods of the tribe of Judas, and shattered them to pieces. The Temple lost all the images and remained empty of anything but the invisible and all pervasive presence of Yahweh. Isaiah even claimed that although Yahweh preferred his Chosen People, the Israelites, He must be also the God of all other nations, because other gods simply could not exist. Two other prophets continued to develop the concept. Habakkuk claimed that Yahweh was a righteous, loving God, not the fierce volcano God of fire and war, and the God of all men. There was no war between Yahweh and other gods, because no other gods could exist. Jeremiah went even further with that philosophy, reemphasizing the covenant and denouncing war. He saw God as a loving entity, more concerned about justice and peace among men than with burnt offerings -- a new and advanced concept at that time. Jeremiah went as far as to beg the Israelites to refrain from fighting the Babylonians, who were also God's children. He did not succeed in his peace mission. The Israelites rebelled, and the Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, conquered Jerusalem. He did not waste time killing the entire population, as is sometimes assumed. He destroyed the walls instead, and from the population, estimated to be about a quarter of a million, took approximately 35,000 captives straight to Babylon. The people taken were the aristocracy, including teachers, physicians, and very significantly -- priests. The tribe of the Levites must have constituted a large part of the people who went into the Babylon exile. In Israel, Nebuchadnezzar left the peasants to fend for themselves.

What happened in the seventy years of the Babylonian diaspora shaped the change in Yahweh. Until then, the Israelites, like all other nations, believed that each god had a locality. A god belonged to a country, a city, a mountain, a river. He or she dwelled in a temple built in this special location. Any captive, merchant, immigrant, or traveling physician worshiped in the town or village where he now lived, because his former gods were simply out of touch. The Israelites, who were treated quite well in Babylon, were invited to worship any Babylonian god they wished, as was the custom. But the Israelites could not do that. Perhaps if the peasants, and other simple people were driven to Babylon they would have willingly changed -- but not the Levites. They simply could not give up their connection to the God they so loved, were so connected to, identified themselves with. It was unthinkable. Instead, an equally unthinkable, unprecedented religious revolution took place. The Jews transformed God. They made him omnipresent, liberated Him from His location, and made him a universal God. They no longer really needed a temple, though eventually a new temple would be built, as a national symbol. Instead, they built synagogues, where people could congregate and pray together to a God that was omniscient, omnipresent, had no location, no shape or form, and no rivals. As a result, the Jews had to accept the fact that He must be the God of every other person on Earth. The Jews were still God's chosen people -- but only chosen to spread His word and suffer for the sake of the rest of the nations so that the world can be redeemed, an honor and a burden given to them by God. With such immense presence, He also had to mature psychologically. Obviously, he was no longer a warrior God, a fierce volcano God, fighting for his chosen people. The vision of Isaiah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah took the final stride toward a merciful, righteous God, whose love permeated the entire universe.

The Torah

In Babylon, the Jews put together all their lore and laws and codes into a book -- The Torah, knitting together all the preexisting narratives. An incredibly significant point of that book is that the word Elohim, which once meant the "other gods" became one of Yahweh's many titles. In other words, any other divinity was nothing but an aspect of this unseen presence of Yahweh. The transformation was complete. But God's ancient name, now taboo, was not forgotten. For a group of people so strongly wrapped up in their religion, it was not likely to happen. So when Jewish Mysticism came into being, a whole new body of myth followed it. The mystics believed that God's name reflected the hidden meaning and totality of all existence. Through the Shem Hameforash, everything acquired its existence. A specific sub-discipline was created, called Hokhmat-ha-Tseruf, meaning The Science of the Combining Letters. It was a guide to a form of meditation, with the use of the letters in Yahweh's name and their many configurations. The method is extremely complicated. Some compare it to music, because of its approach to the power of sound. Others compare it to modern physics because of a major system it employed for moving from one concept to another. The term is "dilug and kefitza," which mean "jump and leap," bringing the idea of quantum leaps to mind.

The Jewish mystics, however, strongly objected to the frivolous use of God's name, and believed that only under some circumstances the power gained by using it properly was justified. Mostly it was accepted as a means to save lives. An interesting paragraph taken from a major work bears witness to all that was discussed in this article. This is copied from a book written by Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla, a famous thirteenth-century Kabbalistic philosopher in Spain. Rabbi Joseph's work is considered one of the most systematic approaches to Jewish mysticism: "It is within the parameters of our historical covenant, however, that those who want their needs fulfilled by employing the Holy Names should try with all their strength to comprehend the meaning of each Name of God as they are recorded in the Torah, names such as EHYE, YH, ADoNaY, EL, ELOH, ELoHIM, SHADAY, TZVAOT. One should be aware that all the names mentioned in the Torah are the keys for anything a person needs in the world. When one contemplates these Names one will understand that all the Torah and the Commandments are dependent upon them. Then when he knows the purpose of every Name he will realize the greatness of "He who spoke and thus the world came into being." He will be fearful before Him and he will yearn to cleave to Him through His blessed Names. Then he will be close to God and his petitions will be accepted, as it is written: 'I will keep him safe, for he knows My Name. When he calls on Me I will answer him.' The verse does not promise safety by merely mentioning His Name but by knowing His Name. It is the knowing that is most significant. Only after the knowledge does the verse present the petition, '...when he calls on me I will answer.' This means that when the time comes he should know the Name that is intrinsically tied to what he needs, then when he calls, 'I will answer.' ...Know that all the Holy Names in the Torah are intrinsically tied to the Tetragrammaton, which is YHVH. If you would contend, however, that the name EHYEH is the ultimate source, realize that the Tetragrammaton is like the trunk of the tree from which the branches grow and the Name EHYEH is like the root from which grow the other roots. It is the trunk of the tree that nurtures the branches which are the other Names of God, and each one of these branches bears a different fruit. Know too that all the words in the Torah are connected to one of the unerasable Divine Names just as the other cognomens [for the different Names of God] are intrinsically tied to a specific Name... Just as EL, EloHIM and the Tetragrammaton have Cognomens, their Cognomens also have Cognomens until one finds that all the words of the Torah are intrinsically woven into the tapestry of God's Cognomens with are tied to God's Names which, in turn, are tied to the ineffable Tetragrammaton, YHVH, to which all the Torah's words are inextricably linked. Thus, all the Torah is woven with all the strands of YHVH and it is for this reason it is stated: "The Torah of YHVH is complete. (Psalm 19:8)"

Afterlife

This article is based on a large number Talmudic legends, and on statements from the Zohar.

From its inception, Judaism did not dwell on the afterlife. The Jew followed the will of God for its own sake, not for reward in Heaven or for fear of punishment in Hell. It is inevitable, though, that a religion as old as Judaism would develop some thoughts regarding the afterlife, particularly since association with people of other religions exposed the Jews to many theories. However, the disinclination to stress the afterlife resulted in diverse opinions that were never combined into one dominant theory. Some of these thoughts even contradict one another, and they served as a base to fascinating myth and folklore.

The Structure of the Soul

A human being on earth unites two parts -- a body and a soul. Each part is extremely complex in structure and consists of multiple components. While the body's structure is reasonably well understood, the structure of the soul is a mystery many tried to analyze. One Talmudic opinion divides it into three major segments: Nefesh: the lower, animal part, related to the instincts and to the reactions of the body. Ruach: the spirit, or the middle soul, linked to the understanding of morality and the ability to differentiate between good and evil. Neshama: the higher soul, linked to the intellect, and separating humanity from all other life forms. It allows the person to be aware of God, and to participate in the afterlife. According to the Zohar, which leans toward a mystical view of the universe, two additional soul parts may be developed by very few, select individuals who have the capacity of sublime levels of intuitive cognition:

Chayyah -- the part of the soul that is aware of the divine life force.
Yehidah -- the highest part of the soul, capable of achieving full union with God.

When the body dies, the soul components come apart, and each segment follows a separate road. The lower parts must undergo purification; the higher parts aim to join with God. Nefesh remains with the body for about twelve months, guarding the grave and occasionally roaming the earth for the purpose of learning. Ruach goes to Gehinnom (Purgatory), to purge itself from the sins the person committed in life, and prepare for the future life of the soul. Neshama goes to the lower Gan Eden (Paradise), Chayyah and Yehida return to Upper Gan Eden.

The Stages of the Journey

In rabbinic teachings, Olam Haba took many shapes and forms. To some, it is simply our own fully physical world, made better after the coming of the Messiah. To others it means Paradise, a spiritual place. Often, a journey is described, where the soul will encounter certain stages:

Hibbut ha-kever (the suffering of the grave)

A Jew who truly believes in God has little fear of dying. He sees death as a simple transition from one life to another. God will be the same there as He is here, and that is all that matters because in either life the one goal is to serve Him. The separation of body and soul is as simple, according to Talmudic transition, as removing a hair out of a glass of milk. To the less than perfectly pure, the separation can be more difficult. The soul of the worldly Jew strongly identifies with the body -- an erroneous but powerful notion that makes watching the body undergo decay and be eaten by worms extremely unpleasant. However, this mental agony serves a purpose; it awakens the soul from its wrong assumptions and allows the separation from the body to occur.

Dumah (the angel of silence)

If Hibbut ha-kever is still insufficient to separate body and soul, a great danger looms -- the decay and disintegration of the consciousness of the soul. At some point after death, the angels summon the Jews to the Heavenly Court by calling them by their Hebrew names. Many souls are so shocked by the death process, or are subject to the decay and disintegration of consciousness to such an extent, that they forget their names. If they don't follow the angels when they call them, the souls may wander off and spend aeons roaming the earth for no purpose at all. This is the time for intervention by the angel of silence, Dumah. He visits the graves regularly, and repeatedly asks the dead to tell him their Hebrew names, thus preventing forgetfulness. To help Dumah in his task, each Jew is taught a mnemonic device -- a Biblical sentence that begins with the first letter of the name and ends with the last letter of the name. This sentence is repeated after every prayer session. When Dumah asks for the name, even if the person forgot it, he or she cannot forget the Biblical verse because it is eternal and cannot decay, disintegrate, or disappear from consciousness.

Kaf ha-kelah (the catapult of the soul)

The sounds that the person heard during his or her stay on earth remain with the soul as inner vibrations that can destroy the capacity for the stillness needed to hear the voices of the angels. The myriad visions the soul saw on earth blur its ability to find its way on the journey. To help the soul get rid of all this auditory and visual pollution, two angels stand at each end of the world, place the soul in the catapult, and start hurling it back and forth to each other until they shake away the psychic debris. If this treatment does not succeed, the soul, even when anxious to reach Gehinnom in order to cleanse itself of its sins, may wander for generations in the world of Tohu, which is a land of confusion and void.

Gehinnom (purgatory)

In Judaic tradition, eternal punishment does not exist. Gehinnom is not, therefore, a classic hell. It is a place of pain and punishment, but the soul will only stay there for a maximum of twelve months, and the purpose is purification, not mere punishment. In other words,it is a spiritual forge, where the imperfections of the soul are purged. Often, the folklore describes Gehinnom in the primitive style of physical torment, fire and brimstone, but invariably, the Sages disagree with this unintellectual approach. The torment in Gehinnom is mental, and is caused by a state of anxiety and sadness over the sins the soul committed in life, and the distance and separation from God until purity is achieved again. On Saturday, Gehinnom is emptied, and the souls are permitted one day of bliss and closeness to God. Without it, the souls could not survive the torment of Gehinnom.

Gan Eden (Paradise)

Before entering Gan Eden, the soul bathes in the River of Light. The bath cleanses the soul from the remaining images of life, and it can see and understand the truth of the Olam Haba. The soul enters the lower Gan Eden, a place of intense joy resembling a symphony of mingled emotions. The soul spends some time there with a group of similar souls, and they are taught their lessons together by a rabbi assigned to the specific group. After it completes its study period, the soul bathes again in the River of Life, this time to rid itself of emotions and attain blissful understanding. It moves on to the upper Gan Eden. This is a place of joyous intellect and insight, and the study of the Torah is conducted in special schools. Each midnight, God Himself comes to share His wisdom with the inhabitants. Beyond Gan Eden there is a place called the realm of the Otzar (treasury), also called Tzror ha-hayyim. It is located in the highest spheres of spirituality, and functions as the treasury of souls. Before birth, and after death, the souls may dwell there.

The Option of Reincarnation

Once in the Olam Haba, the soul cannot acquire new good deeds or blessings, only the enrichment of the understanding of the life it led on earth. After the soul learned all that Heaven can teach it following a particular life, it may apply for reincarnation so that it can learn from new circumstances or acquire additional good deeds. But helping oneself is not the only reason to come back to earth. Some souls are so loving, they wish to go back to earth to help others. Some want to correct any wrong doing they committed. Reincarnation is entirely voluntary, and the soul can apply for this privilege at any time -- before or after Gehinnom, anytime in Gan Eden -- until they have created a spiritual body for itself. The spiritual body is the last step before the ultimate goal -- total merging with God. The dead may come back to earth without full reincarnation by temporarily entering the body of a living human being. Ibbur, a benign form of such union, is done to help the living person, or for performing a few good deeds. Dybbuk, on the other hand, is a negative form of possession, which is experienced when the soul gives way to negative feelings of revenge and unhappiness. In this case, a rabbi must educate the possessing spirit and persuade it to find peace and leave the world of the living.

Gilgul Mechillot Rolling in Subterranean Tunnels.

The Resurrection of the Dead is a complicated subject with many aspects, and is expected to happen in the future, after the Coming of the Messiah. However, it has one connection with the world of the grave which must be mentioned in this article. Awaiting the Resurrection, even when the body is completely decomposed in the earth, one bone remains unharmed to serve as a vehicle for the rebuilding of the entire body when it will be needed for the Resurrection. These bodies will rise in the Land of Israel, which is why so many Jews want to die and be buried there. But what is to happen to the bodies that are buried in other countries? Talmudic tradition claims that subterranean tunnels, called Mechillot, will open at that time from all the graves. The rebuilt bodies will undergo gilgul (rolling) through these tunnels until they reach the Land Israel. To aid the transition, many people buried in other countries request that a small amount of soil from Israel would be put under their head in their graves.

Shekhina

Judaism is a monotheistic religion, strongly connected to a patriarchal God - Yahweh. It may surprise many people to discover that a goddess was associated with Judaism from its conception, and continued to play an important part, in various forms, to the present. The goddess is best known as Shekhina, a Talmudic term describing the manifestation of God's presence on earth. While the Bible does not mention the name Shekhina, she is nevertheless bound to extremely old traditions, and closely relates to the ancient goddesses. Particularly significant is the Canaanite goddess Ashera who, at the beginning of the Israelites' settlement in the land of Canaan, was often referred to as Yahweh's Consort. The literature also calls her the "Holy Spirit" which, in Hebrew, is also a feminine form. The feminine nature of the Shekhina is so easy to establish in Hebrew, because the gender of the subject plays an important role in the sentence structure. In English, you can say "The Glorious Shekhina returned to bless us" without mentioning gender. In Hebrew, both verbs and adjectives have a male or female forms, and many names suggest gender to anyone who understands the language. The simple sentence above indicates three times that the Shekhina is female, and the fact sinks easily into the consciousness of the reader.

From the first covenant, Yahweh presented an image of a harsh, daunting God. His character almost demanded the birth of an entity like Shekhina. Also, He could not be seen by human eyes, and only a few prophets heard His voice. Yet almost every religion shows that human nature seeks intimacy with a deity. The manifestation of a loving maternal entity, ready to defend her people even from God Himself, brings a feeling of comfort that a paternal, invisible entity like Yahweh cannot bestow upon His worshipers. Shekhina represented compassion in its purest form, and despite being, officially, the female side of God, she was visible and audible as a feminine entity in her own right. A beautiful being of light, whose most important function was to intercede with God on behalf of her children. Such an entity had to come into being to soften the harshness of the original Judaism.

But how did such a complex entity develop? It started with the changing of God's dwelling. During Biblical times, people assumed God dwelled in the clouds. When the Israelites built the desert Tabernacle, and later, Solomon's Temple, Yahweh descended in a cloud and dwelt there. The word Shekhina, in Hebrew, is derived from the Biblical verb shakhan, meaning "the act of dwelling" but taking the feminine form. Therefore, at the beginning of the Talmudic era, the word Shekhina meant the aspect of God that dwelt among people and could be apprehended by the senses. For example, one Talmudic verse said: "Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell (ve'shakhanti) among them." However, in a later version, the translation said "Let them make Me a Sanctuary so that My Shekhina will dwell among them." In other words, a separate entity.

Slowly, the manifested entity became stronger. A complete distinction appears in a Talmudic quotation from the end of the 1st century BCE: "...while the Children of Israel were still in Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, stipulated that He would liberate them from Egypt only in order that they built him a Sanctuary so that He can let His Shekhina dwell among them... As soon as the Tabernacle was erected, the Shekhina descended and dwelt among them." Another quotation from early 3rd century says: "On that day a thing came about which had never existed since the creation of the world. From the creation of the world and up to that hour the Shekhina had never dwelt among the lower beings. But from the time that the Tabernacle was erected, she did dwell among them." Another tradition claimed that she had always dwelt among her people, but their sins drove her, on and off, into Heaven. However, she was drawn back to her children and tried to save them, over and over. By that time, her image was so ingrained into real historical events, that when the Jews were exiled to Babylonia, she transferred her seat there, and appeared alternately in two major synagogues. She often made herself visible to the congregations there, particularly in one synagogue, which was built of stones and dust taken from a holy place in Jerusalem.

As the Jews dispersed further, sightings occurred in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia - in every town where Jews lived. Shekhina comforted the sick, the poor, the suffering, and had a particular concern for repentant sinners "These are accepted by the Shekhina as if they were righteous and pious persons who never sinned. They are carried aloft and seated next to the Shekhina...he whose heart is broken and whose spirit is low, and whose mouth rarely utters a word, the Shekhina walks with him every day..." The paradox of dwelling in one place, and being in various places and with many people at the same time, had to be resolved. The Talmud reconciled the two ideas beautifully in a well-known anecdote. "The Emperor said to Raban Gamaliel: ‘You say that wherever ten men are assembled, the Shekhina dwells among them. How many Shekhinas are there?' Thereupon Raban Gamaliel beckoned a servant and began to beat him, saying: ‘Why did you let the sun enter the Emperor's house?' ‘Have you gone mad?' said the Emperor, surprised at the violence of the usually gentle Raban Gamaliel, ‘the sun shines all over the world!' ‘If the sun,' answered Gamaliel ‘which is only one of a thousand myriad servants of God, shines all over the world, how much more so the Shekhina of God!" As time went by, her position strengthened. An interesting Medieval anecdote shows the Shekhina as a total separate entity, in her most important role - interceding on behalf of her children. "The Shekhina comes to the defense of sinful Israel by saying first to Israel: ‘Be not a witness against thy neighbor without a cause' and then thereafter saying to God: ‘Say not: I will do to him as he hath done to me..' " This is obviously a conversation taking place among three distinct entities - Israel, God, and the Shekhina. Another significant passage from the 11th century, describes Rabbi Akiva (a second century sage) saying: "When the Holy One, blessed be He, considered the deeds of the generation of Enoch and that they were spoiled and evil, He removed Himself and His Shekhina from their midst and ascended into the heights with blasts of trumpets..." Like any good mother, she could punish too. When she behaved violently, her character came closer to her powerful aspect of the great Asherah, Yahweh's Canaanite Consort. She descended to Earth to punish Adam, Eve, and the Serpent when they sinned at the Garden of Eden. She confused the builders of the Tower of Babel. She drowned the Egyptians at the Red Sea crossing during Exodus. When needed, she even killed righteous people. Since the beginning of time, six people -- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam -- could not be taken by the Angel of Death because of their perfect purity. Someone had to bring their souls to Heaven, and only Shekhina could do that. By kissing them, she released their souls from bondage to this world. In a particularly touching story, after kissing and releasing Moses' soul, she carried his body for a long distance on her wings, to his secret grave. This myth connects Shekhina to another ancient goddess, Anath. According to the legends, Moses had to live apart from his wife so that he would always be pure enough to communicate with the Shekhina. This gave rise to the curious myth, later elaborated on in the Kabbalah, that Moses and Shekhina lived as husband and wife. The image of Shekhina, carrying the dead body of her husband to his final resting place, resembles the myth of Anath, carrying the body of her husband Baal to his burial place. Nor is this the end of her development. The Kabbalah greatly elaborated on the theme of the feminine aspect of God. She would appear as the powerful Matronit, the controversial Lilith, and finally, as the glorious figure of Shabbat Hamalka - Queen, Bride of God, celebrated every Saturday by Jews all over the world as they light the Sabbath candles. And by tradition, the candles must always be lit by a woman. Naturally -- Ashera, too, was served chiefly by priestesses. The cycle is very neatly completed.