Next time someone argues that we respect women because we use “she” when personifying inanimate objects like boats and buildings, remind them that we use “He” to refer to the being that we believe made them all.
Why is this in the Jewish tags? If you knew the first thing about Judaism, you’d know that in Hebrew, G-d is called by many names, a number of them in feminine form as well, not just masculine.
Get your ignorance outta here, and off our tags.
Hebrew as a language has inflectional variations based on gender, but what people fail to understand is that these are often arbitrary. Because Hebrew is Lashon Hakodesh (not modern Hebrew, which is interesting, but Biblical Hebrew), we understand that gender and identification are something beyond human comprehension, not bound to the silly rules that humans construct for ourselves. Linguistically, Judaism acknowledges the fact that gender and sex are different and inherently complex things that humans can’t just casually categorize.
Additionally, you should be made aware that the multiple names of G-d are frequent themes in Judaism, each of them describing different attributes, which are invoked in different times, in different ways, and for different reasons. We use masculine pronouns for G-d not because G-d is masculine but because some traits are given one identity while some are given another, but that identity is not inherently gendered - often “male” or “female” is used simply to evoke two parallel but connected aspects of experience (the notion of gender binarity that that brings to the table is a separate discussion, but it is no less valid). For example, G-d is often referred to as both the Heavenly mother and father, the Divine Presence is referred to with feminine pronouns, and holy sites, concepts, people, and acts are often referred to with feminine pronouns or with male pronouns that are viewed gender-neutrally by actual Hebrew speakers.
Do some research before you tag. Much of that whole “G-d is a man” business is from translation and interpretation by non-Jews.
What a brilliant, beautiful piece on Hebrew linguistics and culture.
Thank you for this!
My temple sent me a Hanukkah fun pack, and all I can think is how did they get my address?
A Comparative Study in Weddings
…well okay not really, but here was my day:
2PM - Mom’s best friend’s daughter’s wedding
6PM - Cousin’s wedding
And they could not have been more different, you have no idea (but you will in a minute here).
