The Shekhina(h) (also spelled Shekina(h), Schechina(h), or Shechina(h)) (Biblical Hebrew: שכינה) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. The Shekhinah is the feminine aspect of Divinity, also referred to as the Divine Presence.
Kabbalah
As feminine aspect
Kabbalah associates the Shekhinah with the female.According to Gershom Scholem, "The introduction of this idea was one of the most important and lasting innovations of Kabbalism. ...no other element of Kabbalism won such a degree of popular approval."The "feminine Jewish divine presence, the Shekhinah, distinguishes Kabbalistic literature from earlier Jewish literature."
"In the imagery of the Kabbalah the shekhinah is the most overtly female sefirah, the last of the ten sefirot, referred to imaginatively as 'the daughter of God'. ... The harmonious relationship between the female shekhinah and the six sefirot which precede her causes the world itself to be sustained by the flow of divine energy. She is like the moon reflecting the divine light into the world."
Tree of life
In the Zohar (a medieval mystical work), there are ten facets or sefirot of the Divine, and the Shekhinah (also known as malchut) is the tenth and final one, closest to the created world. She is a mystical embodiment of the feminine, earth-centered presence of God
Divine presence
Divine presence, presence of God, Inner God, or simply presence is a concept in religion, spirituality, and theologythat deals with the ability of a god or gods to be "present" with human beings.
According to some types of monotheism God is omnipresent.
Conceptualizations
The concept is shared by many religious traditions, is found in a number of independently derived conceptualizations, and each of these has culturally distinct terminology. Some of the various relevant concepts and terms are:
- Inner light–term used in various religions to refer to the presence of God as a "light".
- Divine light–an aspect of divine presence with qualities of illumination: thought, intellect, knowledge, insight, wisdom, being, divine love.
- Higher consciousness–is the consciousness of a higher Self, transcendental reality, or God.