Customer Reviews

Divine Feminine in Bibical Wisdom Literature: Selections Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Rami Shapiro once commented "...if I were still in the synagogue business I think I would drop the standard Torah readings and focus on the Wisdom Books of the Bible -- Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Job -- and the God who teaches us how to examine life and in so doing discover for ourselves the principles of godliness that we are to live and teach." This God is the Divine Feminine of the present book.

One reviewer criticizes THE DIVINE FEMININE for not being scholarly. The book was not intended for scholars but for seeking laypersons who are coming to the conclusion that a post-nostalgic Judaism groping towards a cosmologically-grounded and naturalistic theism needs new ways of looking at God, Israel, and Torah. THE DIVINE FEMININE offers a refreshing and inspiring approach to all three.

When I got this book in the mail I thought I would just read a couple pages to get a feel for it but I ended up reading the whole thing that night. It is more of a devotional with about 180 pages of selected passages with author notes on the facing page.

The Wisdom Literature the author sites comes from these seven books:

* Psalms
* Proverbs
* Job
* The Song of Songs
* Ecclesiastes
* Wisdom of Solomon
* The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach

The book itself is divided into five topical sections
* Foreward & Introduction (I found his personal story interesting and the historical information on the books a good frame of reference on how to approach the various verses)
* Who Is She?
* Where Is She Found?
* What Does She Teach?
* The Way of the Wise

You would think that with having to read it all the first night I would have given it 5 stars, however I found some of the passages a bit ambiguous in terms of relating to the divine feminine and in some areas he relied heavily on one book or chapter of scripture. I found it to be an excellent starting point, making me want to find and read the two "non-biblical" books he referenced.

As a big fan of Rami Shairo, I was a bit disappointed in this book. I was expecting his usual deep insights that instruct and challenge and ultimately lead me onto untraveled spaces of thinking and spirtuality. Instead, this book reads more like a Bartletts Familar Quotations of Biblical Wisdom Literature. I'm happy to own the book - but probably would not recommend it as one of his best.

Students of the Bible who wish a survey of feminist teachings in biblical literature will find a fine survey which provides explanations of Sophia's way of wisdom in THE DIVINE FEMININE IN BIBLICAL WISDOM LITERATURE: a gathering of selections annotated and explained with facing-page commentary. Readers may be surprised to learn there is a feminine aspect to the Old Testament, and may not know about Wisdom Literature: Wisdom Literature combines four Hebrew books of the Old Testament with two Greek texts and provides passages which are excellent commentaries on feminine aspects of spiritual traditions.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro does the reader of biblical Wisdom literature a great service by focusing on key passages and providing profound commentary that allows for slow reading and "digesting" of proverbs emanating from the subtle voice of Wisdom.

As Gerhard von Rad wrote in his Introduction to his book Wisdom in Israel: "Once an experience has found expression in a proverb, a sentence, a maxim or even in an aphorism, a multi-layered process has come to an end. In the interval, the validity of the experience in question must have been proved. ... It can ... like a precious stone among trinkets, outshine a poem of the highest quality. The demand which it must always satisfy is that of brevity, of compactness and yet of intelligibility, with, if possible, a clear graphic quality; in short, that of being easily remembered. ... Many of these, by their often remarkably profound content but also by their literary form, invite the reader to pause at length over them. ... They are, in fact, concerned with the achieving of a certain distance from that which is near and everyday, from that which everyone knows and yet no one knows or understands" (Abingdon Press, 1972, pp. 4-5).Wisdom in Israel

Because the form and the content speak with one voice in these pages, this presentation of Rabbi Shapiro's work underlines his assertion in his Introduction "About the Wisdom Literature" that "The truth of a proverb is self-evident. You only have to hear a proverb once and you will know it is true. It is as if the proverb reflected truths already embedded in the human psyche as well as in the doings of the nonhuman world of nature" (p. xxvii). He also concludes quite profoundly that: "In a sense, the Divine Feminine is married not only to God but to all who are wise. The implication is that those created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26) can do as God does, and find union with and delight in the love of Wisdom" (p. xxxvii). This book beautifully encourages that ideal.

Isabel Anders is the author of Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom and Blessings and Prayers for Married Couples.
Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom
Blessings and Prayers for Married Couples: A Faith Full Love

Rabbi Shapiro provides a decent overview of wisdom literature both in the Hebrew canon and outside of it. Drawing on books like Proverbs, The Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach, Shapiro guides the reader through his own interpretation of wisdom as the female part of God (or our version of that part) and its way: living in the moment; realizing that nothing is stable or fixed; and not relying on our own 'stories' of realty as a meta-text of what reality is. For certain people, Shapiro's version of wisdom will be appealing, especially for those who see wisdom as living with uncertainty, change and flux. This Tao of Hebrew Wisdom is certainly a non-traditional interpretation.

If you are looking for an actual study of wisdom, femininity, and the Divine, this book is not for you. I am doing some work on Scripture and femininity and bought this book expecting some intellectual thoughts and study on the subject. What I received is an inspirational book that is not only weak, but is lacking in grounded interpretation. The book has passages of scripture and then explanations/annotations of each passage. The explanations are nonsensical and obviously carry Rami M. Shapiro's mystic beliefs. There is no research to back up the claims made, and the interpretation of the passages is laughable. I was very disappointed. Anyone who is actually interested in the topic should stay away from this book!