Customer Reviews

The Hebrew Goddess 3rd Enlarged Edition

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Dr. Raphael Patai, a noted Hebrew scholar and anthropologist and author of the HEBREW GODDESS is also the co-author of HEBREW MYTHS with Robert Graves (THE WHITE GODDESS). Those who wish to continue reading about the goddess in ancient religions will find parts of the HEBREW GODDESS quite interesting, however, Patai's book is not as lyrical as Graves' and not as readable in some sections as others. I found passages dealing with archeology in the Holy Land and quotations from the Old-Testament more interesting, and the sections dealing with the rabbinical writing of the Talmudic period proved difficult to follow (and stay awake).

Essentially, Patai is not suggesting Judaism has reverted to polytheism or kept a goddess in the closet all this time. He says "the legitimate Jewish faith, beginning with the earliest formulations of its belief-system ...has always been built upon the axiom of One God. He says Maimonides, the greatest medieval Jewish philosopher said, "God is not a body, nor can bodily attributes be ascribed to him." Still, mere mortals have had difficulty understanding God as an abstract concept, and thus have ascribed human characteristics to "him.".

Patai says throughout it's history Judaism has stressed the moral and intellectual aspects of God and often neglected the affective and emotional dimensions. However, since the earliest times, the Jewish people have understood God through myths and these myths personify God. This personification of God has included the goddess worship Jerimiah decried, the female attributes of the Cherubim that guarded the Ark of the Covenant, the myths of Lillith, the visions of the Shekina during the Talmudic period, and the rise of the Matronite in the 15th-18th Centuries.

Kabbalism during the Middle Ages was mass movement among Jews. During this period, a popular-mythical version of the Matronite overtook and dominated the scholarly-mystical variant. The attachment among Jews to the Matronite (mother of God) had a marked resemblance to Marioloatry among Christians in the Latin countries. Kabbala mysticism was associated with the Sephardic and Hasidic elements of Judaism which also associated with the Latin countries.

Apparently, the Ashkenazi Jews were not as "irrational" and after the Jewish Enlightenment, their perspective became the dominant Orthodoxy. Still, the Sephardic practicies associated with the Sabboath, which men were instructed to keep "Holy" continued. Patai describes the rituals of Friday night which included the Seder meal and sexual consumation of the scholar and his wife as serving the purpose of reuniting God with his wife--Shekina.

Patai's original book has been expanded with new chapters covering the Shekina in greater detail. Although he stresses the importance of the theological it is not clear even yet that ordinary practicioners understand the difference between the Goddess personified and the female aspect of the One God.

The Bible gives the impression that all ancient Jews shared a common belief system ... with only an occasional group straying from the fold. But the evidence paints a different picture. As Dr. Patai states, "... it would be strange if the Hebrew-Jewish religion, which flourished for centuries in a region of intensive goddess cults, had remained immune to them." Archaeologists have uncovered Hebrew settlements where the goddesses Asherah and Astarte-Anath were routinely worshipped. And in fact, we find that for about 3,000 years, the Hebrews worshipped female deities which were later eradicated only by extreme pressure of the male-dominated priesthood.

And then there's the matter of the Cherubim that sat atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Fashioned by Phoenician craftsmen for Solomon and Ahab, an ivory tablet shows two winged females facing each other. And one tablet shows male and female members of the Cherubim embracing in an explicitly sexual position that embarrassed later Jewish historians ... and even the pagans were shocked when they saw it for the first time.

This cult of the feminine goddess, though often repressed, remained a part of the faith of the Jewish people. Goddesses answered the need for mother, lover, queen, intercessor ... and even today, lingers cryptically in the traditional Hebrew Sabbath invocation.

As a Jew and a student of Judaism this sits among the most important books I have read, although it took ten years for me to finish it. In a few words, it provides me with a factual-critical-intellectual basis for my engagement with the feminine in my tradition.

I am only sorry the Dr Patai has passed on, may his memory be a blessing, so he will not be able to update The Herbrew Goddess to account for:

a) more recent archaeology, and
b) the recent flowering of the femininine in Judaism

David

This is probably one of the best academic books of all time. The area of Hebrew beliefs is not really tackled by even the most hardcore of Mesopotamian scholars. I always recommend this book to people who study Hebrew, Canaanite, and Mesopotamian beliefs as well as the people interested in goddess worship of the Ancient Near East and even those who are very critical of Judaism or Christianity. The book covers a plethora of goddesses and even has a chapter on the demon Lilith, with really good references to the demon Naamah and Tubal Cain. So its a plus for Jewish feminists and Goddess worshipers whom concern themselves with the modern image of Lilith.

Patai is very excellent translator of the Hebrew language and his notes in other Hebrew translations (Such as his translations of the Zohar) are worth looking into to explain the translation for the lay people who know little Hebrew. There is a lot that the English language fails to grasp concerning translating Hebrew.

I only have a few problems with it. For example, some of his more controversial assertions don't hold up to modern scholarship where archeology is concerned. The Burney relief is thought with great academic consensus to be Ishtar rather than Lilith. Jacobsen, a very renown Mesopotamian scholar, suggested this was a form of Ishtar in her Ninna (Lady Owl) form. Patai uses Kramer, whom makes great translations from Sumerian, but is outdated concerning that archeology bit and some theories. However, Patai does cite Jacobsen several times over on other things. He seemed to cite Jacobsen more than Kramer... Well, this is a minor problem, really.

The other thing, which is also is very minor, is that the book isn't written so flowingly sometimes. It seems to just kind of go dry. You may find yourself not really paying attention. But this is something that is so overshadowed by the fact that the book contains eye opening and jaw dropping information about Yahweh. I found the book, overall, to be written in such a understandable way that no lay person should have problems understanding it.

All and all this is my favorite book on ancient Hebrew beliefs, and though its been along time since it was written, I highly recommend it for anybody interested in Hebrew and Jewish myths, as well as Israelite worship and the concept of God.

Patai presents a vast lore of the Hebrew goddess in all her names and legends - Shekhina, Sophia, the Matronit, the Shabhat Bride. As a classical scholar in Hebrew legends, he shows us a mythology rich in female powers. What does it mean, for example, that a traditional term for the Hebrew goddess was "the neglected cornerstone", and then Jesus spoke of building on the cornerstone which the builders neglected?

The book touches on numerous sides of Jewish heritage. For example, concerning the underworld of old fashioned demonology he explains:

"At night, the female Liliths join men, and the male Lilin women, to generate demonic offspring. Once they succeed in attaching themselves to a human, they acquire rights of cohabitation, and therefore must be given a get, or letter of divorce, in order that they may be expelled. Jealous of the human mates of their bedfellows, they hate the children born of ordinary wedlock, attack them, plague them, suck their blood, and strangle them. The Liliths also manage to prevent the birth of children, causing barrenness, miscarriages, or complications during childbirth." (p. 225.)

This old myth suggests a certain equality of male and female evil spirits. The spirits are of both sexes, and afflict both men and women equally. The human hosts of evil are innocent victims, who must be somehow saved from harm. This is roughly what Jesus believed about demonic possession.

Patai's work gives an enriched view of the biblical heritage, exposing the massive contribution of Jewish mothers through the ages.

This book is a very in depth, intelligent read. It draws from an intense amount of research and states things clearly for the reader to feel that they can envision the social, political and spiritual enviroment during the reign of the Goddess. I would recommend this book to anyone. In fact I think Everyone should read it. Ishtar, Innana, Shehkina, Astarte, Before Christian or Muslim, There was was the Goddess.

Patai's The Hebrew Goddess is an excellent popular treatement of a subject he takes up in more technical depth in other writings (like in his Jewish Folklore, a collection of his essays). This book is enlightening; it takes an area of study that is easily overlooked or distorted in the popular imagination and the religious mind-frame, and exposes it to light. The role of the divine female and divine figures in the Abrahamic religions was a frequent stumbling block for those faiths, but more often than not, an area of expansive cross-fertilization with other religious traditions and source of profound (and at times humorous) creativity.

The book does give some understanding as to how today's religions have incorporated prehistoric myths and over the centuries construed them into indisputable dogma that many place utmost faith in and even fight wars over to defend. While containing many historical and anthropological references, I did find many of the author's conclusions to be speculative and a stretch of the imagination, and possibly influenced by personal opinion. Don't know if I would recommend this book.

This is outdated scholarship that continues to be reprinted because it is trendy and publishers can make money. Raphael Patai is not a "noted scholar", but a learned rabbi whose understanding of the topic is based on comparative religion models from the turn of the last century. He is an amateur who has done some research and woven a popular account on a trendy topic. For a noted scholar's popular account, people should read Dever's Did God Have a Wife? A much better book by a much more qualified author. Or, get Carol Meyers book, Households and Holiness: Religious Culture of Israelite Women.