Smart.

Also, I find it weird that people fairly frequently jump on usage of the aspect Shekhinah, despite the fact that it has a long history of being used… but I have never once seen a parallel annoyance over any other name of G-d, which is never dismissed as “trendy” no matter how popular it may be (I didn’t see that happening hear but it is a criticism I’ve heard).

The Shekhinah in Rabbinic stories is often a little sad, in mourning and exile. This in conjunction with the usage of, say, Ribono shel Olam (a title I like very much), creates a dissonance which is kind of beautiful, and a “not this, not that” effect which helps us to remind ourselves of our own lack of knowledge.

As for all the names of God being masculine and feminine etc., that’s a great thing in principle, but Adonai has a significant history with male language and metaphor (Adonai ish milchama, for example), and so do most of the other God-names, though there’s some gender flexibility. Other names like Ribono shel Olam have their own history and feel. Only Shekhinah (and certain related names like Immah Ilaah) have a history of being used with feminine images, metaphors, and narratives.

But I’m not advocating for only that name for God-She; I use lots of others…!

One last thing: my experience and that of many others is that using feminine God-names does change how God _feels_ to us, which is part of the point of using them. How you refer to your old Kia is a function of what you’re thinking about; it’s not random. So I will stick with Shekhinah some of the time, though El Shaddai works for me too.

What I don’t love is faux-feminine liturgy without depth. Just because the word “shechinah” is gramatically feminine, and it talks in a midrash (as do God’s other attributes) doesn’t make it the feminine godhead.

I would even go as far as to say that turning the word “Shechinah” into God’s girl-name implies that all of God’s other names are male! Which most of them never were, except purely grammatical way in which walls and pencils are masculine in Hebrew. So what do you get, one token “Goddess” name out of a whole field of men?

It seems more feminist to me, and more authentic to me, to speak about God in the feminine using actual names for God, whether old or newly coined, instead of grabbing the first divinity-related noun that ends in “-ah” and using it out of place.

Please go back and read Reb Yudel’s comment about polygamy and what it proves or doesn’t prove. In the secular sphere, talking about multiple partners in marriage could possibly make a point about sliding scale. In halachah, it is completely different, and your confusion only indicates a contamination in your thinking from galut. I suspect overanxiety about homosexuality may also be a Christian influence.

You started off by asking these fantastic questions, and then went on to indicate that you hadn’t the slightest interest in the answer – you were softening up your audience before going on to bludgeon them with your horrifyingly long screed. That is ????? ??? and you should feel sorry about it. Re-asking those questions, without comment, and genuinely listening would make great teshuva, it seems to me; try hearing what people have to say about themselves before passing judgement.

I might just do that. I’m curious as to what happened to some of these people. The film both hits close to home and doesn’t at the same time. It’s weird like that… at least to me.

Could you explain to me why polygamy is an argument against gay marriage? In fact, polygamy proves that Judaism has already modified the meaning of marriage–even in the face of tradition and Torah law and example.