Kiddushin, The Mystical Aspects of Jewish Marriage

“Like the rose maintaining its beauty among thorns, so is My faithful beloved among the nations.” Rashi's interpretation of Song of Songs 11:2

Many mystics have interpreted Leviticus 9 as a wedding between G-d and Israel. The Song of Songs is seen by them as an expounded version of the same events where G-d becomes Shlomo who brings about Schelemut, wholeness to the people of Israel. There is a also a masculanization of female characters in the text. A "Gender paradox occurs, (as) the Daughters of Tssiyyon are read as the circumcised men of Israel...The mystical experience is interpreted as a penetration by the divine word or spirit into the body and soul of the adept" (Boyarim, 46-47.) The mystic takes a female role in their experience of G-d. This aspect of our spiritual connection with G-d in Sinai can help us value and appreciate more our marriages. The importance of sexual, emotional and spiritual intimacy among spouses is compared to our relationship with G-d "The Song of Songs is… a song that was sung at a concrete historical moment of intimacy, at a moment in which God showed Himself to all the People." (Boyarim, 50). Sexuality in Jewish thought is elevated to the highest degree in many texts, especially the Song of Songs which is seen by the rabbis as a “desublimation of divine love, an understanding of that love thorough its metaphorical association with literal, human, corporeal sexuality." (Boyarim, 51)

Kiddushin is a covenant, an agreements between two contracting parties as the one given to Abraham and the one of Torah in Sinai, which is sealed with blood. At the same time the marriage covenant in Judaism, is called Kiddushin instead of "berit," which means a process of holiness, an ongoing sanctification or a distinct intimate relationship apart from others. Shalom bayit "marital wholeness" is the ongoing pursuit of peace in marriage, the covenantal relationship of two human beings. The "Dedication," that takes place during the kiddushin indicates that the couple now have an exclusive relationship, involving total dedication of the bride and groom to each other, to the extent of them becoming "one soul in two bodies."

In Sephardic circles the giving of Torah in Sinai event is seen as "the marriage between Jews and G-d… being solemnized symbolically between the Torah--the bride--and the people of Israel, the bridegroom. In these versions, God as the bride's father gives as dowry the 613 commandments, the Bible, Talmud , and other sacred writings. Moses presents as dowry to his son--the people of Israel--the prayer shawl and phylacteries, the Sabbath and festivals. The contracts are witnessed by God and His servant Moses." (Goodman). This powerful image portrays the relationship between G-d and Jews, in the book “Toward a Jewish Theology” other images connected to marriage are explored. The tabernacle is used by many mystics as a symbol of sexual encounters in marriage. "The Holy of Holies is depicted as a bedroom where the cherubs engage in the procreative act. Where does God dwell? Between the cherubs. Similarly, when a licit coupling occurs between sexual partners. God is present. " (Sherwin, 150)


Bibliography


Boyarim, Daniel People of the Book
Byron, Sherwin Toward a Jewish Theology
Goodman, Philip The Shavuot Anthology

The Mystical View of Brit Milah

"A man is not called by the name of a man except through the commandment of circumcision. Without it he is called a demon not a man. As long as the demonic forces have a hold on a man, through the foreskin and the uncleanliness of man, it is impossible for the higher soul (which distinguishes him as a Jew) to alight upon him and it is impossible for him to be called by the name of an Israelite. Thus it is customary not to give him a name until after circumcision, when the foreskin and uncleanliness have already gone. Then the secret of the higher soul rests on him and he may be called an Israelite man through the commandment of circumcision." Chesed Le-Avraham 2:52 by Abraham Azulai, published in Vilna, 1877

As circumcision has come under attack by those who consider it a mutilation of genitalia, Jewish responses have been the (typical assertions) that it is our rite for entering the community and an historically unbroken Jewish tradition. I would like to propose that according to Jewish sources, circumcision is not only part of our spiritual heritage but a way of reaching divine perfection. The kabbalistic view mentioned above is out of the ordinary in some ways, since it is extra halakhic "According to halakhah, a child born is to a Jewish mother is already an Israelite by the fact of birth." (Jean Holm, p.121)

Maimonides agrees with this stance in theory but feels that an Israelite does not become a Jew until he or she accepts G-d and his revelation to Sinai as real and the commandments as binding on their life. Gershom Scholem speaks of brit milah as part of the perfection of G-d "The eight day then represents a step above the physical, into the realm of the transcendental" (Scholem, p.217). The Hasidim see it as setting apart a Jewish child for a special calling" it gives the individual access to the highest spiritual realms, from which he can draw down the most lofty souls." (Kaplan, p.37)

Daniel Boyarim covers this subject extensively and speaks about how the brit milah can be seen by anti-Semites as form of Jewish alienation "As long as the participation in the religious community is tied to those rites that are special, performed by and marked in the body, the religion remains an affair of a particular tribal group, " (Boyarim, p. 41) To some this "strange practice" (circumcision) comes from an Israelite obsession with hygiene, as there are medically speaking some health benefits associated with this practice. Jews are also seen by others as the "saviors of this civilization, a salvation effected through the invention and transmission of the principles of health and hygiene." (Hart, 10 )

To Boyarim the midrashim on this subject are a denunciation of Christian lack of historical cohesiveness, over spiritualization, and lack of nationhood or ethnical unity (Boyarim, p. 43) The most important aspect of brit milah is how it makes an ordinary man an instrument of the divine "...for the Rabbis of the Midrash it is a sign of the sanctification of the physical body; the cut of the penis completes the inscription of G-d's name on the body. It speaks of circumcision as a transformation of the body into a holy object." (Ibid. 43)

Bibliography


Boyarim, Daniel People of the Book

Hart, Mitchell B. The Healthy Jew

Holm, Jean Rites of passage

Kaplan, Aryeh Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation

Schlohem, Gershom Ha Kabbalah shel Sefer Hetemunah VeSehl Abraham Abulafia Jerusalem