Elisa Klapheck

Mysticism and Power

[German]

"Is the Kabbala worth something or not?" In a letter written in 1925, Chaim Nachman Bialik put this question to the young Gershom Scholem. The query drove Scholem to research Jewish mysticism as a Zionist. He wanted to know if the system of ten Sefirot (currents of divine energy streaming into matter) would provide a useable framework to perceive and shape the political world from the point of reference of the Jewish experience of God.

As a Jewish feminist, I ask myself this question today, in a post-modern Europe more than half a century after the Shoah. The Sefirot refer not only to concepts like justice and mercy, but also to the origins of injustice, abuse of power, and evil in the world of God’s creation. Their names may reflect times long past, for example: Keter (crown), Malchut (kingdom), Nezach (glory), or Hod (majesty).

The interplay between these concepts is decisive. A dynamic perception of God is contained in the balance. The Tikkun Olam  (reparation of the world) occurs when the Sefirot are in correct relationship to each other. This is in no way simply an intellectual game.

During one of the services at the Bet Debora conference, Lori Klein and I, both rabbinical students of the renewal movement, brought up different kabbalistic ideas.

We formulated the Birkot Haschachar (the morning blessing) as a meditation on the Sefirot. The aim was to make us aware of the interplay of the Sefirot in the world around and within us.

Religion is an increasingly feminine domain. Now, more women than men are actually studying at the liberal rabbinical schools. And women are also those who are now more active in the communities. Precisely they are becoming responsible for seeing to it Judaism will not end up occupying a meaningless niche divorced from daily affairs.

Hannah Arendt said power is the freedom to begin. Power is present in the synagogue. I perceive the service as an exercise in beginning to realise my potential. Said differently, it is an opportunity to open myself to let God work within me.

For that reason, it is my opinion that Jewish women must pose the power question by activating Jewish works of intellect. In this respect, Jewish mysticism contains a surprising amount of stimuli for developing ethics of power and enabling an individual to take power, two preconditions for joining actively in the shaping of social reality.

Elisa Klapheck is one of the initiators of Bet Debora, author of "Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas. Kann die Frau das rabbinische Amt bekleiden?" ("Miss Rabbi Jonas. Can a Woman be a Rabbi?", 1999) and rabbinical student in the Aleph Rabbinic Program.