The dual Great Goddess as mother and daughter can so far transform her original bond with the elementary character as to become a pure feminine spirit, a kind of Sophia, a spiritual whole in which all heaviness and materiality are transcended. Then she not only forms the earth and heaven of the retort that we call life, and is not only the whirling wheel revolving within it, but is also the supreme essence and distillation to which life in this world can be transformed.
----Eric Neumann, The Great Mother (1955), 325.
...And at this highest level there appears a new symbol in which the elementary character and the transformative character of nourishment achieve their highest spiritual stage: the heart spring of Sophia, the nourishment of the middle. This central stream flows from Sophia in our Philosophia...A new "organ" becomes visible, the heart that sends forth the spirit-nourishing "central" wisdom of feeling, not the "upper" wisdom of the head.
----Eric Neumann, The Great Mother (1955), 329-330.
Thus modern [hu]man, on a different plane, discovers what primordial [hu]man experienced through an overpowering intuition; namely, that in the generating and nourishing, protective and transformative, feminine power of the unconscious, a wisdom is at work that is infinitely superior to the wisdom of [hu]man's waking consciousness, and that, as source of vision and symbol, of ritual and law, poetry and vision, intervenes, summoned or unsummoned, to save [hu]man and give direction to his[/her] life.
----Eric Neumann, The Great Mother (1955), 330.
In the patriarchal development of the Judeo-Christian West, with its masculine, monotheistic trend toward abstraction, the goddess, as a feminine figure of wisdom, was disenthroned and repressed. She survived only secretly, for the most part on heretical and revolutionary bypaths.
----Eric Neumann, The Great Mother (1955), 331.
(6) Give up simpleness and live, Walk in the way of understanding.”
ספר הבהיר: נד. ומאי עבידתיה הכא, משל למה"ד למלך שהיתה לו בת טובה ונעימה ונאה ושלימה, והשיאה לבן מלך, והלבישה ועטרה וקשטה ונתנה לו בממון רב, אפשר לו למלך לישב חוץ מביתו, אמרת לא, אפשר לו לשבת כל היום תמיד עמה, אמרת לא, הא כיצד, שם חלון בינו לבינה וכל שעה שצריכה הבת לאביה או האב לבתו מתחברים יחד דרך החלון הה"ד (תהלים מ"ה יח) כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה ממשבצות זהב לבושה:
Sefer haBahir: no. 162
(ca. 1stC Eretz Yisrael /
10thC Babylonia /12thC Provence)--
R. Nehuniah ben Hakanah
What works in this way here? The matter is likened to a parable of a King who had a Daughter, good, pleasant, beautiful and whole, so [the King] married [his Daughter] to the Viceroy, and dressed Her up in a crown, ornamenting Her and giving Her much wealth. So how is it possible for the King to sit outside His house. She told Him: No, it is permissible to sit with Her always. She said: No. Why is it like this? There is a window between Him and Her, so that every moment that the Daughter needs Her Father, or the Father needs His Daughter, they conjoin together through the window, as Scripture teaches: "All glorious is the King's daughter within the palace; Her raiment is of chequer work inwrought with gold." (Psalm 45: 18)
ספר הבהיר: קסב. משל למה"ד למלך שהיתה לו בת נאה ואחרים מתאוים לה, ידע המלך בדבר ולא היה יכול להתקוטט עם המוציאים בתו לתרבות רעה, בא לביתו והזהירה, אמר לה בתי אל תחושו לדברי אלה האויבים ולא יוכלו לך, ואל תצאי לפתח הבית ועשי מלאכתך בביתך ואל תשבי בטלה אפילו שעה אחת, ולא יוכלו לראותך ולא להזיק לך, כי יש בהם מדה אחת מתרחקים משל דרך טוב ובוחרים בכל דרך רע, וכשרואין איש מדריך עצמו בדרך טובה והולך בה שונאים אותו, ומאי ניהו השטן, מלמד שיש להקב"ה מדה ששמה רעה והיא לצפונו של הקב"ה דכתיב (ירמי' א' יד) מצפון תפתח הרעה על כל יושבי הארץ, כלומר כל רעה אשר היא באה לכל יושבי הארץ מצפון היא באה:
Sefer haBahir: no. 162 --This is likened to the parable of a King who had a beautiful Daughter with many suitors pursuing her. While the King was aware of the matter [of the suitors], he could not quarrel with those [suitors] who were corrupting his Daughter. So [the King] came to his daughter to warn Her. He said to Her: 'My Daughter, do not feel pained by the words of these enemies and do not let them decimate you, do not leave the gate of the house, do your chores in Your house, without sitting idle for even a moment, so that they will not be able to damage or destroy You. For they have one qualia--they distance themselves from the good pathway and choose every evil path. So that when they someone choosing the good path on their own and traversing it, they hate him. And what about the Opposer? ...
(א) (שמות כ) כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ וְאֶת אִמֶּךָ. רַבִּי חִיָּיא פָּתַח, (בראשית ב) וְנָהָר יוֹצֵא מֵעֵדֶן וְגוֹ'. וְנָהָר, דָּא נְבִיעוּ דְּמַבּוּעָא, דְּנָפִיק תָּדִיר וְלָא פָּסַק. וּמִנַּהֲרָא דְּמַבּוּעָא דָּא, אִתְשָׁקְיָא כָּל גִּנְתָּא דְּעֵדֶן. וְהַהוּא נַהֲרָא דְּמַבּוּעָא קַדִּישָׁא, אִקְרֵי אָ''ב. מַאי טַעֲמָא. מִשּׁוּם דְּאִיהוּ נְבִיעָא לְאִתְּזָנָא לְגִנְתָּא.
"Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). Rabbi Hiyya opened:
"A river issues from Eden to water the garden" (Genesis 2:10). A river--gushing of the spring issuing constantly, never ceasing; from the river of this spring the whole garden is watered. The river of that holy spring is called Father. Why? Because it flows to nourish the garden.
(ב) רַבִּי אַבָּא אָמַר, עֵדֶן מַמָּשׁ אִקְרֵי אָב. מִשּׁוּם דְּהַאי עֵדֶן, מִשְׁתְּכַח מֵהַהוּא אֲתָר, דְּאִקְרֵי אַיִן. וּבְגִינִי כַּךְ, אִקְרֵי אָב. וְהָא אוּקִימְנָא, מֵאֲתָר דְּשָׁארֵי לְאִתְמַשְּׁכָא כֹּלָּא, אִקְרֵי אַתָּה, וְאִקְרֵי אָב. כְּמָה (עיין סוף הספר גי' מספר לבנת הספיר) דְּאַתְּ אָמַר, (ישעיה סג) כִּי אַתָּה אָבִינוּ.
Rabbi Abba said, "Eden itself is called Father, because this Eden derives from the place called Ayin, Nothingness. Therefore, it is called Father, and we have established: The place from which all begins to flow is called Attah, You, as is said: "For attah, You, are our Father." (Isaiah 63:16)
(ג) ר' אֶלְעָזָר אָמַר, כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ, דָּא קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא. וְאֶת אִמֶּךָ, דָּא כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. אֶת אָבִיךָ, אֶת דַּיְיקָא, לְאַכְלְלָא שְׁכִינְתָּא (דבר אחר עילאה). רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אָמַר, כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ, סְתָם. וְאֶת אִמֶּךָ, סְתָם. דְּהָא כֹּלָּא הֲוָה בְּמִנְיָינָא. אֶת, לְרַבּוֹת כָּל מַה דִּלְעֵילָּא וְתַתָּא.
Rabbi Eleazar said: "Honor your father--the blessed Holy One. And your mother--Assembly of Israel. Et Avikha, your father --precisely, to include Shekhinah." Rabbi Yehudah said, "Honor your father --unspecified. And your mother--unspecified. For all is in the reckoning. Et--to encompass everything above and below."
(ד) רַבִּי יוֹסִי אָמַר, הַאי דְּאָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּא, מֵאֲתָר דְּשָׁארֵי לְאִתְמַשְּׁכָא כֹּלָּא, אִקְרֵי אַתָּה, שַׁפִּיר. דְּהָא אוֹלִיפְנָא, הַהוּא דְּטָמִיר וְלָא אִית בֵּיהּ שֵׁירוּתָא, קָרֵינָן הוּא. מֵאֲתָר (ויקרא ב', ע''א וע''ב, ר''ץ ע''א) דְּשֵׁירוּתָא אִשְׁתְּכַח, קָרֵינָן אַתָּה. וְאִקְרֵי אָב. וְכֹלָּא חַד. בְּרִיךְ שְׁמֵיהּ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְמֵי עָלְמַיָּא אָמֵן.
Rabbi Yose said, "As for what Rabbi Abba said-- 'The place from which all begins to flow'--that is fine, for we have learned: 'That which is concealed and has no beginning we call Hu, He. The place from which beginning appears we call Attah, You, and it is called Father, and all is one. Blessed be His Name forever and ever. Amen'." (Matt, Vol. 4, pp. 510-511)
יוסף שלמה דלמדיגו, 'שבר יוסף'
בתוך תעלמות חכמה, (באזל 1629)
דף ס"ד ע"ב, סימן י"ז:
ולפי שהבינה היא אור מעולה ובהיר קרוב לבירור ולזכות החכמה עד שכמעט אין הפרש ביניהן, לכן לא רצתה לשבת תחת כלי החכמה והלכה וישבה לה לאחורי החכמה.---
Yosef Shlomo Dalmedigo (1591, Crete– 1655, Padua), 'Joseph's Fragment' in The Disappearance of Wisdom, (Basel 1629), p. 44b, par. 17:
And since Binah-Understanding is an exalted and lucid light, close to transparency so as to merit Hokhmah-Wisdom, until there is almost nothing separating them, thus She [Binah-Understanding rightfully] did not want to sit beneath the vessels of Hokhmah-Wisdom, rather She went to sit behind [Hokhmah-Wisdom].---