God's Gender Play

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

If you were to try to picture God - what would come to mind? Would it be:

A human, as He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18? After all, Genesis 1 says we are all created "In His image."
A burning bush as He appeared to Moses, when Moses was given the task of bringing His people out of Egypt in Exodus 3?
How about a Pillar of Fire, as the Israelites saw, during their 40-years of wandering in the desert (e.g., Exodus 14:24) ?
A shepherd? (Psalms 23)
A gardener? (Genesis 2:8)
A military warrior? (Exodus 15:3)
None of the above? A little bit of all of the above?

This is just one small sampling - there are metaphors and poetic images for God throughout the entirety of the Tanakh! I like to think that this is because the nature of God is unlike anything else we experience on Earth, and every one of these images and metaphors works at least some of the time.
Throughout the Torah, we see that God takes masculine pronouns, with much of the imagery associated with Him being masculine. How often does traditional liturgy have us turning to אבינו מלכינו, our Father and King! I love this pairing of epithets, for these two words capture, so wholly, God's balancing act between imminence on one hand (Fatherhood), and transcendence on another (Kingship). At one and the same time, God can be Grandiose, Elevated, and Imposing - as well as present, available, personal and intimate.
In this week's Haftorah, in a deeply moving and emotional passage, Isaiah paints for us a picture which - while maybe not widespread - certainly does have its place in the Torah; God embodying feminine imagery:

God the Mother

ישעיהו ס״ו

(ט) הַאֲנִ֥י אַשְׁבִּ֛יר וְלֹ֥א אוֹלִ֖יד יֹאמַ֣ר יְהוָ֑ה אִם־אֲנִ֧י הַמּוֹלִ֛יד וְעָצַ֖רְתִּי אָמַ֥ר אֱלֹהָֽיִךְ׃ (ס)

(י) שִׂמְח֧וּ אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִַ֛ם וְגִ֥ילוּ בָ֖הּ כָּל־אֹהֲבֶ֑יהָ שִׂ֤ישׂוּ אִתָּהּ֙ מָשׂ֔וֹשׂ כָּל־הַמִּֽתְאַבְּלִ֖ים עָלֶֽיהָ׃ (יא) לְמַ֤עַן תִּֽינְקוּ֙ וּשְׂבַעְתֶּ֔ם מִשֹּׁ֖ד תַּנְחֻמֶ֑יהָ לְמַ֧עַן תָּמֹ֛צּוּ וְהִתְעַנַּגְתֶּ֖ם מִזִּ֥יז כְּבוֹדָֽהּ׃ (ס)

(יב) כִּֽי־כֹ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה הִנְנִ֣י נֹטֶֽה־אֵ֠לֶיהָ כְּנָהָ֨ר שָׁל֜וֹם וּכְנַ֧חַל שׁוֹטֵ֛ף כְּב֥וֹד גּוֹיִ֖ם וִֽינַקְתֶּ֑ם עַל־צַד֙ תִּנָּשֵׂ֔אוּ

וְעַל־בִּרְכַּ֖יִם תְּשָׁעֳשָֽׁעוּ׃ (יג) כְּאִ֕ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִמּ֖וֹ תְּנַחֲמֶ֑נּוּ כֵּ֤ן אָֽנֹכִי֙ אֲנַ֣חֶמְכֶ֔ם וּבִירֽוּשָׁלִַ֖ם תְּנֻחָֽמוּ׃

Isaiah 66

(9) Shall I Who bring on labor not bring about birth? —says YHWH. Shall I, Who cause birth, shut the womb? —said your God.

(10) Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, All you who love her! Join in her jubilation, All you who mourned over her!— (11) That you may suck from her breast Consolation to the full, That you may draw from her bosom Glory to your delight!

(12) For thus said YHWH: I will extend to her Prosperity like a stream, The wealth of nations Like a wadi in flood; And you shall drink of it.

You shall be carried on shoulders And dandled upon knees. (13) As a mother comforts her son So I will comfort you; You shall find comfort in Jerusalem.

There is such supreme tenderness throughout this passage. No one comforts like a mother comforting her child. And this is just what God intends to do for Her children during times of need.

This is not the only time that Isaiah draws on such imagery (Cf chapters 42 and 49). Nor is he the only prophet.
During one of those understandable moments when Moses becomes overwhelmed and frustrated with the magnitude of his task, he turns to God and vents:

במדבר י״א

(יב) הֶאָנֹכִ֣י הָרִ֗יתִי אֵ֚ת כָּל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אִם־אָנֹכִ֖י יְלִדְתִּ֑יהוּ כִּֽי־תֹאמַ֨ר אֵלַ֜י שָׂאֵ֣הוּ בְחֵיקֶ֗ךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשָּׂ֤א הָאֹמֵן֙ אֶת־הַיֹּנֵ֔ק עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖עְתָּ לַאֲבֹתָֽיו׃

Numbers 11

(12) Did I conceive all this people!?? Did I bear them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries an infant,’ - to the land that You have promised on oath to their fathers?

We see Moses employing his truly masterful rhetorical skills in order to make the case that God - as both the child-bearer and -rearer of Her people Israel - is placing too much responsibility on Moses's shoulders, and not taking enough upon Herself.
Perhaps we see in our Haftorah that by the time we finally get to Isaiah - a prophet living as much as one thousand years later! - God has since begun taking Moses's message to heart.

My personal take-away from this is that any metaphor or image which one can conceive of which helps towards building a relationship with the Almighty is fair-game. God is too grand to fit into any single, or any group of characterizations - as the prophets throughout the Torah demonstrate. Perhaps it can even be suggested that every single interpersonal relationship we experience in life can, in some way, be used to help us further understand and pursue our relationship with God.
With this in mind, thinking back on the initial list above:

Do you find any of these conceptions of God to be particularly compelling?
Have you encountered any others throughout your own readings that could be added to the list?
How else do you, or can you, relate to God which the prophets might not have spoken - or even thought of?