Eve's True Desire: Interpreting the Female Experience Within Kabbalah

Despite the study of Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, being a tradition entirely created by male Rabbis, many recent Jewish feminists have become interested in Kabbalah, as the tradition emphasizes divine femininity. However, while Kabbalists focused on the spiritual qualities of the divine feminine, known as the Shekinah, they were never as concerned with the spiritual qualities of human femininity, found within their wives. Unlike how past feminist scholars interpreted Kabbalah as a tradition in which the human female experience is left out of Kabbalah, this thesis uses feminist theory to interpret how the female spiritual experience could potentially exist within Kabbalah. Using various Kabbalistic texts, this paper first argues that according to theosophical-theurgical Kabbalists, women are given spiritual qualities during sexual intercourse. Then, through analyzing Genesis and the Iggeret HaKodesh, a 13th century Spanish text, according to the Nachmanidean school, this paper argues that in Genesis 3:16, in which Eve is punished with the sexual desire for her husband, Eve desires the spiritual qualities she will be given during proper sexual intercourse.Bachelor of Art