EC Neurology

This article explores the concept of Shekhinah consciousness as a theological and political paradigm that has emerged in contemporary Jewish thought. Drawing on the mystico-political theology of Rabbi Menachem Froman, the neo-Hasidic interpretations of Shaul Magid, and the mystical hermeneutics of Eitan Fishbane, I argue that Shekhinah consciousness represents a radical reorientation of Jewish theology and practice toward receptivity, presence, and relationality. The article engages with the divergent scholarly approaches of Moshe Idel's "ditheistic" understanding of kabbalah and Elliot Wolfson's critique of androcentric structures in kabbalistic symbolism to develop a critical framework for understanding the divine feminine. This feminine-centered theological paradigm offers a critique of dominant masculine approaches to both religion and politics, particularly within Religious Zionism. The article examines how the Shekhinah, as divine feminine presence, functions as both a theological symbol and a political framework that challenges conquest-oriented ideologies and opens possibilities for new forms of Jewish identity and a post-Holocaust theory of suffering.

 Keywords: Shekhinah; Divine Feminine; Kabbalah; Political Theology; Religious Zionism; Rabbi Menachem Froman; Gender; Jewish Mysticism; Israeli-Palestinian Relations; Ditheism; Theological Critique; Wolfson; Idel; Ungar-Sargon; Hasidism

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