Dd asked about G-d being a "He"

marina

Sat, Nov 18 2017, 8:01 pm

Seas wrote:

The whole idea of elevating women to places of power, is nothing but the insanity of the liberals. Women are dignified and are to be honored; and the Jewish women are a treasure; they are the foundation of our nation. But do they represent strength and power and control? Does the woman signify might?! And therefore, there is no question that when you speak of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, we speak of Him as a man.
TAPE # 990 (December 1994)

Sure. You could choose God's gender based on who represents might and strength.

Or you could have gone with who represents creating life. You know, being that creation is what defines God in relation to the world.

anon for this

Sat, Nov 18 2017, 8:06 pm

I've explained to my older children that Hashem has no gender or body at all, and is described as "He" rather than "She" because "m'daber Torah bilshon b'nei adam", that the Torah is written in a way people will understand (Rashi brings this principle in his commentary). In the days that the Torah was written (and perhaps now as well), people would have had trouble accepting an all-powerful G-d referred to using a feminine pronoun, so a masculine pronoun was used instead.

causemommysaid

Sat, Nov 18 2017, 10:20 pm

Seas wrote:

From Rav Avigdor Miller z"l Q&A

Q:
Why is it that Hashem is referred to as "He" or "Him"? Why don't we say "She" or "Her"?

A:
Because we're not completely meshuga yet. We didn't get there just yet.

Look, here's a man, and he has a beard. A woman has no beard, right? You noticed that, right? You've see many women in your life, and you're yet to see a woman with a beard. And a man is taller than a woman. A woman is the shorter of the two. That's how Hashem made this world; the man is the more powerful. He's stronger, bigger, and he instills more fear.

So, if you're going to choose a model, a model for one who's in charge of the world, are you going to choose the model of a soft, sweet woman?! Isn't that being ridiculous?!

And that's why we have a government today that takes our money to pay women to be policewoman. Because people are stupid. People are ridiculous. I'm walking down Kings Highway, and here's a policeman, six feet high, standing next to a policewoman who is up to his belly-button! It's a joke, a waste of our money. It's just liberal window-dressing that costs us money for nothing.

The whole idea of elevating women to places of power, is nothing but the insanity of the liberals. Women are dignified and are to be honored; and the Jewish women are a treasure; they are the foundation of our nation. But do they represent strength and power and control? Does the woman signify might?! And therefore, there is no question that when you speak of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, we speak of Him as a man.
TAPE # 990 (December 1994)

If anything women are more like God then men. They actually bring life into the world.

zaq

Sat, Nov 18 2017, 10:23 pm

I would just say that G-d is not a person and is therefore neither a boy nor a girl, but because we can’t call G-d “IT”’ which in English would be disrespectful, and we have no other gender-neutral pronoun, we use He. But we do have a word for the manifestation of G-dly attributes we think of as feminine, and that is Shechinah.

crust

Sun, Nov 19 2017, 12:47 am

Seas wrote:

Reb Avigdor Miller would use the word waist.