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Hashem - Male or Female?



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proudmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 1:46 pm
My 4 year old daughter asked me today if Hashem is male or Female so I told her I think Hashem is Male because whenever we talk about Hashem we say He. I told her I was going to ask someone for a correct answer and here I am. What do you think?
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SV




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 1:58 pm
Such an interesting question coming from a 4 year old...One of the 13 principles of Rambam (yud gimel ikarim) is that Hashem has nothing physical about Him....Wouldn't it be misleading to tell a child that He has a gender? On the other hand, not sure how to explain to such a small child something non-physical...
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stem




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:02 pm
Hashem is neither, the thing is: we have different types of relationships with Hashem. In some ways, we are the female and Hashem is the "male" and sometimes we are male and Hashem is considered the "female". We refer to him in the male (Ado--) when we talk about his male-type relationship with us. When we talk about His female-type relationship with us, we say Shechina.

Sorry if I am not clear. These things aren't easy to understand.
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proudmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:03 pm
How can I explain that to a 4 year old?
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stem




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:04 pm
Hashem is not a person, so he's not male or female.
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proudmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:14 pm
that is what I told her, but I dont know how much she will understand that.
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stem




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:16 pm
I'm not sure how well I understand it either Wink
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Meema2Kids




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2005, 2:20 pm
proudmom, this may be something that you tell her the facts now but she may not understand it fully until later (if at all). My 4 year old asked me the same thing, I told her that Hashem is not a boy or a girl, and I'm not sure she really gets it. But she asks many questions about Hashem like why can't we see Him, and how did He make EVERYTHING and why can He do EVERYTHING and I don't think she fully understands. I tell her that it's really hard to understand Hashem, and that even I don't, and Abba doesn't, etc. Because its' true, we can never fully know Him.
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Rivka




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Oct 29 2005, 4:31 pm
Hashem is not a person, so how can Hashem have a gender. We say Him and He when reffering in English, but that is because a)non Jews believe He is a male. And secondly apparently Parliament made a law to say the male noun should be used for male and female... this was done a good few hundred years ago...and some things don't change, don't ask I learnt that in English Language class. A very male dominant country.
Anyway to say Hashem is either male or female is limiting Him.
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chen




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Oct 29 2005, 11:16 pm
Ein lo guf ve-ein lo d'mut haguf, but dibrah torah bil'shon basar vadam. The hebrew language has no gender-neutral forms, so we are forced to use one or the other. the English language has the gender-neutral form "it", but as this term is reserved for either inanimate objects or animate objects of little worth, referring to hashem as "It" would be disrespectful in the extreme. so we are stuck referring to Him as "Him", except when we refer to the Shechinah, which is a feminine noun. the limitations of human language...
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ForeverYoung

Guest


 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 09 2005, 12:00 am
In Hebrew, if there is a mixed group, it's described using male form.

Also, children are not asking for fancy, in-depth explanations.

A strait-forward, firm & simple answer is enough.

Which reminds me of a joke -

A 5 yr old came home from school & asked his father:
"Daddy, where did I come from?"
Poor Dad spent about 45 minutes, explaining male & femaile anatomy, intimacy, pregnancy & birth. When he finished & wiped his sweaty forehead, his son, with his eyes wide opened, said:
"Wow, I never knew that! And Jimmi said that he came from Jamaica!"
Wink
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JEWISHMAMA




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 09 2005, 4:03 am
LOL.
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