In the mystical Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah is the “immanent, feminine aspect of God who dwells with human beings and shares our lives, joys and sorrows.” On our latest episode, I explore the wisdom of the Shekhinah with scholar, author and poet Joy Ladin. Joy’s latest book of poetry is “Shekhinah Speaks”, published by Selva Oscura. She has also published nine other books of poetry, including National Jewish Book Award winner “The Book of Anna”, and two Lambda Literary Award finalists, “Impersonation and Transmigration,” as well as two works of creative non-fiction, National Jewish Book Award finalist “Through the Door of Life: a Jewish Journey Between Genders”, and Lambda Literary and Triangle Award finalist, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective”, the first book-length work of Jewish trans theology. Her writing has been recognized with a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, and a Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Fellowship, among other honors. On today’s episode, we explore: Joy’s spiritual background and her deep felt sense that God was with her, even during her loneliest moments as a transgender child whose true identity couldn’t be acknowledged or expressed Who the Shekhinah is in the Jewish tradition, and how she differs from the male-identified aspect of God The innovative process Joy used to capture the Shekhinah’s voice in her latest book of poetry, “Shekhinah Speaks,” and why connecting with that voice felt scary Joy’s experience as a transgender woman and how this has informed her spiritual journey Immanence vs. transcendence in relation to the Shekhinah, and how Joy perceives the relationship between humanity and the divine
Show Notes