The Shekhinah (Biblical Hebrew: שכינה šekīnah; also Romanized Shekina(h), Schechina(h), Shechina(h)) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “dwelling” or “settling” and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature.
In classic Jewish thought, the shekhinah refers to a dwelling or settling in a special sense, a dwelling or settling of divine presence, to the effect that, while in proximity to the shekhinah, the connection to God is more readily perceivable.
The shekhinah represents the feminine attributes of the presence of God,shekhinah being a feminine word in Hebrew, based especially on readings of the Talmud.
The prophets made numerous references to visions of the presence of God, particularly in the context of the Tabernacle or Temple, with figures such as thrones or robes filling the Sanctuary. These visions have traditionally been attributed to the presence of the shekhinah.
The shekhinah is referred to as manifest in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem throughout rabbinic literature.
It is also reported as being present in other contexts:
- While a person (or people) study Torah, the Shekhinah is among them.
- “Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests.”
- “When three sit as judges, the Shekhinah is with them.”
- Cases of personal need: “The Shekhinah dwells over the headside of the sick man’s bed”, “Wheresoever they were exiled, the Shekhinah went with them.”
- “A man and woman – if they merit, the Shekhinah is between them. If not, fire consumes them.” According to one interpretation of this source, the Shekhinah is the highest of six types of holy fire. When a married couple is worthy of this manifestation, all other types of fire are consumed by it.
The Talmud states that “the Shekhinah rests on man neither through gloom, nor through sloth, nor through frivolity, nor through levity, nor through talk, nor through idle chatter, but only through a matter of joy in connection with a mitzvah.*
* Hebrew mitzvah, as with English “commandment”, refers to a moral deed performed within a religious duty. As such, the term mitzvah has also come to express an individual act of human kindness in keeping with the law. The expression includes a sense of heartfelt sentiment beyond mere legal duty, as “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). The tertiary meaning of mitzvah also refers to the fulfillment of a mitzvah