On Equality and Irreducibility of Female to Male in Safedian Forms of Kabbalah

Abstract

In kabbalistic writings equality between the male and female divine entities recurs in dozens of instances and this is also the case in Safedian forms of Kabbalah. However, there is an additional theme to equality, that is shared by the two main and extensive literary corpora, that of Moses Cordovero and the much later texts of his former disciple, that of R. Hayyim Vital: the irreducibility of the female principle to the male one during the sexual encounter. The present study explores the passages reflecting the details of this similarity, as well as the theurgical impact of the feminine soul, in the wider context of the relationship between some important ideas shared by those distinct kabbalistic writings.