Shechinah

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Pronunciations

Shechinah (sheh-KHEE-nah) listen

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Definitions

  • n. Divine presence.

  • n. The feminine attributes of G-d's presence.

Example Sentences

  • "The soul that breathes within us is a fractal of the Shechinah, and the journey of that soul mirrors the drama of the Shechinah, as one cell of a hologram contains the whole." (source)

  • "In a sense, the consecration of the Tabernacle, and especially the resting of the Shechina within its confines, is a sign of healing in the aftermath of the Golden Calf tragedy." (source)

  • "According to E.E. Urbach, the term Shechina in the Tanaitic literature originally indicated presence in a location and usually this location was related to the Tabernacle." (source)

  • "When Am Yisrael is exiled, though God does not abandon them, and He, as it were exiles Himself with them, the Shechina cannot be fully revealed nor can it act freely because of its distance from its natural venue." (source)

  • "Hence, the Shechinah is most often represented as a passive vessel with 'nothing of her own.'" (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew

Etymology

  • שכינה shekhina 'divine presence', from the same root as לשכן leshakhen 'to dwell'

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

      Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa
      • Australia / New Zealand

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      Shkhineh, Shekhineh, Shekhinah, Shechina, Shchina, Sh'china, Shekhina, Shkhina, Sh'khina, Shchinah, Sh'chinah, Shkhinah, Sh'khinah, Shechine, Shchine, Sh'chine, Shekhine, Shkhine, Sh'khine, Shechineh, Shchineh, Sh'chineh, Sh'khineh

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