Of Proven Character

ט"ז בסיון תשס"ז

In my previous entry I wrote:

Interestingly, in Hebrew, "woman" (ishah אשה) generically is not from "man". While man is from the shoresh איש implying strength, woman is from the shoresh אנש which means to "be weak" or "be sick" (like the spotted leopard). In other words, woman (in a generic sense as opposed to an individuated sense) is from a root implying unproven character. The feminine plural of ishah is nashim (נשים), without the letter aleph (א) as in anashim (masculine plural, referring to both men and to a group of righteous people of any gender).

What is the root difference between nashim and anashim?

First, there is no letter aleph of Unity and transcendent Divine Consciousness in the beginning of the plural form of generic femininity.

Second, nashim is from the shoresh (root) אנש implying weakness, frailness and sickness.

Third, given the association of anashim with righteousness, the word anashim may be derived from a dynamic complex combination of the shorashim:

נשה - being obligated (to be righteous, see Niddah 30b)
נשׂה - testing (drawing out and raising up righteousness)
נשׂא - raised up (righteous)

Thus, the root of ishah (woman in a generic sense) implies a state of undeveloped righteousness. For a woman to move from the undeveloped state, she must willfully obligate herself toward achieving true righteousness (as opposed to false piety). If she willfully accepts the obligation to be righteous, a period of testing followed by achieving righteousness will emerge from her obligation truthfully accepted.

Mystics, kabbalists, witches and shamans call an act of willful obligation to one's path of development, consecration, marking this act of willful obligation with a ritual of consecration. The period of testing is called initiation. Following a successful journey through initiation, one becomes an adept (a mistress/master of the path).

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