The Imperfect Messiah of the Zohar: Messianism and Gender in Medieval Kabbalah

The messianic idea stands at the heart of Jewish tradition and reflects the longing of Jews throughout the generations for rectification, redemption, and a radical transformation of reality. Kabbalistic literature—and the Zohar in particular—devotes extensive attention to the figure of the Messiah. In this series, we will examine the messianic model prevalent in the Zohar and, in light of it, outline the figure of the Messiah.

While some circles identify the Zoharic Messiah with a militaristic figure who combines a spiritual mission with power and violence, in this series we will sketch a different profile. Alongside the militant concepts that developed in medieval Kabbalah under the influence of the Bible and apocalyptic literature, the Zohar presents another kind of messianism, associated with creativity, dialogue, dependence, and vulnerability. As we will see, the Zohar opposes using the idea of redemption as a tool serving violent and manipulative political agendas. Instead, it offers a model characterized by gender and psychological subversion. At its center is a feminine Messiah identified with the Shekhinah, as well as a redeemer who is born lifeless and depends on others—the divine and the human—in order to exist.

Dr. Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel is a senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and at the Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Her books include Human Bonds: Birth in Psychoanalysis and Kabbalah (Carmel, 2018) and The Feminine Messiah: King David in the Image of the Shekhinah in Kabbalistic Literature (Brill, 2021).