Towards a Progressive neo-Hasidism
Context: The kabbalists teach that the Divine Name, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, is a way of envisioning the Divine form. The tip of the Yod represents the spark of creation. The yod itself is like a seed of possibility. The first Heh represents the palace in which Creation occurs. The Vav represents the connecting force between the moment of Creation and the rest of existence. The second Heh represents the Divine womb, in which all life is born. This poem imagines Shechina, the Divine Mother, grieving the loss of potential life in Her Heh, Her womb.
A yod with no heartbeat
a sliver of moon
lights the black sky
of Shechinah’s womb.
So much potential
in One Holy Spark
lost forever inside
Her heh in the dark.
The darkness grows
and swallows Her whole
a hole that shrinks down
to no-thing at all.
All the hope in the world
all prayers at midnight
cannot open her heh.
There’s no room for light
She waits in Her darkness
for One more spark
One more yod
with One more heart.
Be gentle; go slowly.
You can visit Her there.
You can sit in Her darkness
if you whisper a prayer.
Rabbi Heather Paul
Rabbi Heather Paul (she/her/hers) is the Senior Jewish Educator at Illini Hillel. She has 16 years of experience in Jewish communal service, previously working at Hillel International as the Springboard Assistant Director, and in engagement roles at Hillel at Stanford and Santa Cruz Hillel. Rabbi Heather also volunteers as the assistant director for Milton Marks Family Camp, which serves families coping with brain cancer. She has 12 years of experience supporting children and young adults who are coping with grief and long-term illness. Rabbi Heather received rabbinic smicha from ALEPH in 2023 and a graduate certificate in Jewish experiential education from HUC-JIR in 2012. Her rabbinic capstone was a book of original liturgy and rituals, and she has taught clergy, university students, and Hillel professionals about ritual design. An experienced educator, writer, liturgist and ritual designer, Rabbi Heather’s writing has appeared in Ritualwell, the Forward, eJewishPhilanthropy, and HuffPost Religion. Rabbi Heather lives in Urbana, Illinois, where she loves to go on walks with her husband, Joseph, their daughter, Ella, and their labradoodle, Gulliver.
