[HANASHIR:8282] Re: Gender-balanced prayers

[Ros Schwartz <rs4...>]

There is a difference between "gender-neutral", which tries to avoid 
gendered references altogether, and "gender-balanced" or 
"gender-sensitive", which acknowledges that gendered references may at 
times be appropriate - but should be used in a balanced fashion, and 
only when they enhance the understanding of a particular concept.

God is neither male nor female, but we sometimes need anthropomorphic 
images to help us understand what is beyond human comprehension.  (In my 
opinion) it is valid to explore both the feminine and the masculine 
aspects of God - as long as this is done in a _balanced_ ratio - and 
with the awareness that our human imagery, with our limited human 
understanding, is necessarily incomplete.

- Ros

Jonathan Gordon wrote:

>> okay. here's another question, tho related. in gender sensitive prayerbooks
>> and materials we happily expunge words like lord, and the pronoun he, 
>> although
>> the actual hebrew is exactly that. but we leave in sabbath queen and exalt 
>> the
>> feminine side of sh'chinah. anybody have a problem here?  if its good for the
>> goose, is it good for the gander?  i am personally unsettled with the
>> un-sexing of liturgy, but wish to be free of oppresive modelling. what do you
>> folks think?
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> jonathan gordon
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