Suckling at My Mother's Breasts

The Image of a Nursing God in Jewish Mysticism

Ellen Davina Haskell

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781438443829
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

One of Kabbalah's most distinctive images of the feminine divine is that of a motherly, breastfeeding God. Suckling at My Mother's Breasts traces this idea from its origins in ancient rabbinic literature through its flourishing in the medieval classic Sefer ha-Zohar ( The Book of Splendor ). Taking the position that kabbalistic images provide specific, detailed models for understanding the relationship between God and human beings, Ellen Davina Haskell connects divine nursing theology to Jewish ideals regarding motherhood, breastfeeding, and family life from medieval France and Spain, where Kabbalah originated. Haskell's approach allows for a new evaluation of Kabbalah's feminine divine, one centered on culture and context, rather than gender philosophy or psychoanalysis. As this work demonstrates, the image of the nursing divine is intended to cultivate a direct emotional response to God rooted in nurture, love, and reliance, rather than knowledge, sexuality, or authority.

CHAPTER 1

BREASTFEEDING AND RELIGIOUS TRANSMISSION IN RABBINIC LITERATURE

Sarah stood and uncovered herself, and her two breasts were pouring milk like two spouts of water. As it is written: “And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children?” (Genesis 21:7).

—Pesikta Rabbati 43:4

Introduction

This chapter explores rabbinic texts that use breastfeeding as a metaphor for spiritual transmission. While these works do not identify God as a nursing mother, they contain two themes that are central to the breastfeeding divine's development in later medieval mystical literature. The first theme presents nursing as a metaphor for transmitting spiritual orientation and is found in stories of prominent Biblical figures such as Sarah, Moses, and Esther. Although these texts address different ideological concerns, they are linked by the concept that suckling a mother's (or, as shall be seen, a father's) milk transmits a life-long spiritual disposition. The preferred disposition in these texts is an orientation toward Judaism, holiness, and performing good deeds. The second theme presents suckling mother's milk as a metaphor for learning and experiencing the Torah. This theme is related to the first, since Judaism understands Torah study as an important way to achieve positive and desirable spirituality. The second theme also incorporates descriptions of the Torah as a nursing mother. These feminine Torah associations anticipate the two themes' convergence in kabbalistic literature, where Torah becomes one of Shekhinah's many signifiers.

In developing their suckling imagery, the rabbis present a metaphor comparing two complex actions: the physical act of breastfeeding and the psychological experience of spiritual transmission. Comparing these very different actions allows the rabbis to understand a mysterious interior experience by appealing to an observable, external one. Breastfeeding's characteristics and associations, as understood by the rabbis, provide structure for the inchoate, personalized experience of spirituality, bringing the abstract into relationship with the concrete.¹ The physical and emotional connections between a nursing mother and her child become tools for understanding how religiosity is passed from one person to another, and suckling's intimate, nourishing connotations are read onto spiritual transmission to provide structure for an experience whose motives and sensations would otherwise remain obscure.²

Each narrative that presents the suckling metaphor engages breastfeeding's basic associations with nurture and tenderness, while offering text-specific details that further texture the reader's understanding of spirituality.³ These details begin, but do not end, with choices about who is suckling from whom, and why. A mother who suckles her own children evokes different associations than a wet nurse who suckles for money (or other reasons). A nursing mother has different connotations than a nursing father. A nameless baby directs a reader's attention differently than a young culture hero like Moses or Esther. In this way, both breastfeeding and spiritual transmission accommodate an almost unlimited number of variations on their central themes, fueling individual religious speculation as the reader interprets these variations for himself. Each permutation adds further nuance to the central idea of suckling as spiritual transmission, laying a firm foundation for the nursing mother image's incorporation into later kabbalistic theology.

The following textual excerpts represent a broad time period, ranging from the fifth century Genesis Rabbah through the twelfth century Exodus Rabbah. Several of the stories exist in variations that cover five hundred years or more. Although these selections are arranged thematically, their dates demonstrate an ongoing fascination with the metaphor of suckling as spiritual transmission and a living cultural interest in its related imagery. The texts included in this chapter do not represent all rabbinic works containing the suckling theme. Instead, they are restricted to works identified as “principal sources” for the Zohar's authors, connecting them to later kabbalistic suckling imagery.⁴ All are fully integrated into the rabbinic canon of study and learning, demonstrating that the suckling metaphor is thoroughly embedded in Judaism's foundational literature.

Suckling as Spiritual Transmission of Jewish Identity

In the following texts, the rabbis explore the topic of conversion to Judaism by crafting a story that links converts to Judaism's founding couple, Abraham and Sarah. This story, repeated in several variations, uses the nursing-as-spiritual-transmission metaphor in three ways. It explores the motivations underlying conversion, suggests a “historical” cause for conversion and promotes a positive attitude toward converts. The first version presented, Pesikta Rabbati 43:4, is best dated to the sixth or seventh century CE and is the most expansive version of a story found in several parallel texts.⁵ These include Genesis Rabbah 53:9 from the first half of the fifth century, Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 87a from the fifth or sixth century, Pesikta de Rav Kahana 22:1 (a fifth century text) and Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 52, which dates from the eighth to the ninth centuries.⁶ Of these texts, the Genesis Rabbah and Talmudic versions seem to provide the main source materials for Pesikta Rabbati, which combines and expands the two earlier narratives' themes.

Pesikta Rabbati 43:4:

And what does it mean, “the happy mother of children” (Psalms 113:9). Rather, at the time that Sarah bore Isaac, the nations of the world were saying, He is the son of a maidservant and she pretends as if she suckles (meniqah) him. At that time he [Abraham] said to her, Sarah, why are you [just] standing [there]?⁷ This is not the time for modesty. Rather, stand and uncover (hifri‘ah) yourself for the sake of sanctification of the name. Sarah stood and uncovered herself, and her two breasts were pouring (moriqim) milk like two spouts of water (zinuqim shel mayim). As it is written: “And she said, Who would have said (millel) to Abraham that Sarah would suckle (heniqah) children?” (Genesis 21:7). Rabbi Pinḥas ha-Cohen ben Ḥama said in the name of Rabbi Ḥilkiah: The stalk of Abraham was dried up, and it was made as a stalk of standing corn (melilot)—“Who would have said to Abraham.” And the nations of the world were bringing their children to Sarah so that she would suckle them. To fulfill what is said [in scripture]: “Sarah would suckle children.” And there were some who were bringing their children in truth so that she would suckle them, and there were some who were bringing their children to investigate. Neither these nor those suffered loss. Rabbi Levi said: Those that came in truth became proselytes (nitgayeru).⁸ This is as it is said: “Sarah would suckle children.” What is “suckle children”? That they were adopted (she-nitbanu) into Israel. And those that came to investigate her? Our rabbis said: They were made great in this world by promotion. And all the proselytes in the world, and all the fearers of heaven that are in the world, are from those who suckled from the milk of Sarah. Therefore, “The happy mother of children”—this is Sarah.

Genesis Rabbah 53:9:

“And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children?” (Genesis 21:7). Would suckle a child is not written here. Our mother Sarah was extremely modest. Our father Abraham said to her, This is not the time for modesty. Rather, reveal (gali) your breasts so that all will know that the Holy One, blessed be He, has begun to do miracles. She revealed her breasts, and they were flowing (nov‘ot) milk like two springs (ma‘yanot). And matrons were coming, and they were suckling (menikot) their children from her, and they were saying, We are not worthy to suckle our children from the milk of the righteous woman. The rabbis and Rabbi Aḥa [comment on this matter]. The rabbis said: All who came for the sake of heaven were made fearers of heaven. Rabbi Aḥa said: Even those who did not come for the sake of heaven were given power in this world. When they withdrew themselves at Sinai and did not receive the Torah, that power was removed from them.

Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 87a:

“And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children?” (Genesis 21:7). How many children did Sarah suckle? Rabbi Levi said: That day that Abraham weaned his son Isaac, he made a great feast, and all the nations of the world were muttering and saying, Do you see the old man and old woman that brought a foundling from the market and are saying, He is our son? And not only that, but they have made a great feast to uphold their words! What did our father Abraham do? He went and invited all the great people of the generation, and our mother Sarah invited their wives, and each and every one brought her child with her, but did not bring her wet nurse. And a miracle was done for our mother Sarah, and her breasts were opened (nifteḥu) like two springs (ma‘ayanot) and she suckled (heniqah) all of them. And still they were muttering and saying, If Sarah, who is ninety years old, can bear, can Abraham, who is one hundred years old, beget a child? Immediately the countenance of Isaac was changed and he was made to resemble Abraham. They all opened (patḥu) and said, Abraham begat Isaac.⁹

These stories are most obviously concerned with establishing the newborn Isaac's lineage as a direct descendant of Abraham and Sarah, and each makes its case with a story about miraculous breastfeeding. All three narratives respond to an unusual word choice in Genesis 21:7: “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children?” The word children seems inconsistent with Sarah's single son, and the rabbinic interpreters address this scriptural detail by placing her in a broader mothering role that allows her to nurse many children.¹⁰ Although each narrative contains the same miracle, the three works assign different results to Sarah's superabundant milk. The oldest text, Genesis Rabbah 53:9, uses the suckling miracle to explain the origins of “fearers of heaven” and those with worldly power. The children Sarah breastfeeds build up fear of heaven in the world by becoming God-fearing people. The matriarch reveals her breasts, the physical miracle is revealed, and an interior miracle (the infants' orientation toward God) takes place. In BT Bava Metzia 87a, doubt about Isaac's real parents inspires the miracle, and Sarah's abundant milk resolves her status as a mother. Abraham's paternity is established by a second miraculous occurrence in which Isaac's face changes to resemble his father's more closely. The onlookers' spiritual transformation is reflected by the term open, used to describe both the manifestation of Sarah's milk and the former doubters' final, enlightened statement.

Pesikta Rabbati 43:4, the story's latest version, combines the earlier narratives' themes to construct a coherent myth about the origin of converts to Judaism. In this myth, the nations of the world (meaning non-Jews) express doubt about Isaac's lineage and God performs a milk-based miracle for Sarah, proving her fertility. The nations participate in this miracle, and the children of those who come to witness it are transformed into the ancestors of all future proselytes and God fearers, receiving Jewish religiosity through the medium of the matriarch's milk.¹¹ Not only does Sarah bear a child, she also becomes mother to a large adoptive family, a theme emphasized by Rabbi Levi's assertion that “suckling children” means adopting them into Israel.¹² This miraculous response to doubt engenders generations of belief in God, and spiritual orientation imparted through Sarah's milk does not end with the recipients' lifetimes, but continues for all time. It is as though the nursing children's ancestors bear within them the seeds of Jewish spirituality, which may emerge in their distant descendants.

In these texts, suckling milk serves as a powerful metaphor for transmitting Jewish spiritual lineage. This lineage includes an associative physicality, since all Jews are understood to be Abraham and Sarah's descendants. The conceptual claim underlying the metaphor is that proselytes are linked both spiritually and physically to the people of Israel through the medium of Sarah's milk. Rather than being strangers, they become adopted children, naturalized into the community. The term used for this process, nitbanu, is related to the verb banah (to build), a term included in the Genesis Rabbah variant recorded in Theodor and Albeck's critical edition.¹³ There, the rabbis are inspired by the similarity between the word “children” (banim) and the word “builders” (bana‘in), saying of Sarah, “she suckles children, she suckles builders.” This theme is also found in Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 64a, where the sages' students are considered both children and builders of peace through their Torah.¹⁴ Effectively, the children Sarah suckles are built up as her own children, causing them in turn to build up the people Israel. Through a mother's milk, interior religiosity is conveyed, and this religiosity is powerful enough to pass through innumerable generations of proselytes.

The suckling-as-spiritual-transmission metaphor found in these texts is not a purely rabbinic innovation. It can be traced to conceptual precedents in the Hebrew Bible, which contains its own group of metaphors linking life-giving liquid to faith and knowledge. The Bible's tales take place in an environment that is largely desert. In such a setting, water is a life-giving resource necessary to human survival, much as milk is necessary to an infant. Water imagery appears frequently in the Hebrew Bible, where it is often associated with divinity, salvation, and wisdom. Michael Fishbane notes, “open wells repeatedly serve in biblical texts as a metonymy for sustenance and life.” His examples include Proverbs 18:4, “The words of a man's mouth are deep water, a flowing (nove‘a) river, a fount (meqor) of wisdom,” and Isaiah 12:3, which associates eschatological hope with drawing water “from the springs of salvation,” (mi-ma‘ayney ha-yeshu‘ah). He also calls attention to Jeremiah 17:13, in which God is titled the “Hope (miqveh) of Israel,” and the “Fount of Living Water (meqor mayim-ḥayyim)” pointing out that “The use of the epithet miqveh ‘hope’ adds a rich theological resonance … since the word can also mean ‘pool of water.’”¹⁵

The language that Proverbs, Isaiah, and Jeremiah assoc...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Hebrew and Aramaic Transliterations
• Introduction: Kabbalistic Images, Relationality, and a Breastfeeding God
• Chapter 1: Breastfeeding and Religious Transmission in Rabbinic Literature
• Chapter 2: Suckling the Divine Overflow in Early Kabbalah
• Chapter 3: God as a Nursing Mother in Sefer ha-Zohar
• Chapter 4: Concluding Thoughts on the Nursing Divine
• Notes
• Bibliography