Tikva Frymer-Kensky, professor at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, scholar of Near Eastern religions and author of In the Wake of the Goddesses (Free Press, 1992), adds that Judaism speaks about God in non-gendered metaphors such as ‘Rock’ or ‘Living Waters.’ But because of social patriarchy, she explains, Judaism chose to emphasize the power metaphors which are male—Master, Father, King.
Some Pagans have tried to formally integrate Judaism and Paganism. Penny Novack founded the Jewish Pagan Network, an attempt to help Jewish Pagans look at the religion of their birth in the light of Paganism. After three years, two Sabbath study gatherings (which drew about ten people), and many calls and letters, Novack gave up. “They didn’t want the two parts of their lives brought together,” she concludes.
Novack is wistful about her search to meld her two religious impulses, expressing a desire to increase her Jewish observance. “I try not to be schizophrenic about being both Jewish and Pagan, but I find myself alone a great deal of the time,” she says.
Her sensitive vision of Judaism, rooted in the sacredness of nature, leads her to compare Torah to beautiful natural sites, like Shelburne Falls (near her home in Massachusetts), a volcanic dome with awe-inspiring formations: “That place has a feeling of time, history, beauty. I experience Judaism as being like that dome,” When Novack lights Sabbath candles, she visualizes women everywhere lighting at the same time, starting a wave of light that goes all the way around the world.
Novack’s efforts spurred Steve Posch, a 37- year-old writer, actor and storyteller, to co-found a Pagan congregation in Minneapolis called Beit Asherah, or The Golden Calf Synagogue. “It’s in your face,” Posch comments about the name, “but it’s intended to be playful, like, ‘there, we’ve broken the final taboo.'”
