OLAM HA-ZACHAR (THE WORLD OF THE MALE): THE IMAGE OF SARAH IN ZOHAR LEKH-LEKHA (ZOHAR I: 95B-96A). (English)

This paper explores the image of the biblical Sarah as she is portrayed in Zohar Lekh-Lekha (Zohar I: 95b-96a), focusing on her dominant matriarchal role in the rite of Isaac's circumcision. It focuses on Sarah's identification with the upper sefirah of Binah and traces the original process by which the Zohar incorporates female biblical heroes within the sefirotic system. In addition, the paper examines the issue of gender reversal, fluidity and androgyneity in Kabbalistic literature, the fertile encounter between psychoanalytic theory and Zoharic homiletics, and Judeo-Christian polemics during the Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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