The Female Face of God in Auschwitz

A Jewish feminist theology of the Holocaust

Bibliographic Data

ID19918917
AuthorsMelissa Raphael (corresponding author)
Year2003
Pages228
Publication date2003-09-02
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueThe female face of God in Auschwitz (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9780203469071
OpenAlexW4242214355
Open LibraryOL36239422M
ISBN9780203469071
LanguageEN
Citations received24

The dominant theme of post-Holocaust Jewish theology has been that of the temporary hiddenness of God, interpreted either as a divine mystery or, more commonly, as God's deferral to human freedom. But traditional Judaic obligations of female presence, together with the traditional image of the Shekhinah as a figure of God's 'femaleness' accompanying Israel into exile, seem to contradict such theologies of absence. The Female Face of God in Auschwitz, the first full-length feminist theology of the Holocaust, argues that the patriarchal bias of post-Holocaust theology becomes fully apparent only when women's experiences and priorities are brought into historical light. Building upon the published testimonies of four women imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau - Olga Lengyel, Lucie Adelsberger, Bertha Ferderber-Salz and Sara Nomberg-Przytyk - it considers women's distinct experiences of the holy in relation to God's perceived presence and absence in the camps. God's face, says Melissa Raphael, was not hidden in Auschwitz, but intimately revealed in the female face turned towards the other as a refractive image of God, especially in the moral protest made visible through material and spiritual care for the assaulted other

Aesthetics · Art · Face (sociological concept) · Social science · Sociology · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy · 1939-1945 · Alomtegenwoordigheid van God · Auschwitz (Concentration camp) · Deus absconditus · Dieu · Femininity of God · Feminism · Feminism, judaism · Feminism, religious aspects, judaism · Feministische Theologie · Féminité · Gott · History and criticism · Holocaust · Holocaust (jewish theology) · Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) · Holocauste · Jewish women in the Holocaust · Judaism · Judaïsme · Judenvernichtung · Jüdische Theologie · Juives pendant l'Holocauste · Personal narratives · Présence de Dieu · Presence of God · Récits personnels · Redemption · Religion · Religious aspects · Religious aspects of Feminism · Theology

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