The Shekhinah TB Megillah 29

In rabbinic Judaism the Shekhinah is a manifestation of God’s presence. Throughout the Talmud God manifests His presence as the Shekhinah in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. However, the Shekhinah is also present in the daily lives of the Jewish people. While a person (or people) study Torah, the Shekhinah is among them” (TB Avot 3:6) "Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests” (TB Sanhedrin 39a) "When three sit as judges, the Shekhinah is with them.” (TB Berakhot 6a) "The Shekhinah dwells over the headside of the sick person’s bed" (TB Shabbat 12b) “The Shekhinah rests upon an individual neither from an atmosphere of sadness, nor from an atmosphere of laziness, nor from an atmosphere of laughter, nor from an atmosphere of frivolity, nor from an atmosphere of idle conversation, nor from an atmosphere of idle chatter, but rather from an atmosphere imbued with the joy of a mitzva.” (Shabbat 30b, Sefaria.org translation)

On today’s daf TB Megillah 29 we learn that the Shekhinah accompanies the Jewish people even in exile. “§ It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Come and see how beloved the Jewish people are before the Holy One, Blessed be He. As every place they were exiled, the Divine Presence went with them. They were exiled to Egypt, and the Divine Presence went with them, as it is stated: “Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt?” (I Samuel 2:27). They were exiled to Babylonia, and the Divine Presence went with them, as it is stated: “For your sake I have sent to Babylonia” (Isaiah 43:14). So too, when, in the future, they will be redeemed, the Divine Presence will be with them, as it is stated: “Then the Lord your God will return with your captivity” (Deuteronomy 30:3). It does not state: He will bring back, i.e., He will cause the Jewish people to return, but rather it says: “He will return,” which teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will return together with them from among the various exiles.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We should take comfort knowing that we are never truly alone both in good times and in bad times. We can feel God’s presence in all our daily activities as long as we are mindful of the Shekhinah.

The Kabbalah transformed the Jewish understanding of the Shekhinah. “In all the numerous references to the Shekhinah in the Talmud and Midrashim...there is no hint that it represents a feminine element in God. Not a single metaphor employs such terms as Princess, Matron, Queen, or Bride to describe the Shekhinah. It is true that these terms frequently occur when reference is made to the Community of Israel in his relation to God, but for these writers the Community has not yet become a mystical hypostasis of some divine force; is simply the personification of the real Israel. Nowhere is there a dualism, with the Shekhinah, as the feminine, opposed to the’ Holy One, Praise be to Him,’ as the masculine element in God. The introduction of this idea was one the most important and lasting innovations of Kabbalism. The fact that it attained recognition in spite of the obvious difficulty reconciling it with the conception of the absolute unity of God, and that no other element of Kabbalism won such a degree of popular approval, is proof that it responded to a deep seated religious need…

“Various other motives helped to complete the picture of the Shekhinah as drawn in the Zohar; above all, she is now identified with the ‘Community of Israel,’ a sort of invisible church representing the mystical idea of Israel and the bond with God and in its bliss, but also in its suffering and its exile. She is not only Queen, daughter of the bride of God, but also the mother of every individual in Israel. She is the true ‘Rachel weeping for her children,’ and in a magnificent misinterpretation of a Zoharic passage, the Shekhinah weeping in her exile becomes for later Kabbalism ‘the beauty who no longer has eyes…’

“The union of God and the Shekhinah constitutes the true unity of God which lies beyond the diversity of his various aspects, Yihud as the Kabbalists call it….” (Gershom G Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, page 229-230)