Shekinah
/ʃɪˈkʌɪnə
/(also Shekhinah)
noun [mass noun]
(In Jewish and Christian theology) the glory of the divine presence, conventionally represented as light or interpreted symbolically (in Kabbalism as a divine feminine aspect).According to the will of the Creator, wisdom, as the divine Shekinah, will take up a dwelling place in Jacob....
- The Jewish mystical treatise called the Zohar tells us that ‘whenever Israel goes into exile, the Holy One, blessed be he, is in exile with them, for the Shekhinah [Divine Presence] never leaves them.’
- Mary is at once graced by the Light and reflects it, a figure akin to God's Shekhinah, the Hebrew understanding of Divine Wisdom as manifest in feminine guise.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from late Hebrew, from šākan 'dwell, rest'.