EXPLORING THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN YHWH / JUDAISM AND SHIVA / SHAIVISM

 By Rabbi Robert dos Santos Teixeira, LCSW

Introduction

The Blue God of Judaism? Yes, the blue god of Judaism. The god that Jews worship is as blue as the Hindu god Shiva, the supreme being in Shaivism, the oldest sect within Hinduism. In some ways, the ancient Hebrews were more similar to modern-day Hindus than Jews. They acknowledged the existence of deities other than YHWH (whom Christians generally refer to as Yahweh) and, like their neighbors, looked to a pantheon of gods and goddesses to satisfy their individual and collective needs.1 Their principal deity, however, became and remained YHWH, whom they imagined as having anthropomorphic form.2 This article aims to contribute to and further recent discussion of YHWH’s masculine form,3 i.e., the Lord’s body. Hopefully, in so doing, long-overlooked similarities between YHWH and Shiva will receive due attention, and the feminine form of YHWH4 will re-emerge more fully, thereby triggering a re-appreciation for the life-creating and life-sustaining oneness of the divine masculine and the divine feminine, perhaps the most ancient tenet of Judaism. It is the color of the Lord’s body that interests us here. Examination of biblical, talmudic, midrashic, and mystical texts reveals that the Lord’s body is blue! The Hebrew terms tarshish, sapir, and tekhelet that convey the blueness of YHWH’s masculine form, accoutrements, and abode come from Sanskrit, not surprisingly, which, by itself, invites greater exploration and comparison of the similarities between Judaism and Hinduism, particularly Shaivism.5