In a world in which most religions begin with God the Father or some sort of male image of the divine, and are founded by male figures such as Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad, do we undervalue Motherhood or the role of women in faith?

There are 70 different names for God in the Hebrew Bible and sacred Jewish texts. Many are feminine, including Shechinah, which refers to the Indwellling/Closeness of God, and El Maleh Rachamim, which means God Full of Compassion (literally “like a Mother’s Womb”)! Even the biblical word for faith (Emunah) comes from the root word for mother (Em). A mother, therefore, is the source of faith, trust, and hope. One of my favorite Jewish expressions is, “God could not be everywhere, so God created mothers!”.