Somatic Theology

Somatic theology is a practice of engaging Jewish texts through the body and through the kaleidoscope of our emotions—feeling our way into meaning, rather than relying on intellectual or theological agreement. Whether you’re connected to Jewish tradition, or just curious to explore – this approach welcomes curiosity, skepticism, and lived experience as sacred sources.

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Somatic theology begins with the recognition that when Jewish texts express spiritual or existential experiences in conceptual language, they often employ images or definitions of God that can feel distant, painful, or irrelevant. Somatic theology offers an alternative to arguing with a text's explicit theology. It invites us to ask: What is the emotional truth underneath this claim about God? What kind of fear, rupture, longing, grief, or hope is being named here—and does that resonate for me?

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Ancient Hebrew is a language deeply rooted in physicality, in a way that is fundamentally different than English (or Latin or Greek). Take the Hebrew root א.מ.ן (aleph-mem-nun), which gives us words like amen, emunah (trust or “faith”), and omenet (nanny or nurse), and is probably originally derived from em (mother). These words carry associations of holding and continuity – a bodily experience of being carried or supported. This might open new space for us to explore where we might access such a feeling in our lives, as well as to hold grief and rage over where that feeling has been lost, or betrayed, or never existed.

There are many Hebrew words with roots that offer powerful embodied associations. A few more include:

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• Hoda’ah (י.ד.י, yud-dalet-yud) – “gratitude,” but also lifting up one’s hands

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• Na’ar (נ.ע.ר, nun-ayin-resh) – “child,” but also shaking

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• Natzach (נ.צ.ח, nun-tzadi-chet) – “to be victorious,” but also endurance and shining

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Somatic theology isn’t just about word roots—it also invites us to play in the wild garden of midrash and Jewish storytelling, noticing what images stir us and letting them open up imaginative space. The ancient rabbis didn’t worry about conceptual consistency, and we don’t need to either! If you’d like, we can explore writing our own “fanfiction” on traditional Jewish texts, from imaginative midrashic narratives to poems of lament or celebration.