Nukva נוקבא

Nukva (נוקבא, “the Female”) is the feminine configuration of the divine countenance, paired with Zeir Anpin (the Short Countenance) and identified with Malkhut / Shekhinah in her configured (partzuf) form. The culminating dynamic of the Idra is the zivvuga kadisha (the sacred union) of Zeir Anpin and Nukva, the face-to-face conjoining of the male and female configurations through which the divine countenance is completed and blessing flows to the lower worlds. In the Lurianic systematization Nukva is the fifth of the five partzufim, built from Malkhut.

The eros of the Zeir Anpin and Nukva union is, in recent scholarship (especially Wolfson and Mopsik), read as doctrinally load-bearing: the conjoining of the configurations is the mechanism of cosmic harmony, not a decorative metaphor. The Idra renders it with frank sexual imagery that the disciplined translation preserves as doctrine rather than rendering prurient or desexualizing into bloodless “emanation.”

Etymology

From the Aramaic root n-q-b, which yields both “female” and “orifice, that which is pierced.” The dual sense is the source of a translation hazard: the etymology must not be mistaken for the referent.

Why not “the hole” or “the female organ”

The root n-q-b literally yields “the pierced one,” and a crude-literal rendering (“the hole,” “the female organ”) mistakes the etymology for the meaning. Hekhal renders “the Female (Nukva).” “The woman” and “the wife” are also avoided: Nukva is a sefirotic configuration (the configured Malkhut/Shekhinah), not a human figure. The sexual dimension is real and doctrinal, surfaced in commentary, never rendered prurient.

Primary sources

• Zohar, Idra Rabba (Zohar III, Naso): the union of Zeir Anpin and Nukva.
• Zohar, Idra Zuta (Zohar III, Ha’azinu): the completing union.

Scholarly literature

• Wolfson, Through a Speculum That Shines and Language, Eros, Being.
• Mopsik, Sex of the Soul.
• Tishby, The Wisdom of the Zohar.
• Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition: the Idra volumes.

Hekhal Editorial. "Nukva." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/nukva.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Nukva." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/nukva.

Hekhal Editorial. "Nukva." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/nukva.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Nukva. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/nukva

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-nukva-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Nukva}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/nukva},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}