Program
- Education Series
The Past, Present, and Future of Queer Torah: Between Sunlight and Shade With Rabbi Avigayl Halpern
This class takes its name from the Rabbinic sage Rabbi Yochanan, who is often read as queer – his beauty is described as that of a silver goblet filled with pomegranate seeds and crowned with roses, set between sun and shade. It is in the beauty of that middle space that queer Torah emerges. In this series, we will examine texts and narratives from ancient to modern to ask: Is there such a thing as a canon of queer Torah? What qualifies Torah as “queer?” And what are the stakes of these questions for us as we approach an uncertain future?
Course Sessions:
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July 14th 7:00-8:30 EST More than “More than the love of women:” Biblical Literature
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July 21st 7:00-8:30 EST “It’s intended for joy:” Rabbinic and Medieval Torah
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July 28th 7:00-8:30 EST Into the Streets and Into The Synagogue: The 1970s-2000s
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August 4th 7:00-8:30 EST Torah Queeries and Queering Torah: Contemporary Queer Exegesis
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August 11th 7:00-8:30 EST Beyond Permitted and Forbidden: Contemporary Queer Halakhah and Why It Matters
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August 18th 7:00-8:30 EST The World To Come: Dreaming the Future
Related Programming
- Education Series
- Streaming
Tanakh Beyond Nationalism
The Hebrew Bible is one of the most argued-over texts in human history, and today is used to propagate some of the most pernicious agendas in the world. Rather than reading the Tanakh as a single voice delivering a settled message, this class will treat it as an ongoing conversation in which the terms of the covenant are renegotiated in every generation. Each session centers a pivotal moment where that relationship is updated, and notices that these stories always come with competing accounts of the moment, what the covenant was before, and competing visions of what it should become.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Jewish Books and Zionism: A Conversation With Jewish Authors
On April 9, a group of Jewish writers published an open letter calling on the Jewish Book Council to stop centering Zionist and Israeli voices as the default of Jewish literature, and to make space for the wide range of Jewish writers working outside that framework. Four signatories join us to discuss how the letter came together, what they hope the JBC will do, and what it looks like to build new Jewish literary institutions while pushing existing ones to grow. We will explore anti-Zionist Jewish literary ancestors, how diasporic storytelling humanizes Palestinians and counters erasure, and the long history of Jewish dissent this moment belongs to.
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- Education Series
- Event
Global Shavuot Teach-in "From the US to Palestine: Solidarity is Holy"
On May 21st-22nd, the American Council for Judaism and Rabbis for Ceasefire will be hosting our third annual Global Shavuot Teach-in
Under the theme “From the U.S. to Palestine: Solidarity is Holy” we will demonstrate global Jewish solidarity with Palestine, deepen relationships across continents, and develop shared analyses, songs, interpretations of texts and beyond that guide our way to liberation.
This teach-in will be wide ranging including short films and discussions, traditional Jewish text studies, skill shares, song shares, history lessons, political discussions, art making workshops and beyond!
We look forward to seeing you there!
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