The Past, Present, and Future of Queer Torah: Between Sunlight and Shade

With Rabbi Avigayl Halpern

Tuesdays at 7:00-8:30 PM EST July 14th - August 8th

Asynchronous option available

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:

July 14th 7:00-8:30 EST More than “More than the love of women:” Biblical Literature
July 21st 7:00-8:30 EST “It’s intended for joy:” Rabbinic and Medieval Torah
July 28th 7:00-8:30 EST Into the Streets and Into The Synagogue: The 1970s-2000s
August 4th 7:00-8:30 EST Torah Queeries and Queering Torah: Contemporary Queer Exegesis
August 11th 7:00-8:30 EST Beyond Permitted and Forbidden: Contemporary Queer Halakhah and Why It Matters
August 18th 7:00-8:30 EST The World To Come: Dreaming the Future

The Past, Present, and Future of Queer Torah: Between Sunlight and Shade

With Rabbi Avigayil Halpern