Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814720127
- eISBN:
- 9780814785249
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814720127.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
In the Jewish tradition, reading of the Torah follows a calendar cycle, with a specific portion assigned each week. These weekly portions, read aloud in synagogues around the world, have been subject ...
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In the Jewish tradition, reading of the Torah follows a calendar cycle, with a specific portion assigned each week. These weekly portions, read aloud in synagogues around the world, have been subject to interpretation and commentary for centuries. Following on this ancient tradition, the book brings together some of the world's leading rabbis, scholars, and writers to interpret the Torah through a “bent lens.” With commentaries on the fifty-four weekly Torah portions and six major Jewish holidays, the book opens up stimulating new insights and highlights previously neglected perspectives. It unites the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight-allied writers, including some of the most central figures in contemporary American Judaism. All bring to the table unique methods of reading and interpreting that allow the Torah to speak to modern concerns of sexuality, identity, gender, and LGBT life. This book offers cultural critique, social commentary, and a vision of community transformation, all done through biblical interpretation. The book examines topics as divergent as the Levitical sexual prohibitions, the experience of the Exodus, the rape of Dinah, the life of Joseph, and the ritual practices of the ancient Israelites. It charts a future of inclusion and social justice deeply rooted in the Jewish textual tradition, and is an important contribution to the project of democratizing Jewish communities, and an essential guide to understanding the intersection of queerness and Jewishness.Less
In the Jewish tradition, reading of the Torah follows a calendar cycle, with a specific portion assigned each week. These weekly portions, read aloud in synagogues around the world, have been subject to interpretation and commentary for centuries. Following on this ancient tradition, the book brings together some of the world's leading rabbis, scholars, and writers to interpret the Torah through a “bent lens.” With commentaries on the fifty-four weekly Torah portions and six major Jewish holidays, the book opens up stimulating new insights and highlights previously neglected perspectives. It unites the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight-allied writers, including some of the most central figures in contemporary American Judaism. All bring to the table unique methods of reading and interpreting that allow the Torah to speak to modern concerns of sexuality, identity, gender, and LGBT life. This book offers cultural critique, social commentary, and a vision of community transformation, all done through biblical interpretation. The book examines topics as divergent as the Levitical sexual prohibitions, the experience of the Exodus, the rape of Dinah, the life of Joseph, and the ritual practices of the ancient Israelites. It charts a future of inclusion and social justice deeply rooted in the Jewish textual tradition, and is an important contribution to the project of democratizing Jewish communities, and an essential guide to understanding the intersection of queerness and Jewishness.
