Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – 6:45pm – 9:30pm.
[Miriam dancing at the crossing of the Red Sea. Chludov Psalter. 9th century.]
(Scroll to end for logistics)
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Join us as we begin the book of Exodus, for a study of Shemot, both Torah portion and book. We will see how binary labels miss the complexity of life. Moses is Israelite, Egyptian, Midianite. A killer and a prophet who fights his destiny. The midwives are Israelite and Egyptian. Israelite slaves have almost lost their identities. Ziporah is magician, nemesis, finger of God.

We will also look at how the daughters, like Miriam, are saved alive and save the day. The large arc of the exodus journey, from beginning to end, is energized by 17 women, Shifrah, Puah, Miriam, Jocheved, Pharaoh’s daughter, Zipporah and 6 sisters plus 5 daughters of Zelophehad, Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Yet the stupid Pharoh will save the daughters alive.

Perhaps we will take a clue from Joy Ladin who writes, in her book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective:

“God knows what transgender people know: the binaries that make identities seem clear and simple, easy to express and enforce, are, in practice, impossible to maintain, because they do not and cannot fit the complexity of human lives and human communities… [We live in] a world in which, as the plagues and miracles of the Exodus remind us, everything we think we know can change in an instant… in a world in which the distinction between who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them’ can be a matter of life and death.”

Penina Weinberg is an independent Hebrew bible scholar whose study and teaching focus on the intersection of power, politics and gender in the Hebrew Bible. She has run workshops for Nehirim and Keshet and has been teaching Hebrew bible for 10 years. She has written in Tikkun and HBI blog, and is the leader and founder of Ruach HaYam.

** Logistics**
Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. We open the doors at 6:45 for schmoozing. Feel free to bring your own veggie snack for the early part. A parking consideration is in effect for the three blocks around EC during all regularly scheduled events. It is a good idea to put a note in the windshield that you are attending an event at EC.  If you would like a copy of parking permit, go here   Permit for this event will be found there a couple weeks before event.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

*** Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, and are welcoming to LGBTQ+ and allies, to any learning or faith background, to all bodies, and friendly to beginners***