Author Archives: Penina

LIVING BY THEIR WITS 2012/2013

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Living by Their Wits – How our Ancestors Parleyed Their Way into Power

I led a pair of Sunday morning sessions at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 10/28/12 and 1/6/13, on the topic of Living by Their Wits.  We looked at a few of our biblical ancestors who lived by their wits and gained power when they lacked authority.  Many people think that the only tricksters in the Bible are women, and dismiss living by wits as a feminine wile, unworthy of respect.  In fact, men as well as women live by their wits.  We read selected biblical texts and entered into a lively discussion relating our texts to current politics, philosophy and challenges of life.

These types of classes are participatory and accessible to people with no experience studying biblical texts, while providing an intellectual challenge to those with a broad background.  Everyone is an expert at something; we combine our insights and knowledge to unpack the biblical texts and to wrestle with questions such as: what is authority vs power?  Is living by our wits relevant today?  If so, how does it help us to meet modern challenges (or not)?

BOUNDARY CROSSING: THE STORY OF RUTH (March and July 2012)

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Nehirim Woman’s Retreat-  Workshop
Keshet – Beit Midrash
As queer Jews, our identity is rich and complex. What does it mean to alter our identity? Or come into our identity? How do we learn to read other boundary crossers? A journey through the Book of Ruth reveals how the best known and most beloved pair of biblical women cross identity boundaries and struggle to be recognized.

FULL SPECTRUM GENDER IN THE BIBLE (June 2012)

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Nehirim East Retreat – Workshop.
We may understand Rebecca as a biblical person whose gender manifests as a continuum; who is textually the successor to Sarah and Abraham; and who is therefore in a sense both mother and father of Israel.  A close reading of a few key texts in Genesis yields the (surprising?) conclusion that gender identifications in the Hebrew Bible are less rigid than we may believe.

THE CREATION OF HU(WO)MANITY (August 2011)

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Classes at Congregation Eitz Chayim
Two part series covering the creation texts in Genesis 1, 2, and 5:1-2.  If humanity is made in the image of God, what can we learn from the story of Creation about the gender of God and the gender of the first human?   Is God a He, a She, an androgyne?  Is the question relevant?  The concept of a gendered God is integral to many interpretations, and the concept of God as a He has troubled many modern religious people, but what does the text actually say?

RUTH (June/July 2011)

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Classes at Congregation Eitz Chayim
The book of Ruth poses hard questions about the relationship between humanity and God, and between one human and another.  Like Job, Naomi agonizes over being abandoned by God, even afflicted by God.  How can this be?  What does it mean that God can afflict human beings?  Why should it be so?  A consideration of issues of identity (both loss and change), redemption, affliction by YHWH, the role of women in transforming society, love between women, Naomi as a Jobian figure, the significance of the book of Ruth in the biblical narrative, the place of both Ruth and Boaz in the genealogy of King David

ESTHER (Purim 2011)

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Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim.
Some say that the name Esther, which is similar to hidden in Hebrew, means that the works of God are hidden in the book.   A consideration of the possibility that what is hidden (and therefore difficult to uncover) is the meaning of the text.

WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND S/HE IS US (Summer 2010)

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Classes at Congregation Eitz Chayim
Teachings utilizing close intertextual reading of selected Biblical texts, to explore the intersection of gender and politics in the ancient Israelite love/hate relationship with the outsider/other.
Three sessions covering: “Canaanites from Curse to Conquest,” “Zipporah and the Bridegroom of Blood (Ex 4:24-26),” and “The Cushite Woman” (Num 11:35-12:9).