Category Archives: Biblical Men

Parashat Shemini 2024

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Dvar Torah  Shemini  March April 6, 2024 B’nai Brith Somerville

Good Shabbos.  I am again honored to be able to bring words of Torah to you.
I dedicate this dvar torah to my brother, Robert Weinberg, of blessed memory whose yarhtzeit is this week.

Our torah portion this Shabbat is Shemini, Leviticus Chapter 9-11. Chapter 11 goes into great detail on kosher and non-kosher animals.   It is helpful for understanding the background for Jewish kashrut.  On Shabbat Ha Chodesh, which we have today, we also read Exodus 12:1-20 in preparation for Passover. Today,  I am focusing only on Leviticus chapters 9 and 10, on the enigmatic and mysterious story of Nadav and Avihu, who offer outsider fire – Eish Zarah – Continue reading →

Shemini – Strange Fire and Flaming Queers

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This Dvar Torah was given at Temple Beth Israel, Waltham, MA, on March 26, 2022.  It was delivered orally, as strongly emoted sermon.  It is best read aloud with much feeling.

Our torah portion this Shabbat is Shemini, Leviticus Chapter 9-11.  Chapter 11 goes into great detail on kosher and non-kosher animals.   It is helpful for understanding the background for Jewish kashrut, but will not detain us today.  Instead, I am focusing on chapters 9 and 10, on the enigmatic and mysterious story of Nadab and Abihu, who offer strange fire – Eish Zarah – on the alter, and are devoured by holy flame.  Last week we looked at an eternal fire, this week we look at a strange fire.   I will have reference to the teaching Rabbi David brought us by Noach Dzmura on The Eternal Flame [“HaNer Tamid, dos Pintele Yid v’ha Zohar Muzar: The Eternal Flame, the Jewish Spark and the Flaming Queer” in Torah Queeries], as well as to a commentary by Reuven Ben Amitai called “Eish Zarah.”   Dzmura is concerned with compassion and caregiving in the doorways (e.g., death, conversion) of our Jewish communities, especially with respect to gender differences.   Ben Amitai self describes as a reluctant mystic, rabbinical student, and trans southern ex-pat, whose interests include Trans theology, holy heretics, Queer (ing) Jew, and strange fires.  Both are trans and bring a special knowledge of, and deep compassion for, lives lived outside the gateways of normative society.  For further discussion of living inside and outside the gateways, I invite you to read two books: Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence by Liam Hooper and The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective by Joy Ladin.

I am drawn to this story of strange fire because I, too, am strange, a person whose thought patterns, family circumstances, cultural upbringing, and life history are not in concert with most of the people I know, and never have been. I was over 55 before I began to lean into my queer and Jewish soul, and to nudge my way into more compatible circles.

Now: the text.  In Chapter 9 of Leviticus, Moses assembles Aaron and his sons, along with the elders, to command them regarding the sacrifices to be offered by both the priests and the Israelites.   The instructions encompass the whole congregation.

In verse 9:7,  Moses directs Aaron to make atonement for himself and for all the people.  This will involve blood, animal parts, death and fire;  meal offerings, sin offerings, oxen, rams, and goats.   It is a major celebration marking the beginning of the priestly lineage.  At the end of the offerings, 9:22, Aaron lifts up his arms and gives a blessing, which according to Rashi is the Priestly Benediction.  In 9:23, Moses and Aaron go in and out of the Tent of the Meeting and bless the people together, and the divine appears to all.   At the conclusion of this very big and very grand public event, fire issues forth from the presence of the divine and consumes the sacrifices.   When the people see this, they give a great shout of joy and fall on their faces.   I mean, how would you feel in the presence of a holy roaring fire?

Following, in Verse 10:1-3 (my adapted translation).

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before HaShem eish zarah, which [the divine] had not commanded them.  And there came forth fire from the presence of HaShem, and devoured them.  And they died in front of HaShem.  Then Moses said to Aaron: This is what HaSham spoke, saying “Through those who are near to me, I will be sanctified, and in the presence of all the people I will be glorified.”   And Aaron remained stock still (va’yadom Aharon).”

I call your attention to the Hebrew phrases eish Zarah and va’yadom Aharon.  First va’yadom Aharon.  This is generally translated as Aaron was silent, or kept his peace.   But it actually means that Aaron stood stock still, transfixed, not moving, his whole body reacting.  In Joshua 10:12-13, Joshua speaks to HaShem to ask that the Sun stand still upon Gibeon (shemesh b’givion dom) and the sun stood stock still (vayidom hashemesh).  For the sun to stand still is a quite remarkable phenomena and we should think of Aaron as if he were the Sun stopped in its tracks.   Another interpretation.   In Amos 5:13 we find this line: “Therefore the prudent keep silent (yidam) in such a time; for it is an evil time.”  So we might say Aaron is rooted to the ground in the face of evil.  Whether that evil is the action of his sons or their death or something else, is a matter for debate.

Now: eish zarah.  I thank Ben Amitai for drawing my attention to the fact that the phrase eish zarah, strange fire, appears in the Hebrew Bible only in conjunction with Nadab and Abihu. The root suggests stranger.  The noun form, zar,  is sometimes translated as lay person or outsider (see Lev 22.13).  In and of itself, therefore, that fire is not offensive.  It is just misplaced, not in it’s rightful home, an outsider, a stranger, not invited in.   Do you see where I am going?   This is me, often, in the past, and still today.  Is it you?

Why did Aaron’s sons initiate this strange fire?  The previous priestly activities, in Ch 9, had been expressly commanded by HaShem or Moses.   This strange fire was “not commanded them.”  They did it on their own. Were they ignorant?  Were they overeager to do their priestly duties, rushing ahead of instructions?  Were they willfully flouting authority?   When they saw  how the people joyfully greeted and bowed down in front of the great holy fire of HaShem – did they imagine it would be liberating, holy, mystical, to draw down that fire upon themselves?  This last intrigues me and Ben Amitai brings us a rabbinic teaching on the matter.

“According to Sifra Shemini Mekhita deMiluim 99:5:4, Nadab and Abihu took their offering in joy, for when they saw the new fire come from g-d in the immediate proceeding verse – “A fire came from before HaShem … and all the people saw, rejoiced aloud, and fell upon their faces” – they went to add one act of love to another act of love.”

The question of what drove Nadab and Abihu is unsolvable, but would be well worth our time to consider and argue.  And all the more so: was the immolation a punishment or a reward?

What if it was a punishment?  Recall the haftarah for Shemini, at 2 Samuel 6:6 where, in Ben Amitai’s words:

“Uzzah is killed for the simple act of trying to prevent the Ark from falling onto the ground, an act of devotion and love.  However, despite the love and care intent within the act, that brush against the Ark brings swift retribution from on high… This is a terrifying thought, that even our best intentions and our most personal offerings could result in such cruel retribution.”

Now me speaking again: In these harsh passages, in the story of Nadab and Abihu, and of Uzzah, we have a lot of room for struggle, for questioning, for finding meaning, for finding our own ways.   A lot of room for our singular and out of the norm experiences to provide tools to unpack meaning.

I would like to close with the end of Ben Amitai’s commentary.  When you listen to this, please hear my voice as well, for I while I am not identical to Ben Amitai, I am also on this path that many may judge, or consider not sacred.   And also when you listen to this, raise your eyes or your minds to that small bulb burning in front of the ark, that small ner tamid that, as we learned from Noach Dzmura last week, stands in for all the holy and eternal fires and lamps from Exodus to the Maccabees.   It is a small and weak bulb, but carries deep symbolism if we really receive it and if, as Dzmura adjures us, we keep this flame well-tended.  Now, Ben Amitai takes us out:

“I identify with Nadab and Abihu and their unidentified offering, this strange fire that no one knew. I identify with these two who out of ecstatic joy or confusion or chutzpah or all of them together offered something new to HaShem. I am a trans Jew, a queer Jew, a convert. So much of what I have to offer is somewhat new, is often unsure, is always strange.

I do this joyfully, full in the knowledge of possible death, full in the knowledge that some of my fires are “against” traditional Judaism and “traditional” Abrahamic morality. I do this aware that my Jewish life is – by many – not considered to be sacred. I do this mindful that my path may even be seen as not just un-sacred, but as innately unholy. There are some who may wish me consumed by an angry fire and others who judge my motives to be unrighteous and impure.

And yet, here I still stand – a Jew. These strange fires are the fires that burn within me. I will place my incense upon it and offer up what I have.”

Shabbat Shalom

Banner: Nadab and Abihu offer unholy fire and die (coloured woodcut) – German School, (15th century) in Paris, Mus.des Arts Decoratifs

Note the MIStranlsation.   Zarah is strange, but NOT unholy.

Ki Tisa as a Song of Longing and Danger

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Parashat Ki Tisa is a Song of both longing and danger.  To understand the longing, we need to look back.  Previous to our parsha, the people had been witness to the awesome presence of God on Har Sinai, to thunder, smoke,  lightening, and shofar blasts when God revealed God’s commandments (Ex. 19:16-20:18).  This had followed on the miraculous parting of the Sea of Reeds to permit the Israelites to escape from their former slave-masters in Egypt (Ex. 14-15).

When Moses arrives at the top of Mt Sinai to accept the stone tablets, entering the cloud of God’s presence (Ex 24:18), God gives instructions for Moses to pass to the people regarding the building of the sanctuary and the priestly vestments and consecrations.  The instruction lasts for 40 days, while the children of Israel wait expectantly at the foot of Mount Sinai for Moses to return.   They do not yet know that Moses will bring them a blueprint for building a Mikdash where God’s Shekhina שְׁכִינָה can dwell amongst them שכנתי.  Ex 25:8  Let them make me a sanctuary  וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתֹוכָֽם Ve-asu li mikdash, Ve-shachanti be-tocham.  But as the period of time is coming to an end, the people are restless and bewildered.  They can remember how God appeared at the Sea of Reeds and on the mountain top, and we can readily imagine the sense of loss and of longing for God to return.

In their loneliness, they crave a holy presence, “for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” (Ex 32.1 Everett Fox translation).  They go to Aaron, brother of Moses, and say to him, “Make us a god who will go before us!” (Fox).   There follows the well-known story of the creation of the golden calf from the gold rings of the people, and of the people eating, drinking, and dancing wildly around their creation.   We may reasonably understand that the people are yearning, and that perhaps it is a quest for holy presence that leads them to create the golden calf, not the desire to blaspheme, to worship idols, or to turn against their God.

But herein lies the danger in Ki Tisa.   When Moses discovers that the Israelites have created their own form of worship in his absence, he initially pleads with God to spare their lives and God does so. (Ex 32:7-14).  However, when he descends among the people,  Moses orders the Levites to assassinate 3,000 of the Israelites. (Ex. 32:26-28).  Furthermore, although Moses successfully pleads with God not to destroy the people entirely (Ex. 32:31-34), nevertheless God sends a plague upon the people (Ex. 32:35). If the people were expressing longing for God, how do we understand a world in which they can be punished for doing so?

I would like to read the creation of the golden calf as the story of people who are yearning for God’s presence, and who do the best they can in their circumstances to fill that longing.  Amichai Lau-Lavie in Torah Queeries   sees their dancing around the calf as a “the shattering of the law,” as a  triumph of human spirit and sexuality over the “yoke of silencing law.”  But there is a real problem with either of these readings, and that is the punishment meted out by both Moses and God.

I propose to illuminate the sometimes sparse text by following the rabbinic tradition of reading the Song of Songs intertextually with the Torah.  But fair warning, the Song illuminates the danger as well as the longing.

When God reveals God’s commandments, the people bear witness to the awesome and physical presence of God on Mt. Sinai, to thunder, smoke, lightening, and shofar blasts (Ex. 19:16-20:18).  Aviva Zornberg comments “At the moment when God spoke at Sinai, a whole nation lost consciousness and regained it.” (The Murmuring Deep, pg 246).  She quotes from Shemot Rabbah 29:3, which provides a good illustration of how the rabbis read Song of Songs with the Torah.

Levi said: Israel asked of God two things – that they should see His glory and hear His voice; and they did see His Glory and hear His voice, for it says, “And you said: Behold, God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 5.21). But they had no strength to endure it, for when they came to Sinai and God revealed Himself to them, their souls took wing because He spoke with them, as it says, “My soul left me when he spoke” (Songs 5:6).

Zornberg suggests that the people are destabilized by “the shock of God’s voice.”   Their souls have left them.  And in this destabilized condition, it now appears to them that Moses has left them for good.  Moses has learned from God that it will be possible (and necessary) for the Israelites to build a sanctuary, so that God may dwell amongst them.  But the people do not yet know about this.  Their souls have left them, and Moses has left them.  They erect the golden calf.

When Moses descends from Sinai, the the Israelites are dancing around the calf.   Joshua tells Moses that he hears the cry of war (kol milchamah).   However, Moses hears the following:

Not the sound of crying out in triumph,
and not the sound of crying out in defeat.
A sound of crying out I hear. (Ex 32:18, translation Robert Alter)

Moses hears the people simply crying out, neither triumphant nor defeated.  I read this as the people crying out from their souls, crying out for fulfillment, crying out for God’s presence.  This may remind us of Hannah’s prayer where she pours out her bitter soul, her empty and longing soul, before God:  I pour my soul out before YHWH וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ אֶת-נַפְשִׁי, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה. .  (1 Sam 1:15).

Like R. Levi, we can read Song of Songs, but here we read a little further in the verse and find how the singer felt when her soul left her, how she sought but could not find her lover, and begged for help to find him, as the Israelites sought and could not find Moses or God.  In Chapter 5, the singer is called to the door by her beloved, but hesitates, and then

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me [left me] when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.  (Song 5:6) I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? that I am love-sick. (Song 5:8)

As the lover called out, so too the Israelites call out with “the sound of crying out.”  They don’t yet know about building a Mikdash, so they gravitate to the one thing which they know about that might bring God’s presence – the golden calf.   In this reading, they do not have intent to blaspheme, to worship idols, or to turn against their God.  Yet, if they are expressing their longing for God in creating the golden calf, it seems harsh that they must be punished.   Is it for lack of faith?  It still seems harsh, yet very much like a reflection of the real world.

Listen to the Song in conjunction with the punishment of people at Sinai:

And he [Moses] said unto them: ‘Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. (Ex. 32:26-28).

And YHWH smote the people [with a plague], because they made the calf, which Aaron made (Ex. 32:35).

Immediately after the singer of the Song laments over not finding her lover, she says:

The watchmen that go about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. (Song 5:7)

Who are these watchmen?  It is surely dangerous to walk about the city when the very guardians of public safety are liable to beat the walker.  Is the walker in a dream?  Is she beaten because she is dreaming?  Because she is yearning?  Because the search she conducts for her lover does not fit with the societal norms [in this case, of male pursuing female]?  The moment when the singer of the Song is beaten by the watchman, and the moment when the children of Israel are punished by God (and by Moses), are awful/awe-full moments.  Their hearts were full of longing, and then, wham!  There are other, and plentiful, times of joy, of success in finding.  But punishments are troubling and remind us that the world, then and now, is not always a safe place in which to be out and to follow one’s heart.

Here is the text of Song 5:2-8

(2) I was asleep,
But my heart was wakeful.
Hark, my beloved knocks!
“Let me in, my own,
My darling, my faultless dove!
For my head is drenched with dew,
My locks with the damp of night.” (3) I had taken off my robe—
Was I to don it again?
I had bathed my feet—
Was I to soil them again? (4) My beloved took his hand off the latch,
And my heart was stirred for him. (5) I rose to let in my beloved;
My hands dripped myrrh—
My fingers, flowing myrrh—
Upon the handles of the bolt. (6) I opened the door for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned and gone.
I was faint because of what he said.
I sought, but found him not;
I called, but he did not answer. (7) I met the watchmen
Who patrol the town;
They struck me, they bruised me.
The guards of the walls
Stripped me of my mantle. (8) I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem!
If you meet my beloved, tell him this:
that I am faint with love.

About the banner:

On the left you can see the longing inherent in building the tabernacle in the desert. And when they are delayed, the people reach out for alternate worship, the golden calf on the right.
Picture on left: Building the Tabernacle http://www.rjews.net/gazeta/Photo/hram.php3?id=1
Picture on right: Carrying the Golden Calf. Fresco Hall of the Saints Borgia Apartments – Appartamento Borgia, Palazzi Vaticani Rome by PINTURICCHIO 1454 -1513 Vatican Italy Frescoes

“Beyond the Gates of the City”: Locating G-d’s Social Torah (April 22, 2021)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by a fabulous guest teacher, Liam Hooper, author of “Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence”!!  April 22, 2021.

Reading I Kings 17 (especially, vs 2-16) as literature moves us beyond the surface narrative and overt prophecies to reveal the messages below the narrative that are conveyed in the allegory.
Delving into the elements of the story allows us to apprehend some implications of the values and priorities held by the god-character.
In his book, “Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence”, Liam Hooper develops the following conclusions: “For God, no element of creation – be it seasonal wadi, grain for bread, or plot of ground to grow it – is expendable. No member of creation is too small, too weak, too unlikely, or too strange to participate in the good of God’s cosmic household. Moreover, no single person is expendable.”

From here, Liam proposes that there are profound social justice messages in the tale of Elijah, the widow of Zarephath, her son, the ravens, and the wadi.

Join us for a discussion of the implications found in this god-character’s interventions with the outcasts beyond the gates of the city.
Liam’s book is not required reading, but it is highly recommended. For this class, Chapter 8 is of particular interest. You can look for the book on Amazon or through your local independent bookstore.

Image: Elijah Restores the Widow’s child. Third century C.E. Detail of a wall painting from the Dura Europos synagogue (Syria). https://www.bibleodyssey.org/…/e/elijah-dura-europos
Paintings from the synagogue in Dura Europos, a city on the Euphrates River in Syria, represent the earliest continuous narrative cycle of biblical images ever discovered. The synagogue was built between 244 and 245 C.E. and destroyed in 256 C.E. when the Sassanids (Neo-Persians) sacked the city. French–American excavations of the site in the 1920s marked a new beginning in the study of Jewish art. The continuous action of the painting, looking from left to right, shows the widow, dressed in mourning black, giving Elijah her dead son. In the center, Elijah revives the boy, with God’s outstretched hand appearing in the upper right. On the right, the widow appears again in colorful garments, holding her living son.

At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.

——>>>>>> Zoom login can be found in the Ruach HaYam study room
https://www.studywithpenina.com/ruach_hayam
——>>>>>> Only recognized names will be admitted to Zoom meeting. Please be sure to RSVP

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***

Queerly Meeting Elijah the Prophet (March 18 2021)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg March 18 2021

Who is the prophet Elijah? We studied his despair and triumph over the prophets of Baal a couple years ago. Now we will look at some of the other wonderful tales, including his miraculous ascent to heaven and the close resemblance of his life to the life of Moses. We will be preparing to welcome Elijah to our Pesach tables.
“Elijah, whom the Bible portrays as an angry, jealous prophet who fights without mercy and without compromise against the worship of Baal, is transformed in post-biblical Jewish literature into a man of infinite kindness and grace, the benevolent prophet who helps people in need. He appears in Rabbinic academies, reveals hidden mysteries, rescues victims of blood libel, arrives to every Passover seder, is present at every circumcision ceremony, and more.” Shinan, Avigdor, and Yair Zakovitch. From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends.
This introduction to Elijah will also prepare us to welcome Liam Hooper as co-leader on April 22. Liam is the author of a new book: //Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence.// Liam reads Elijah with with an eye toward the ethical responsibilities and obligations we have as humans. For Liam, Elijah’s story, as literature, is a story of the human lot that is packed with ethical teaching.

Image: Prophet Elijah going up to heaven, fresco in the Saint Naum Monastery near Ohrid in Macedonia.

At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.

——>>>>>> Zoom login can be found in the Ruach HaYam study room
https://www.studywithpenina.com/ruach_hayam
——>>>>>> Only recognized names will be admitted to Zoom meeting. Please be sure to RSVP

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***

Building Mishkan vs Temple: Willing Heart vs Corvee Labor Feb 28 2021

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg February 28 2021

We will compare parashat Terumah (the week’s Torah reading) to 1 Kings, where Solomon builds the temple with corvee labor, resulting in the immediate rebellion of the Northern Kingdom when Solomon dies. We will mine the texts for what it means to come to an enterprise (or our lives) with an inclined/willing heart, vs an imposed obligation.
We will note that those who built and decorated the mishkan were all genders – craft persons of all materials, and that the mishkan was fabulous in its decoration. We will compare this to the Temple being constructed by indentured (corvee) labor (all male?) We’ll look at the intention of the builders (Moses and Solomon), and at the resulting buildings and carry forward our study of the heart.

On the left, a drawing from Chabad.org of the desert mishkan – with colorful clothing and draperies and giant billows of mystical smoke signifying the presence of God. On the right, an unattributed painting of Solomon’s temple with a great gold basin, gold pillars, brass or gold bowls, and a tall and very imposing enclosed building, with a thin funnel of smoke down front.

At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.

——>>>>>> Zoom login can be found in the Ruach HaYam study room
https://www.studywithpenina.com/ruach_hayam
——>>>>>> Only recognized names will be admitted to Zoom meeting. Please be sure to RSVP

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***

The Heart of Judah: The Force of Female Formation Jan 21 2021

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg January 21, 2021

This is a study about the heart of Judah. We will look at what may possibly form/transform Judah’s heart, and read an interesting rabbinic commentary that illustrates how Judah’s heart enables him to “draw near” to his estranged brother Joseph “in order to arouse Joseph’s love and spark his compassion.”
I will suggest that Judah’s heart is steeped in the maternal/divine connection with his mother Leah. It is further tempered by Tamar’s lesson about righteousness. Judah first leads his brothers in saving Joseph’s life, then demonstrates great love for his father. In the end his heart reaches out directly to Joseph’s heart “in order to arouse Joseph’s love and spark his compassion.”
Banner: Judah and his brothers negotiating with Joseph. From the 14th century “Sister Haggadah” Spain, Catalonia (Barcelona). 1325-1374 CE. Copyright: British Library [Public domain]

At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.

——>>>>>> Zoom login can be found in the Ruach HaYam study room
https://www.studywithpenina.com/ruach_hayam
——>>>>>> Only recognized names will be admitted to Zoom meeting. Please be sure to RSVP

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***

The Heart of Judah

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From the 14th century “Sister Haggadah” Spain, Catalonia (Barcelona). 1325-1374 CE. Copyright: British Library [Public domain]

This is a story about the heart of Judah.   We will look at what may possibly form/transform Judah’s heart, and read an interesting rabbinic commentary that illustrates how Judah’s heart enables him to “draw near” to his estranged brother Joseph “in order to arouse Joseph’s love and spark his compassion.”

WOMEN WHO FORM JUDAH’S HEART

Judah has two formative women in his life who I would argue contribute strongly to the development of a great heart: his mother Leah and his daughter-in-law Tamar.

LEAH

First: Leah. When Jacob, who would be Judah’s father, sets out to take a wife, he choses Rachel, daughter of Laban. (Note, Rachel did not choose Jacob, but that’s a story for another time.)  He serves Laban 7 years to be able to marry Rachel.   Laban tricks Jacob into taking Leah for a wife before he can marry Rachel.  Rachel is from the beginning the favored wife, and Leah pines for Jacob to love her.   When her first three sons arrive, Leah gives them names which signify that God has seen her affliction (Re’uven/See, a son!), that God has heard that she is hated (Shim’on/ Hearing) and finally that the third son will join her to her husband (Levi/Joining). (Gen 29:32-34).  [Names as translated by Everett Fox].  Taken together, the names show that Leah is unhappily pining away, feeling unloved and alone.

When the fourth son arrives Leah stops giving birth for a time and gives thanks to God.  She calls the child Yehuda/Giving Thanks (Gen 29:35 Fox). None of the names are precisely written according to the meaning invested in them.  However, biblical names are often assigned a meaning in the text suggested by a word with similar letters.  By the explanations of the text, we may see that as she carries and births Judah, Leah is turning her attention away from affliction, hatred, and loneliness, and towards praise for the Divine.  Put another way, she stops thinking of herself in relation to how her husband neglects her and connects herself directly to the Divine. I suggest that Judah is born with this connection to the Divine instead of the negative emotions denoted in the names of the first three sons.  Furthermore, in the unwritten text we may as a result imagine a special bond between mother and son.  This bond based upon thanksgiving gives Judah the possibility of a compassionate heart. We understand already that he may be fated to outshine his older brothers in leadership and in fact be one of the progenitors of King David.   This is not to say that Judah is racking up good deeds as he grows up, but, to his credit, he is the brother chiefly responsible for keeping Joseph alive, sold into slavery instead of slain.

TAMAR

The second strong female who molds Judah’s heart is Tamar, his daughter-in-law.   Tamar is married in sequence to each of Judah’s older sons, Er and Onan, who die leaving her twice-widowed. Judah packs Tamar off to her father’s house with a vague promise to marry her to the third son, Shelah, when he comes of age.  This leaves the widow Tamar chained to Judah’s family, with no chance to find another husband.  At that time, a woman without husband and sons would have been in a precarious situation, as she would not inherit from her father.  Time drags on, Shelah grows up, and Judah does not make the marriage, perhaps because he fears that Tamar caused the death of his sons.  (The text indicates otherwise: that God took both sons for their wickedness).  Finally, after the death of Judah’s wife, Tamar waylays Judah when he is in a festive mood, appearing to him as a veiled woman available for sexual encounter.   Afterward, Tamar takes Judah’s signet, cord and staff as pledge for payment of a kid from his flock.  These articles would have been clearly identifiable as belonging to Judah.  When Tamar becomes pregnant, Judah finds out and is furious with her.  He threatens to burn her. Tamar produces his signet, cord and staff, proving that he is the father (Gen 38:1-25).   At this point, Judah realizes he was wrong to deprive Tamar of her rights and of her societal need to marry Shelah׃

And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She has been more righteous than I; because I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. (Gen 38:26)

Tamar teaches Judah to recognize a person more righteous than himself.  I suggest that this recognition turns Judah himself towards righteousness and enables him to enact love for his father, and to open up Joseph’s heart. Further, that the maternal/divine influence at birth enables Judah to take in the lessons from his daughter-in-law Tamar.

JUDAH AND JOSEPH:  THE HEART IN ACTION

The Joseph saga in our text is long and varied.  There are two key points which work together to show Judah’s heart in action:  Joseph’s withdrawal from his family and Judah’s tender outreach at their meeting.

JOSEPH’S WITHDRAWAL

When Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery, Joseph prospers in Egypt and becomes the Pharaoh’s right hand man, in charge of his stores.  Years go by, yet Joseph never sends word to his family that he is thriving in Egypt, nor does he reach out to them when famine hits.   Why doesn’t he do so? Aviva Zornberg suggests that Joseph’s forgetting is a matter of survival for himself after trauma.  God makes him forget, but also Joseph embraces the forgetfulness.  She expounds on Gen 41:51

  “..when he comes to name his first-born son, he calls him Menasseh – forgetfulness: ‘for God has made me forget completely my suffering and the house of my father’ (Gen 41.51).  Joseph has forgotten his history, himself… For if he is to survive his own unwitnessed death in the pit, he must forget his father’s house, his past, himself.”  Zornberg pg 302.

Joseph becomes unknowable and remains hidden – to himself, to his Egyptian friends and relations, and to his family.  He walks like an Egyptian.  Then the brothers come to visit and start to penetrate the wall of forgetfulness.  All the brothers but one arrive when famine hits in Canaan, Joseph’s homeland.  They leave at home Benjamin, the youngest, Joseph’s full brother, the only other child of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel.  Jacob will not hear of Benjamin leaving home, not with Joseph already lost to him.

When the brothers arrive in Egypt, they do not recognize Joseph.

Gen 42:[7] And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly with them… [8] And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

Joseph knows his brothers but does not reveal himself, in fact he makes himself strange to them.  Zornberg suggest this is self-disguise.

“Beyond the asymmetrical drama of recognition and non-recognition, there is the enigma of ‘He made himself strange unto them.’ This reflexive verb suggests a more-than-tactical move of self-disguise on Joseph’s part.”    Zornberg pg 303

Joseph accuses his brothers of being spies (mirgalim – the word is repeated 7 times with 25 verses).  He demands that they return with their brother Benjamin to prove they are not.  In private, Joseph cries when he hears his brothers talk about their guilt in mistreating him and how it has lead to what they think is a requirement to pay for their transgression by bringing Benjamin (Gen 42:21-24).  The brothers go home, leaving Shimon behind, bound up, but do not immediately return with Benjamin.  Reuben offers to guarantee Benjamin’s safety by pledging that Jacob can slay Reuben’s two sons if Reuben does not return with Benjamin.  It’s a ghastly offer and Jacob does not accept (Gen 42:37-38)

When the famine becomes extreme again, Judah steps up to safeguard Benjamin’s return so that the brothers can revisit Egypt.  Unlike Reuben, Judah simply takes all the surety on his own shoulders.  (Gen 43:8-9).  Surely his heart, which has been expanded by the influences of Leah and Tamar, is feeling love for his father.   Rabbi Yitz Greenberg writes:

“[F]ar from reacting violently to Jacob’s total possessive love for Rachel’s youngest son, Judah will give up his own life in order not to break his father’s heart again.”

Jacob has no choice but to allow Benjamin to go.  When they arrive, Joseph’s heart yearns for Benjamin but he again remains hidden and cries to himself.  Joseph’s long years of hiding himself, of “self-disguise,” have crusted over his heart – made it difficult for him to reveal himself even now:

Gen 43 [29] And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said: ‘Is this your youngest brother of whom ye spoke unto me?’ And he said: ‘God be gracious unto thee, my son.’ [30] And Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned toward his brother; and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

Joseph sends the brothers home with bountiful food supplies, and a silver goblet hidden in Benjamin’s pack, then dispatches his steward to accuse them of theft.  The brothers swear that whomever has the goblet will be Joseph’s bondsman (Gen 44:9).   They find the goblet in Benjamin’s pack and Joseph threatens to keep Benjamin as a servant.   This is a disaster! The brothers fall on the ground in front of Joseph as if to plead for Benjamin.  Judah is their spokesman.  Then a remarkable thing occurs.  Judah draws near to Joseph.

JUDAH DRAWS NEAR – CRACKING JOSEPH’S HEART

Then Judah draws near to him [Joseph].  Vayigash elayiv Yehudah.  [Gen 44:18].

Why, the rabbis ask, did Judah draw near to the apparent stranger, when he was already in front of him?  What can be the meaning hidden behind text that appears to be a repetition of what is already known?  The text has already told us that Judah and his brothers have fallen prostrate on the ground in front of Joseph (Gen 44:14).

Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, (1730-1788) writes:

 “The Or ha-Hayyim [Ḥayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar 1696-1743] asks why the term and Judah approached is necessary [since we know Judah was already standing close to Joseph], appropriately explaining that the drawing near to Joseph took place within Judah’s heart, as in the verse ‘As face answers to face in water, so does one man’s heart to another’ (Prov. 27:19).  With these words Judah sought to inspire Joseph’s compassion, and therefore he approached him in his heart, drawing near to Joseph and truly loving him, in order to arouse Joseph’s love and spark his compassion.  The words of the Or ha-Hayyim are certainly wise and faithful.”  Green, pg 153 from Peri Ha-Arets

The Or ha-Hayyim interprets this verse to mean that Judah, in approaching with his heart the unknown Egyptian, who had “made himself strange,” was able to raise up the sparks of love and compassion from Joseph.  Judah pleads with Joseph to allow Benjamin to go home and to permit Judah to stay as the bondsman.  In response, Joseph opens his heart to all his brothers and reveals his true self.  Aviva Zornberg points to the verse where Judah breaks though Joseph’s crusted heart.

This is “the sentence that accesses Joseph’s pain…[Judah says] ‘For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?  Let me not be witness to the evil that would befall my father.’ (Gen. 44:34).  Zornberg pg 306

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg describes the moment this way:

“Joseph’s blocking wall crumbles. He is flooded with yearning for the father who loved him more than life…. Joseph, moved to the core, reaches out to his father and family. He brings them down to Egypt and nurtures them lovingly through the famine and its aftermath.”

Judah performs the opposite of keeping the stranger at arm’s length. Judah’s compassion for Benjamin, and the loving way in which he approaches Joseph, breaks through Joseph’s Menasseh – his tactical amnesia.    We note that Joseph cried upon seeing his brothers, but prior to Judah drawing near, he did not reveal himself.  Had he wanted to unite with his family, he could have done that years ago.  But Judah drew his heart near to Joseph’s heart and melted the isolation which Joseph had built up around him.

FINAL WORDS

Judah’s heart is steeped in the maternal/divine connection with his mother Leah.  It is further tempered by Tamar’s lesson about righteousness.  Judah first leads his brothers in saving Joseph’s life, then demonstrates great love for his father.  In the end his heart reaches out directly to Joseph’s heart “in order to arouse Joseph’s love and spark his compassion.”

If your neighbor feels like a stranger to you, be like Judah: open your heart and bring the neighbor within arm’s length.  Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, who researches ancient texts in conversation with disability studies, queer theory, feminist thought, and environmental ethics, issues a clarion call:

Let us strive together to break down barriers within ourselves and our communities.  Let us refashion the crusted architecture of our minds that keeps the Holy at bay.” Belser pg 28-29

SOURCES

Belser, Julia Watts.  “God on Wheels: Disability and Jewish Feminist Theology.” Tikkun. 29. 27-29, 2014.

Fox, Everett. The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.

Green, Dr Arthur, Rabbi Ebn Leader, Ariel Evan Mayse, and Rabbi Or N. Rose. Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from around the Maggid’s Table, Vol. 1. 1 edition. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights, 2013. [Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, 1730-1788 quoted Peri Ha-Arets] (pg 153)

Greenberg, Rabbi Yitz  “Can We Save the Unity of the Jewish People? Parashat VaYigash 5781” Accessed 12/27/20: https://www.hadar.org/torah-resource/can-we-save-unity-jewish-people#source-9535

Zornberg, Avivah Gottlieb. The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious. New York: Schocken Books, 2009.

A Candle on the Darkest Days – Hanukkah, Judith, and Rebecca Nov 19, 2020

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinber

Picture is a photo of a small hannukiah lit in the midst of a great cold wind on the cobblestone front porch of an empty house on a Maine beach on the 6th day of Hanukkah in 2019.

No, we’re not at Hanukkah yet, but we are at the Jewish calendar date 3 Kislev, the beginning of the month in which Hanukkah falls, and the darkest month of the year. We are two days after the new moon of Kislev. We can take hope in candles lit against the darkness. We are also at Parashat Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9, wherein Rebecca makes the most existential cry of the entire Torah, and Jacob and Esau fight against the gender roles assigned them at birth, reversing them with the support of the Divine and Rebecca. And we’re at Transgender Day of Remembrance. As Jill Hammer writes below, we are in a time of introspection and outward action. We’ll talk about the texts, about Judith and Rebecca, about gender roles, and about how to bring light into darkness.

Jill Hammer’s book The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons situates each day of the year in its season, quarter, phase, and part of nature. Jill writes this about Kislev, in ancient Israel:

“Once the new moon was announced, bonfires were lit in the hills above Jerusalem. Far-flung communities would see the bonfires and light their own, until all the Jewish communities knew that the new moon had come. As stars help a ship locate itself on the sea, the bonfires helped Jews locate themselves in time, joining them to the root consciousness of their people.
According to Rabbi Judah, the 1st of Kislev is the first day of winter in Israel (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzi’a 106b). We are close now to the darkest days of the year, and the new moon bonfires remind us of the Hanukkah candles growing each night. The flames teach that when the moon is dark, we can expect its face to shine again, and when the sunlight is dimming, soon it will begin to grow again. This is true also for us: The quiet of introspection can and should lead to outward action in the world.”

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***

Caleb: Ruach Acheret – Different Spirit – What is Leadership? (June 18, 2020)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg

June 18, 2020
At 6:45pm meeting will be open for logging in and schmoozing.
Study begins at 7:15.
[Image is Spies of Canaan by Diego Franceso Carlone at St. Martin’s Abbey in Weingarten, Germany. (Photo: Andreas Praefcke/Wikimedia Commons)]
 
Our study session is in the week of Parashat Sh’lach (Numbers 13:1 – 15.41), which tells a story of fear and courage at the border between wilderness and homeland (the story of the spies!), spells out a set of sacred norms about sacrificial offerings, relates the tale of a man who is stoned for gathering sticks on Shabbat, and commands the wearing of the tzitzit. Some of you may remember discussing Sh’lach two years ago. Which is great! We’ll build on that.
 
This time, we are mindful of a country deeply disrupted by systemic racism, blood in the streets, and a pandemic. Earlier this month, I had the good fortune to learn with Julia Watts Belser, who dedicated her text study to “teaching as an act of solidarity with thousands who are protesting, grieving, and risking so much to bring down white supremacy and build a world where Black Lives Matter. ” So this time, in our study of Caleb and the spies, we will try to have a deeper understanding of what leadership might look like, and how change is stymied by so-called “sacred norms.”
 
Joy Ladin puts it this way, referring to the Jewish world, and really universal in perspective:
“Wherever we travel in the Jewish world, we can see the positive effects of efforts to bring human laws, lives, and communities into line with divine standards of justice and loving-kindness. But those who don’t fit communal norms know the downside of this ideal: its tendency to cast an aura of sanctity over flawed and even oppressive social structures and to frame efforts to make communal norms more inclusive as threats to the essence and existence of the community……The emphasis on sacred normativity in Judaism and the Jewish community harms those, like LTBTQ Jews, who don’t fit established norms. It also harms the Torah by obscuring the queerness on which its moral and spiritual vitality depend.”
Ladin, Joy. “Both Wilderness and Promised Land: How Torah Grows When Read Through LTBTQ Eyes.” Tikkun 29, no. 4 (Fall 2014): 17–20.

 

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.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/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***