Category Archives: Classes_taught

Megillat Esther – Modes of Resistance and Ridicule (Feb 20, 2020)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – 6:45pm – 9:30pm.
[Images: Esther in Persian attire proudly sitting on throne, Mordechai in front writing, Ahasuerus behind, by Arthur Szyk, 1950. Queen Vashti refusing to appear before Ahasuerus. 15th century manuscript illumination]
(Scroll to end for logistics)

The book of Esther has it all: heroic women, man of valor, ridicule of authority, harsh treatment of our enemies, eunuchs serving as messengers, advisors, guards, assassins, and soldiers. See Peter Toscano https://petersontoscano.com/eunuch-inclusive-esther-queer-theology-101/  (no longer available here)
But no name of God appears. As we study, we will discover moments of pride, times of laughter, and dismay at violence. And wonder at the purpose of the tale. We will share our collective wisdom on this well-known story as we head into Purim.

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 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***

Exodus: non-binary identity and living (or not) one’s destiny (Jan 16, 2020)

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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)
RSVP

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***

Judith – Warrior, Priestess, Savior, Femme Fatale? (Aug 22, Sept 19, 2019)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – 6:45pm.  Part one: Aug 22.   Part two: Sept 19, 2019.

RSVP

(Scroll to end for logistics)
[Artwork Judith before Holofernes, Hamburg Miscellany, Meinz (?), ca. 1428–1434. Hamburg, Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 37, fol. 80v, detail (© Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek, Hamburg).

Everyone has heard of Judith. Isn’t she the woman who separated Holofernes from his head? And something or other about Hanukkah? Join us at Ruach HaYam *** (a queer Havurah based in Cambridge, MA) for a two session study of the book of Judith. Each class will be different – come to one or both as your time permits.

First encountered in a scroll that did not enter the Hebrew Bible, but became very important in Christianity, Judith does not become a Jewish heroine, or appear in rabbinic sources, until the middle ages, 1,000 years later, when Megillat Yehudit (the “Scroll of Judith”) and other midrashim in Hebrew surface. The midrashim draw fascinating parallels between Judith and Deborah, Jael, Esther, Ruth, David and many others. And of course tie Judith into Hanukkah.

Judith is a woman who has been called warrior, priestess, feminist icon, slave of the patriarchy, icon of piety and celibacy, seductress, femme fatale, independent, wise, androgynous. Indeed Judith may be the woman of the bible/Jewish tradition who has had the most contradictory reception. Judith is a fascinating study in herself, as well as a good lesson on how we read our own values into the text.

We will look at the deutero-canonical Book of Judith authored in antiquity in Greek, as well as Megillat Yehudit written in Hebrew sometime before 1402 CE. There are many online sources for self study.

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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Navigating the Harsh Passages of Torah (July 18, 2019)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – July 18, 2019. 6:45pm.

RSVP

(Scroll to end for logistics)
[Banner John Martin, The Deluge, 1834. At Yale Center for British Art.]

In this class with Ruach HaYam *** (a queer Havurah based in Cambridge, MA) we will wrestle with finding meaning in some of the harsh passages of Torah. All of us know of such passages, which shock and discomfort us in their violence and inhumanity. As queer readers of the Hebrew Bible, how do we understand them? And in struggling to understand, can we illuminate the harsh passages of our own lives? Our reference points will be the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Victor Reinstein (at Nehar Shalom in Jamaica Plain), and Judith Plaskow. As we read them, we will consider how we react to their teachings.

Rabbi Reinstein writes: “On the surface of Torah there is often violence and strife, as in life. Sometimes on the surface itself, shimmering as a crystal fount, and sometimes beneath the surface, there is a river of peace that runs through Torah into whose flow we enter by engaging and wrestling with what Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel calls the “‘harsh passages.'”

Rabbi Heschel writes “In analyzing this extremely difficult problem, we must first of all keep in mind that the standards by which those passages are criticized are impressed upon us by the Bible, which is the main factor in ennobling our conscience and in endowing us with the sensitivity that rebels against all cruelty.
We must, furthermore, realize that the harsh passages in the Bible are only contained in describing actions which were taken at particular moments and stand in sharp contrast with the compassion, justice and wisdom of the laws that were legislated for all times.” [God in Search of Man : A Philosophy of Judaism]

Judith Plascow writes: “[I]f in theory, it is entirely fitting to read about sexuality on Yom Kippur, the actual content of Leviticus 18 is deeply disturbing… [C]hanting it as sacred text colludes in promoting its values. In this situation, the question becomes not so much whether to read or not to read, but how to read, interpret, and appropriate the text in ways that are transformative.” [Beginning Anew: A Woman’s Companion to the High Holy Days]

For a personal commentary, read my post

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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Trans Experience in Hebrew Bible – from Joy Ladin’s Book (May 23, 2019)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – May 23, 2019. 6:45pm. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Join us at Ruach HaYam, an independent queer havurah, for a discussion about Joy Ladin’s book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective. In her book, Joy writes that “The covenant with Abraham is founded on Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob’s embrace of trans experience: their willingness to live outside the gender roles they were born to and become the kinds of people they were not supposed to be. By portraying trans experience as the foundation for covenant with Abraham, the Torah plants God’s recognition that people do not have to be what binary gender says we are at the heart of the Abrahamic religious tradition.”

This is not a presentation by the author, but will be a conversation led by Penina Weinberg, who has attended many of Joy’s readings. We will read mostly from Chapter 2 of Joy’s book, and look at the Torah texts to which she refers. How might Joy’s theology help to heal the divide between religious and LGBTQ communities? How does her definition of “trans experience” apply to ourselves? If you have an opportunity to obtain The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective before our meeting, please do so, but it’s not required.

Banner image: Baruch Nachson (contemporary Israeli artist), Avraham Welcoming the Three Angels (acrylic on canvas). Abraham and Sarah preparing food for the angels, accompanied by barn animals and rider on horseback.

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.   You will find a note here if you wish to print one out.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Samson and Delilah – the REAL Story (February 21, 2019)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – February 21, 2019. 6:45pm. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Join us at Ruach HaYam, an independent queer havurah, for a close study of the saga of Samson and Delilah, including Samson’s “miraculous” birth, the riddle of the lion and much more (Judges 13-16), led by Penina Weinberg with a special presentation by Mimi Yasgur on using theater to understand the text. As with the Song of Deborah, we will study stereotypical gender roles, non-normative gender roles, and how power is wielded. Also we’ll note the drama and comedy inherent in this tale.

Banner image: The angel departing from Manoah and his wife; the couple kneeling before a sacrificial pyre with a burning goat and the angel rising over the flames; after Maarten de Vos. Engraving with contemporary coloring. At British Museum.

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.

Mimi Yasgur is an expressive arts therapist and mental health counselor who enjoys integrating her passions for art, creativity, Judaism, and spirituality to create vibrant community.

** 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.   You will find a note here if you wish to print one out.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Song of Deborah: Motherhood, Manhood, and War (January 17, 2019)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching presented by Penina Weinberg at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – January 17, 2019. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Join us at Ruach HaYam, an independent queer havurah, for a close reading of the Song of Deborah (Judges 4-5). We will study stereotypical gender roles, non-normative gender roles, and how power is wielded. We also consider the nature of war. The Song of Deborah is as old as the very ancient Song of the Sea (Ex 15:1-19) and Song of Miriam (Ex. 15:20-21), with which it is paired as haftarah.

The text presents an extraordinary trio of women who run the gamut from magnificent to tragic to disturbing, set against the backdrop of war. It includes one of the most poignant stories in the Hebrew Bible – the little known saga of Sisera’s mother.

Be prepared for a provocative (and queer) look at motherhood, manhood, and war.

You may wish to visit Laurence Olivier’s recital of the story, with illustrations. Quite amazing.

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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Job: Divine and Human Response to Suffering (December 20, 2018)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – December 20, 2018. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Banner: Color illumination from Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, c.776 – 825 Septuagint of Job with commentaries (Vat. Gr. 749, f. 25r): Satan, Job and his wife. Job in the center, struck with boils and threatened by a three headed monster. On the right, Job’s wife mourns.

In our previous study session on Korah, we questioned how one might understand a divine being who can threaten to annihilate an entire community. We discussed what Abraham Joshua Heshel teaches about “harsh passages” in the Bible. This led us to want to learn about Divine response to tragedy. What is the interplay between tragic human events and divine intervention? The book of Job deals at length with questions of evil and suffering. We would need years to plumb its meaning. For this class we will look at a few verses from Job, consider what it means to be labeled responsible for one’s own suffering, and look in the text for divine and human response to suffering.

“Where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?” [Job 28:12].
Listen here to Dolorean who has set this beautifully to music

Robert Alter’s translation in “The Wisdom Books” is highly recommended.

Here is a tiny video I made of images and music for Job

Ruach HaYam Study of Job on Biteable.

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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Korah: Rebel With (out?) a Cause (September 27, 2018)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – September 27, 2018. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Banner: “The Punishment of Korah and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron” by Sandro Botticelli, 1481-82. Fresco in Sistine Chapel. (Wikimedia Commons)

Penina Weinberg leads this study of Parashat Korah, Numbers 16.1-18.32. (note, we usually meet on 3rd Thursdays; this is 4th due to Yom Kippur)
Korah dares to question the authority of Moses, whom Korah claims is raising himself above the congregation of YHWH. Does Korah have a point, or is he a rebel with a wish for personal power? Korah says that everyone in the community is holy. Sounds right, yet the text tells us that “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with all their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation.” (Num 16: 32-33)
Who can be a prophet? Who is holy? When do we question authority? How do we understand a divine being who can threaten to annihilate the entire community? What do we do with what Abraham Joshua Heschel calls “harsh passages”?

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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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

Caleb: Ruach Acheret (“Different Spirit”) and Sacred Norms (July 19, 2018)

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Ruach HaYam Teaching at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – July 19, 2018. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Banner: The Spies Return from Canaan Carrying a Large Bunch of Grapes (miniature on vellum by a follower of Simon Bening from a 1500–1525 Southern Netherlands Book of Hours).  Two men in conical caps with a gigantic bunch of grapes suspended from a pole that they carry between them.

This study, led by Penina Weinberg, is about having a different spirit and struggling with(in) the strictures of sacred norms. We will read and study Parashat Sh’lach (Numbers 13.1 – 15:41) .
As the children of Israel are poised to enter the promised land, Moses sends out 12 men to investigate. 10 spies come back with an evil report of the land, about giants to be found there, and about a land that eats its inhabitants. One of them, Caleb, is the first to see what a disaster this report is. His stance is diametrically opposed to that of his fellow spies, and it appears that he undertakes, one person, to stand against the entire community, who are quaking in fear. Furthermore, Caleb makes a mighty attempt to quiet the people towards Moses, pleading with them to understand that they can well possess the land.
God commends Caleb for having “ruach acheret,” a “different spirit.” While God sets a plague on all the 10 spies, and prevents the entire adult generation from entering the land of Canaan, God allows Caleb to enter, along with Moses’ heir apparent, Joshua.
What is this “different spirit?” In what way is Caleb’s leadership at odds with standard norms (and different from Joshua’s)? What are the implications for queer Jews who don’t fit established norms? Does God possess ruach acheret and in fact model ultimate queerness?

We will keep in mind the teaching of Joy Ladin, which we read at an earlier class:
“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.

** 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.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

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