Category Archives: Moses

Parashat Yitro and Disability Torah

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Banner is “Revelation at Mt. Sinai,” Moravian Haggadah, 1737, engraving, facsimile courtesy of Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago. Found here

In this commentary, I approach Parashat Yitro, Exodus 18:1-20:23, through the lens of disability torah. To define disability torah I refer to a conversation between Dr. Judith Plascow and Rabbi Julia Watts Belser.  Dr. Plascow has been writing and speaking about Jewish feminism since the early 1970s and is the author of several works on feminist theology.  Rabbi Belser is a rabbi, scholar and spiritual teacher working at the intersections of disability studies and queer feminist Jewish ethics and environmental justice. Continue reading →

Strange Fire and Flaming Queers: Topics in Leviticus (Apr 3, 2022)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg
April 3, 2022

The story of the of the death of Aaron’s sons Avinu and Nadav in a blast of all consuming fire is both strange and compelling. Did they die because of sin? accident? too much love? hubris? We’ll do a close reading of Leviticus 9 and 10, and also consider a commentary by Reuven Ben Amitai on https://eishzarah.wordpress.com/why-eish-zarah/ What is the relevance of strange fire for queer folks? What is the relationship to the eternal flame referenced earlier in our Torah? Here we will consult also the commentary on parsha Tzav by Noach Dzmura in Torah Queeries. “HaNer Tamid, dos Pintele Yid v’ha Zohar Muzar: The Eternal Flame, the Jewish Spark and the Flaming Queer”
Be prepared to think about preserving and stoking our own internal and external eternal flames. In this light, you may wish to read my dvar torah from March 26, 2022
Banner: Nadab and Abihu offer unholy fire and die (coloured woodcut) – German School, (15th century) in Paris, Mus.des Arts Decoratifs

Zoom room opens 7:00 pm EDT. Study runs 7:15 pm to 8:45 pm EDT.
——>>>>>> Zoom login linked 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 IN ADVANCE.   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***

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

The Book of Daniel: Reading the Writing on the Wall and other Queer Things (Feb 27, 2022)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg
February 27, 2022

The book of Daniel contains such famous lines as “the writing on the wall,” and “into the lion’s den” but over all is probably not well known. We’ll take an excursion through the tales of Daniel, Belshazzar’s feast, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, and the apocalyptic world view. We’ll find hints of Joseph as dream reader and of Esther and the outsized and comical Ahasuerus.
Reading the book of Daniel in advance https://www.sefaria.org/Daniel could be helpful to those unacquainted, but is by *no* means required.
Look here https://tinyurl.com/RuHay-Daniel for a slide show of images and more to come.
Banner is from a medieval manuscript of Silos Apocalypse. Author: Beatus of Liebana. Illustrator: Petrus. Production: Spain (Silos), 1109©The British Library, All rights reserved. ADD. MS 11695, Folio 239.
http://www.ahorie.net/On_Daniel.htm

At 7 pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. Study begins at 7:15 ET. We will go until 8:45 pm.
——>>>>>> 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***

Queers look at parashat Yitro (Jan 23, 2022)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg
January 23, 2022

This is the week (or the Sunday after) of the Torah portion Yitro, Exodus 18:1-20:23. We will explore one or more of the fabulous topics in this section of the Torah.
—> Why did Zipporah disappear and reappear?
—> Burnout/Self Care [Yitro and Moses]
—> God as Eagle [gender considerations of the Eternal]
—> According to the story of the Revelation at Sinai/ Synesthesia, we access revelation in different ways, but they are all equally valid ways of access [Disability Justice issues – R Lauren Tuchman might be our supplementary reading]
—> The Decalogue (“10 commandments”)
Closer to the date, there will be some study materials here: https://tinyurl.com/RuHayYitro
If you have read this far, mazel tov. Here is an added treat. Feel free to zoom into Temple Beth Israel Waltham on Saturday January 22, to see how Rabbi David Finklelestein will approach this topic as part of our Hashmiini series https://tbiwaltham.org/local-rabbi-brings-marginalized…/ Alas we will not likely be davenning in person

Banner is “Revelation at Mt. Sinai,” Moravian Haggadah, 1737, engraving, facsimile courtesy of Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago. Found on https://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/seeing-the-sounds…/

At 7 pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. Study begins at 7:15 ET. We will go until 8:45 pm.
——>>>>>> 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***

Moses Views the Promised Land in the Middle of the Creation of the World (Oct 17, 2021)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg
October 17, 2021

At the end of the Jewish liturgical year, in the fall, after Yom Kippur, on Simchat Torah, Jews read Parashah V’Zot HaBerachah, which is the very end of Deuteronomy, the last book of the 5 books which make up the Torah, and which are read portion by portion though the cycle of one year. On the very same evening, Jews read the beginning of the Torah, Genesis 1:1–2:3. What does it mean to envision the end of the life of Moses as deeply connected to and leading to the Creation of the World? We will read the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis and see how death and birth are connected; how ends become beginnings.
We will also read some 1st millennium Aramaic poetry about the death of Moses, including Jochebed mourning the death of her son and Moses talking to Adam. Time permitting, we may look at how Isis and Jochebed are similar and different in searching for their loved ones. Look for all these things to be showing up here if you’d like to read in advance. https://tinyurl.com/RuHay-Moses—Creation

 

Middle of banner is a 1912 painting “Moses Beholds the Promised Land” by Christian Rohlfs. We see a very strong character with dark skin and draped in red who stands face to face with the promised land.The artist combines a realistic portrayal with powerful colours and an expressive, almost brash technique.
Sides of banner are two ends of the six days of creation, as depicted in a 17th century Armenian Bible, preserved in the Armenian Patriarchate, Jerusalem. The first panel, upper left, shows God commencing to create the universe from chaos. In the second panel, middle left, the orb apparently represents God’s command “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), actually a part of the first day’s work; while the arch in the background seems to be the “firmament in the midst of the waters” (Genesis 1:6). The creation of the Earth and its vegetation appears in the bottom left panel. On the fourth day, upper right panel, God made the stars, shown in the blue band as some of the zodiacal constellations, as well as the sun and the moon, seen in the panel’s upper corners. The fifth panel, middle right, vividly realizes God’s creation of the creatures in the sea and of the birds who “fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens” (Genesis 1:20). Finally, God made the creatures of the earth, including mankind, on the sixth day, lower right. Among the animals shown in the sixth panel is the mythical unicorn, which has a single, long horn jutting from its forehead.

At 6:45 pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. Study begins at 7:00 ET. We will go until 8:30 pm.
——>>>>>> 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***