Category Archives: Ruach HaYam

A True Leader – Moses and the Five Women who Birthed Him (Jan 19, 2017)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
January 19, 2017.  See end of post for logistics.

This study is led by Penina Weinberg.

Join us for a queer look at Moses and the five powerful women of Exodus 1-2 who birthed/midwifed/nurtured the great leader of the Hebrew people. Despite contrary decrees by the powerful Pharaoh of Egypt, the women used their wits to gain power when they lacked authority. They launched Moses as a prophet and leader, and Miriam became a prophet herself. At the end of the book of Exodus, we will see that their efforts led to another quintuplet of women who changed their world: the daughters of Zelophehad – Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

As we sit upon the eve of destruction, what can we learn about faith, resistance, persistance, and feminine and non-elite power, by a deep reading of this story?

This class will not discuss current events, but the universal questions which arise in the study will resonate and perhaps be useful. My approach to Torah is not, how can we make this verse or that speak to a current event? Rather, we collectively unpack and seek to understand and own the texts; we bring the text to our selves, and our selves to the texts. Thereby each of us can increase our knowledge of human and divine nature, and with deeper understanding, strengthen our selves for our various forms of life work.

  • Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, but are open to any learning or faith background and friendly to beginners.
  • Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However 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’s 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.

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, founded the group Ruach HaYam and is president emerita and chair of various committees in her synagogue. Penina is a mother and grandmother.

Genesis: Creation, Destruction, and Re-Birth (Dec 15, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
December 15, 2016.  See end of post for logistics.

This study is led by Penina Weinberg.

Inherent in the watery story of creation is the deluge – the flood which God will bring to wipe out God’s act of creation. In the first six chapters of the Hebrew Bible, humanity is birthed, drowned and rescued. From “God’s spirit glided over the face of the waters, and God said ‘Let there be light.’” (Gen 1:2-3) to “YHVH regretted having made human beings on earth and was heartsick. So YHVH thought: ‘I will wipe the humans whom I have created from off the face of the earth.’” (Gen 6:6-7) And then – there is Noach: “A righteous man in his generation,” (Gen 6:9) who carries the small family and ark full of animals to dry land and a new future.

We will study Genesis 1-6, six chapters in which the entire Torah is written. We will seek guidance from Aviva Zornberg and the Sefat Emet to understand why God creates this doomed creature. As Zornberg discusses (citing Rashi), creating humans means that wicked beings will emerge, but if humans are not created, how will the righteous (tsaddikim) arise? Along the way, we will consider the gender identity of the human (s) created in the image of the divine.

This class will not discuss current events, but the universal questions which arise in the study will resonate and perhaps be useful. My approach to Torah is not, how can we make this verse or that speak to a current event? Rather, we collectively unpack and seek to understand and own the texts; we bring the text to our selves, and our selves to the texts. Thereby each of us can increase our knowledge of human and divine nature, and with deeper understanding, strengthen our selves for our various forms of life work.

  • Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, but are open to any learning or faith background and friendly to beginners.
  • Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However 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’s 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.

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, founded the group Ruach HaYam and is president emerita and chair of various committees in her synagogue. Penina is a mother and grandmother.

Ruach HaYam Shabbat Retreat November 12, 2016

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Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, and with the co-sponsorship of Congregation Eitz Chayim and Keshet, invites you to our fourth annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ Jews and friends and family.

November 12, 2016, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Eitz Chayim is 15 minutes walk from Central Square.  There will be a parking consideration in effect so that you may park within a couple blocks of the synagogue.   Eitz Chayim has a ramp entry and accessible and all gender bathrooms.

The theme for this year is Go to Yourself (Parashat Lech Lecha)

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,and delicious kosher food!

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
REGISTER  HERE

Ruach HaYam Ruach HaYam welcomes queer Jews, friends, allies, family, and interfaith connections to our events. We organize short and all day Shabbat events, as well as queer Jewish text studies in the Boston area through out the year.  We worship without a mechitza, with acoustic music only, and with our own siddur. Services are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous. Full day Shabbat retreats include scholarly and experiential workshops and plenty of time to schmooze.

Please join our EVENT on facebook and/or become a member of Ruach HaYam Facebook GROUP to stay in touch throughout the year.

 

Schedule for Retreat
(see below for faculty and leader biographies)

Services
9:30 am to Noon – .  Siddur for Shabbat morning prepared by Marvin Kabakoff from Congregation Am Tikva and Penina Weinberg.
Lunch
Noon to 1:30 pm
Workshops
1:45 to 3:00 – Ezra Rose Greenfield. Packing for Canaan: Personal Kemiot.  If Lech L’cha calls us to begin on a journey towards ourselves, what do we carry with us to guide us and keep us safe? Throughout Jewish history, a strong thread of magic and mystical tradition has been interwoven with people’s daily lives. Kemiot, or amulets, have been used by Jews all over the world to remind us of our connections to the divine. In this workshop, we will assemble personal travel kemiot to set our intentions for the journeys ahead. All materials will be provided – bring an open mind and thoughts for discussion!
3:15 to 3:45 – Time for a 7th inning stretch!  Walk or exercise!
4:00 to 5:15 – David Waters  Oh, the Places We Will Go: Leaving Home, Finding Self.  What does it mean to go unto oneself? What does it mean to literally leave our homes of origin in search of another where we might find our selves waiting? What of the continual leaving of one home for the next, both literally and metaphorically? Will we recognize our selves when we arrive? In what ways are these journeys, sometimes painful, also fruitful and life-giving? In this workshop we’ll begin with a personal narrative of Lech L’cha and explore the resonances of the biblical story with a search for faith, selfhood, and new homes.
Closing
5:30 – Havdalah – Tamar Allen
Following Havdalah – Meal/Melave Malka
Retreat Director
Penina WeinbergIMG_4002 is an independent biblical scholar who is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA. and the founder of Ruach HaYam.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her fourth year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.
Partner Organization
Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976,Am Tikva Black2 has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays.
Faculty and Leaders
Tamar Allen has facilitated Jewish communal events tamar-allenand retreats for over six years through The Open Tent, an independent pluralistic grass-roots chavurah in central Arizona. She is currently living in Chicago, where she is enrolled in the full-time program at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, a queer-centric space dedicated to making Talmud accessible to a wide spectrum of learners. Tamar aspires to continue her work as a Jewish community-builder, teacher, and leader of song and prayer by becoming a rabbi.
Ezra Rose Greenfield is an artist and educatorezra-rose-greenfield (BFA ’09 RISD, M.Ed. ’12 Lesley University) living in the Boston area and teaching with community-based youth advocacy organizations. Her work explores themes of memory, mythology, personal symbolism and storytelling. Raised in Reform congregations in the midwest, Ezra is redefining and reconnecting to Judaism as an adult with a focus on integrating queer and trans identity with Jewish magic, mysticism and spirituality. This is her first workshop with Ruach HaYam.
Marvin Kabakoff graduated from BrandeisMarvin Kabakoff and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis.  He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration at their regional facility in Waltham, and is an adjunct in the Simmons Library School.  Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.
David Waters is david-watersHarvard Divinity School’s Swartz Scholar in Religion, Literature, and Culture. In addition to pursuing scholarship and teaching as ministry, he is also exploring reading and writing as spiritual practice in the Master of Divinity program. A cradle Catholic, David is a devoted member of Ruach HaYam and is grateful that his community of faith includes not only St. Cecilia in Boston, but Eitz Chayim in Cambridge.

Elijah the Prophet: Zealotry, Despair, and Hearing kol d’mama daka (Sept 15, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
September 15, 2016.  Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, but are open to any learning or faith background and friendly to beginners.

Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However 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.

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

This study is led by Penina Weinberg.

We will do a close reading of 1 Kgs 19, Prophet Elijah’s flight to the desert, where he prepares himself to die. In what way are Elijah’s fear of Jezebel, his zealotry for God, and his despair, linked to each other? When God attempts to teach Elijah that the divine is to be found in kol d’mama daka, but not in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, does Elijah get the message? Note: biblical scholar Athalya Brenner writes that translations for kol d’mama daka, “as various as the RSV’s ‘still small voice’, ‘roaring thunderous voice’, ‘the sound of utmost silence’ and ‘a thin petrifying sound’ are all equally plausible.” We will be assisted in the study of despair by Elizabeth Sweeny who will present some of her work on Elijah and depression. Thank you, Elizabeth!!! 1 K 18:46 – 19:21 is the haftarah for Num 25:10 – 30:1, (parashat Pinchas). We will compare Elijah’s zealotry to the of Pinchas. How does zealotry manifest? In what ways does the text approve and disapprove?

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, founded the group Ruach HaYam and is president emerita and chair of various committees in her synagogue. Penina is a mother and grandmother.

The Hannah Narrative: Listening to (my, your, their) Inner Voice (August 18, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
August 18, 2016.  Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, but are open to any learning or faith background and friendly to beginners.

Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However 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.

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

This study is led by Penina Weinberg.

The Hannah Narrative, 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10, is recited as the Haftarah every year at Rosh Hashanah. R Nahman of Breslev teaches that “During the Days of Awe it is a good thing when you can weep profusely like a child. Throw aside all your sophistication. Just cry before God; cry for the diseases of the heart, for the pains and sores you feel in your soul. Cry like a child before his father.” (From R Noson’s work, “Liketey Eitzot”). The Talmud presents Hannah as an example to all of how to pray. “R. Hamnuna said: How many most important laws can be learnt from these verses relating to Hannah! Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart: from this we learn that one who prays must direct his heart. Only her lips moved: from this we learn that he who prays must frame the words distinctly with his lips.” (B. Berachot 31a-b)

Through many years of reciting the Hannah Narrative at the High Holy Days, I have generally understood the Hannah Narrative to be an example of how one needs to dig into one’s soul and shout out one’s inner longings. In this class, I want to ask the question, what is our responsibility to really listen? Is there a problem in expecting the Other to dig into their soul and to reach out to Us? In the Hannah Narrative, only Penina really listens from her own empathetic soul.

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, founded the group Ruach HaYam and is president emerita and chair of various committees in her synagogue. Penina is a mother and grandmother.

Majesty Thrown to the Dogs: Queen Jezebel and the Assault on Transgender Womanhood (July 7, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
May 26, 2016.  Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However we open the doors at 6:45 for schmoozing. Feel free to bring your own veggie snack for the early part.

Ruach HaYam study sessions are open to any learning background and friendly to beginners. For those arriving by car, parking is allowed within 2 blocks on event nights.
We are proud to have the co-sponsorship of Keshet for this event!

This study will be co-led by Mischa Haider and Penina Weinberg. They have recently begun collaborating on articles drawing wisdom from ancient Hebrew texts and applying it to understanding and undermining the assault on transgender womanhood today. In this study, we will look closely at the story of Queen Jezebel in 1 and 2 Kings. As a Phoenician princess, she was educated in religion and governance, and well able to sustain 400 prophets and run the kingdom. Yet she was out of place in the Israelite kingdom, scorned for her prowess, feared, and ultimately thrown to the dogs. In seeking to understand the forces which drove the King of Israel to destroy her, we seek to understand two things about the modern assault on transgender womanhood. What are the forces that drive this assault, and how can we honor and foreground the majestic souls of our modern day Queen Jezebels?

Mischa Haider is a transgender activist and mother. She is an applied physicist at Harvard University who studies applications of mathematical and physical models to social networks. She has written in the Advocate and Tikkun, and her research has been published in Applied Physics Letters. She also has a blog on the Huffington Post and is on the Board of Trustees of Lambda Literary.

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, founded the group Ruach HaYam and is president emerita and chair of various committees in her synagogue. Penina is a mother and grandmother.

Read Mischa and Penina’s article here: http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2016/05/13/unrighteous-anger-queen-vashti-and-the-erasure-of-transgender-women/

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

R Yochanan: The Impact of Identity on Torah Learning (May 26, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
May 26, 2016.  Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. However we open the doors at 6:45 for schmoozing. Feel free to bring your own veggie snack for the early part.

We have a treat coming up! Our friend and wonderful teacher, Jonah P will be facilitating our next study. We will learn about Rabbi Yochanan, a recurring character in the Talmud, who is renowned not only for his Torah, but also for his great beauty and his deep love for his hevruta. He’s also famous for being the central character in one of the Talmud’s most homoerotic tales. In this session, we’ll examine this and a few other tales in which Rabbi Yochanan stars, get acquainted with this fascinating figure, and explore how his identity impacts his Torah learning.

This will be a text learning session which is open to any learning background and friendly to beginners (English translations provided for everything).

About the facilitator: Jonah P. has been reveling in the intersection of queer/trans and Judaism since becoming active in the Boston Jewish community in 2011. He recently completed a year of learning at Yeshivat Hadar.

Picture credit: http://www.kolhamevaser.com/2014/11/reflections-on-havruta-learning/

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

Vashti and Esther in Images

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Purim is a time when we remember to think about Esther and perhaps learn to think about Vashti.   I present here a small picture gallery.  Images have the power to convey ideas very quickly.

I hope you will enjoy this visual tour and that this will stimulate thoughts about Esther, Vashti, gender politics, the meaning of Purim, and your own identity.

The first image is by Gustav Dore and can be found in digital format in the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University.  Notice Vashti’s power, independence and command.  She is recognizably a woman, but on her own terms.

Queen Vashti Refuses to Obey the Command of Ahasvuerus

Queen Vashti Refuses to Obey the Command of Ahasvuerus

Now we have Dore’s Esther, version one.  Here we see Esther in similar command, accusing Haman before the King Ahasvuerus.  Notice how Esther dominates both King and subject.  Like Vashti she is a woman on her own terms.

Esther Accusing Haman

Esther Accusing Haman

Dore has another view of Esther.   I believe in this case he is illustrating a verse from the Greek version.   Note how Esther has lost her power and how King Ahasvuerus dominates.  In her aspect as woman she is now subject of male gaze, vulnerable, not in command.

Esther Faints

Esther Faints

And finally, one more modern illustration from Athalya Brenner’s book, A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna.   The illustration is by Leonard Baskin and is discussed on the page.  This version of command is strikingly different in quality.  Brenner calls it “pillar-like.”   It seems to lose characteristics of gender altogether.  Even more so, seems to lose characteristics of being human.

 

 

 

 

Batsheva – In her own Voice (April 28, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
Join us for an interactive study of Batsheva, in her own Voice. Study will be led by Penina Weinberg. 6:45 pm for schmooze. Bring veggie snacks if you wish.
Study will begin promptly at 7:15pm.
Congregation Eitz Chayim 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA
April 28, 2016
Batsheva’s story begins with a bath on a roof-top, where her life is overpowered by King David’s (2 Samuel 11-12).  But at the end of King David’s life, Batsheva, as Queen Mother, holds the keys to the kingly succession and sits at the right hand of Solomon (1 Kings 1-2).  We will do a close reading of the biblical text, looking for Batsheva’s own voice, and for a trajectory of transition.
After a close reading of the biblical text, we will read Joy Ladin’s poem “Batsheva’s Version.”  The poem was written prior to Joy’s transition to living her life as a woman.  In her notes on the poem, Joy writes “I wrote ‘Batsheva’s Version’ as a tentative but conscious step towards gender transition…. Batsheva, trapped, angry, obsessively focused on the man whose life has swallowed hers, and passive-aggressively delighting in his destruction, is a kind of self-portrait.”   Using this poem, as well as the biblical text, we will discuss what it means to be trapped and what it might take to transition.  This is a universal question.

Pre-Purim Shabbat Morning and Potluck Lunch March 19, 2016

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Join Ruach HaYam on March 19, 2016, for a queer Saturday morning Shabbat service followed by potluck lunch and learn on Esther. Arrive at 9:30am to schmooze and help set up. Service will begin at 10am.

We will hold services at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA.   Please RSVP here and let us know if you would like to read from the Torah, give a dvar on Parashat Vayikra, or bring in your own comments on Esther to study over lunch,

For the potluck please bring veggie/dairy food. We will not be heating food. Pre-packaged food should be hechshered.

Although Ruach HaYam speaks with a queer Jewish voice, we welcome persons of all gender and faith identities. We worship without a mechitza, and with acoustic music only. We have our own siddur. Our services and study sessions are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous.

Please share event widely!