In today’s episode, we answer a listener question from Tumblr asking for book recommendations for their mom to read. While we share some really good books that we think are going to help anyone who wants to learn more about queerness, we also want you to check first if that’s something your parent wants.

We then queer the text from Judges which celebrates people who defy gender norms. We read about Deborah who was the leader of Israel at that time. Why is that important to note? Remember that women were considered inferior and were not to hold any high positions, but in this text, the leader was Deborah — a woman.

Key takeaways:

Books mentioned in this episode:

Links and group mentioned:

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After Ehud had died, the Israelites again did things that the Lord saw as evil. So the Lord gave them over to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he was stationed in Harosheth-ha-goiim. The Israelites cried out to the Lord because Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was a leader of Israel at that time. She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraim highlands, and the Israelites would come to her to settle disputes. She sent word to Barak, Abinoam’s son, from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, Israel’s God, issued you a command? ‘Go and assemble at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand men from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. I’ll lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to assemble with his chariots and troops against you at the Kishon River, and then I’ll help you overpower him.’”

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