Kosher Queers

In this week's parsha, literally so much happens. We've got that good intermarriage content. We've got that great disability justice content. We've got that questionably good throwback to Hanukkah content. We also have miracles and dark blood death magic and MULTIPLE women with names and agency and also a lovely line to include in your Jewish name change ceremonies.

Our full transcript can be found here.

At around 16:50, Lulav cites the etymology entry for "Hebrew." At around 32:20, the text that Jaz recommends including in your name change ceremonies is in Sh'mot 3:15.

Content note: this episode discusses Biblical slavery frequently and at length. It also contains mentions of genocide and infanticide.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. This week, our audio was edited by Lulav Arnow. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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In this week's episode, children are "not mad, just disappointed" at their parents. We get a cool death poem, magic some son into grandsons, spoil another youngest child, and then decide, once and for all, the proper way to mourn (spoilers: however works best for you, with established ritual there as a fallback support structure if you need one). Also, Jaz sort of ended up in Christmas anthology?

Full transcript available here.

The scene from the Tamora Pierce book about a deathbed prophecy can be found in Trickster's Choice. Jaz also recommended I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver, and mentioned the organization Bend the Arc, which is doing progressive Jewish organizing.

Content notes: reference to a genocide at 15 minutes, discussions of death and dying from minute 32 to minute 36, including a death in the text and mourning riturals and a modern-day massacre, and further discussion of death from around minute 46 to around minute 48.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. This week, our audio was edited by Ezra Faust. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

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This week, Jaz & Lulav avoid talking about the state of the world as we enter this bright new decade, and instead enthuse about cool Jewish and/or queer media. Also, we learn about gender discrimination from donkeys, struggle to do very basic math, and get very indignant about Biblical economic policies.

This episode's transcript is available here. 

In our end of year recommendations, we suggested A Rainbow Thread by Noam Sienna, It's a Whole Spiel, edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman, the music of Anat Hochberg, Hi I'm Case, and King Princess, and the Thai movie "Yes or No?" on Netflix. You can also read the poem by Qalonymos ben Qalonymos here. We also have more Jewish and/or recommendations, which you can find on our Patreon (though right now just for patrons). Also, about 15 minutes in, Lulav references Barbara Kruger's piece Untitled (You Construct Intricate Rituals).

Content note: From 34:00-35:11, discussion of modern racism and antisemitism.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. This week, our audio was edited by Lulav Arnow. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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This week, Jaz and Lulav are back to chatting with no guests, but still have a lot to say! We cover body positivity as defined by dream cows, the afterlife as hyperbole from an aggravated dad, and what makes a name really count as your name anyway.

Full transcript available here.

The Jewish story Jaz tells about the afterlife is outlined in brief here. In our Continuity Corner, Em recommended jewisheastend.com and The London Years by Rudolf Rocker. Rocker's partner, Milly Witkop, is a cool-sounding Jewish feminist and anarchist.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. This week, our audio was edited by Ezra Faust. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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We have another guest, who brings so much scholarly energy to this podcast. Lulav, Jaz, and Jaz's coworker DiCo talk about parashat Vayeishev, AKA the parsha where Joseph is a super annoying sibling but his brothers react way out of proportion AKA DiCo's B mitzvah portion! Hear us discuss whether Joseph's coat was even rainbow after all, how culpable you are if you MEANT to do a bad thing but didn't actually do it because someone else did that exact same bad thing first, and why we can't trust police chiefs or prison wardens.

Partial transcript available here; we expect it to be a full transcript within the next 24 hours and apologize for the delay.

The article that describes DiCo's speech and debate coaching achievements while omitting his pronouns is here.

Content notes: rape mention at 15:26. Discussion of sexual assault with power dynamics from 33:00 to 34:28, including a lynching mention at 34:14.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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In this episode, Lulav is gone (temporarily! just on a vacation) and so Jaz brings on some surprise guests: their family! You can hear deeply messed up sibling relationships discussed by two siblings who have a close and loving relationship, and hear Jaz's mom muse about how we all have to learn to adapt to name changes, even the Bible.

Full transcript available here.

Content note: this episode features a discussion of rape and subsequent murder from 28:52 until 36:44.

Apologies for the uneven audio quality! It was an issue on the recording end, and we think we've mostly identified the issue, so it shouldn't happen again. Fingers crossed, at least. We're about to bring on a new audio editor, Ezra Faust, who will start by editing a piece of patron-only bonus content for Kosher Queers After Dark next week, so get hype for that and subscribe to the Patreon.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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In this episode, we meet the one man Lulav adores (who happens to be a fictional Jewish communist from 19th century Russia, but that's mere details). Also, we meet four of our foremothers, which is very exciting, and bemoan the fact that only two of them are conventionally considered our foremothers. Plus, tricky tricksters all over the place!

Full transcript available here.

At the top of the show, we discuss The Modern Yentas Interest Form, which appears to still be open for all your matchmaking needs. Also, in the course of that conversation, Lulav references an iconic Ezra Koenig tweet and Jaz tells of a midrash wherein G-d offers the Torah to many nations and only the Jewish people accept it. Shortly thereafter, Lulav quotes this tumblr post. In our Continuity Corner, Jaz gets their linguist kippah on and references EtymOnline's entry for "kibosh" and then references Rachel Stomel's tweet about this bit of Talmud. 

Note: Jaz's audio gets wonky for a couple minutes there at the end. Apologies for that! Not sure what caused it, but we're working on fixing it for the future.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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This week, we gush about trans people in tzitzit, discuss environmental justice via wells, and try to determine what the Torah thinks is a good sibling relationship, while this parsha spins us a tale of a very bad sibling relationship. Also, we tell our ancient spiritual ancestors that, while they were definitely hella dramatic, they could have been more creative liars. Also, we wish they had access to therapy.

Full transcript of the episode available here.

At five minutes in, Lulav talks about Dream Apart and Dream Askew, which are available for purchase here.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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In this episode, Jaz rejoices in the fact that this is their parsha, Lulav giggles about a promise, and together we make a matriarch gay using the power of midrash. Also, we completely forget when Thanksgiving happens.

Full transcript of the episode available here.

Brin Solomon, who gave us the cool thought in our Continuity Corner, is a musician, composer, and journalist, whose latest work can be found here. Here is their website.

Content notes: This episode contains references to slavery and also deeply dysfunctional families of origin.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

Support the show

In this parsha, Lot is THE WORST, and we don't understand why he chosen to be was saved from destruction. (Maybe it's G-dly nepotism at work?) Also, someone proposes divorcing G-d, Jaz admits to listening to too many Harry Potter podcasts, and Lulav questions whether the parsha passes the Bechdel test. 

Full transcript available here.

Content notes: This episode has numerous references to rape, sexual assault, and incest that are present in the parsha. There's also a brief discussion of historical slavery in our Continuity Corner, starting at minute 48, and other references to slavery throughout the episode. 

The article Jaz references 52 minutes in is Does the Bible Condone Slavery? by Lev Meirowitz Nelson.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @kosherqueers, and like us on Facebook at Kosher Queers. Our music is by the band Brivele. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

Support the show