Kosher Queers

In this episode, we learn how sacrifices can lead us to a model of transformative justice, do some science on G-d's food choices, and decide that G-d is definitely on spiro. Also, Jaz outs themselves as a librarian and maybe also offers to burn books, but only because they like books so much? It's confusing. Plus, we get an unexpected bonus segment comparing different philosophies of halachah and different ideas of what Judaism is, so get hype for that.

Our transcript is available here. In everything that's been going on with the pandemic, unfortunately Jaz is a little behind, so the whole thing is here, but it's less polished than usual; it should be up to our usual standards within the next couple days. It should be pretty solid up until the bottom of page 18, which correlates with 29:17.

The comment from the Daat Zekenim on Vayikra 2:13 can be found here. Lulav referred to the parsha summaries created by Isabel Bard, @MyNameisNotBard on Twitter, and you can check out the specific tweet here. Thanks to Theo for sending in a comment, and you can follow Theo @bizzardweird on Twitter.

Content notes: this episode does contain multiple references to animal sacrifice and blood.

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 and our transcript written by DiCo and Jaz. 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 learn about some cool women who are making all sorts of impressive art behind the scenes, speculate on the sexuality of artists, and review some neat gold facts, like that the mishkan uses it to make everything and also it is a terrible building material. Plus, both our hosts learn about new facets of each other; catch us just finding out basics like "where we each grew up" and "what our parents do for a living" after having already been friends for years.

Full transcript available here.

The book that Jaz quotes at 14 minutes in is called The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell. The dvar from Rabbi Ari Lev Fornani that Jaz cites 23 minutes in can be found here. The series by Neal Stephenson that Lulav mentions 27 minutes in, starting with Quicksilver, is called The Baroque Cycle. At 32 minutes, Jaz cites Midrash Tanchumah.

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, and our transcript by Jaz and DiCo. 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 debate if flat taxes are okay if you don't have any inherited wealth and instead just a bunch of stolen money, question whether Aharon and his sons are human, and apply a Mulaney meme to our favorite sibling trio. Also, Jaz reveals their brother's proposal to de-gender the word "fellow," which we need zoomers to get on ASAP. 

The full episode transcript can be found here.

You can check out the Twitter accounts for trans daf yomi and Queer Daf Yomi and disabilitydaf. (UPDATE: As of October 2020, two of those accounts have since changed their handles and are no longer about the daf; to respect the privacy of our friends, we are not linking to their accounts.) Here's the article about the karan/keren translation.

Content note: discussion of a massacre from 24:46-27:49.

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 and our transcript written by DiCo and Jaz. 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 go full-on heretical, and discuss the ways in which actually, we're happier without the temple, thanks very much. Also, Lulav tries her hand at another very short summary, we ponder the mysteries of the gemsonas of each of the 12 tribes, and we have a nice sit-down dinner with G-d. 

Full transcript available here.

You can follow @nireh_or on Instagram and check out the books Soul of the Stranger by Joy Ladin and The Orchard by Yochi Brandes and if you like those, you're welcome to also just peruse Jaz's Goodreads. Also Steven Universe is available to watch on Hulu if you'd like to learn about the gem wars and make your own gemsona.

Content note: graphic discussion of animal slaughter from 26:17 to 29:32.

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, and our transcript by Jaz and DiCo. 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 discuss that holiest of things: making handicrafts. Jaz gives one of the shortest ever parsha summaries and still can't make it within the time limit, but nonetheless really shines (glitters?) in this episode where they get to geek out about yarn on air like never before. Also, Lulav throws us back in time to Hanukkah for a sec, and Jaz is apparently a Midas, except that everything they touch turns Jewish. Plus, we speculate on what cherubim could look like, and honestly, please tell us what you think cherubim look like.

The full episode transcript can be found here.

You can join my Facebook group, G-d Save Us From Your Stitchwork: A Place for Crafts & Judaism. You do not have to have any particular level of crafting skill; the group name isn't about commenting judgmentally on your work, but is a riff on this FB group. 

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 and our transcript written by DiCo. 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, and special guest Cassidy Mosity discuss lots and lots of ancient tort law, decide who counts as an enemy you should help out vs an enemy you should sabotage (spoiler: give a wandering pet back to your obnoxious neighbor but don't give gas to the broken-down ICE van), and compare the Torah to other ancient legal codes AND to Winnie the Pooh.

Full transcript available here.

Content notes for slavery, old-fashioned patriarchy, and colonialism, and mentions of racism and the carceral system. It's a rough one this week.

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, and our transcript by Jaz and DiCo. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union. 

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By popular request, we opened this week with a conversation about conversion and proselytizing and kiruv, in which we definitely had more than three opinions. Then we got to talk about actively choosing your parents-in-law, some bass-boosted Torah, and calvinballing the misogyny out of our religion.

Full transcript for this episode available here.

Here is the source the thing Jaz says at 2:25, about asking potential converts about why they would want to be Jewish given how much Jews suffer, (from Yevamot, in the Talmud) and directly after it, here's the source on explaining the downsides of needing to keep more mitzvot post-conversion. Here's the story of Hillel and Shammai telling the entire Torah to a gentile while he stands on one foot. Here are some of the many sources on treating converts well. Here's the EtymOnline entry for proselyte.  Here's the thing about the Israelites dying at Sinai and coming back to life. Here's the source from the Talmud (Shevuot 39a) about future generations being at Sinai (and here's an interesting interpretation we didn't talk about on-air that might complicate that). 

Content notes: death mention from 26:25-26:54.

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 joined by Anat Halevy Hochberg, who brings songs, jokes, and hella Talmud knowledge. Anat also quotes from the original Hebrew easily and frequently, and we're NOT AT ALL JEALOUS. (Okay, that's a lie.) We discuss feminist leadership, how to dismantle white supremacy (more difficult than smashing the patriarchy), and quail poop.

Full transcript available here.

Check out Anat's website here, and her Instagram is here. The Indiegogo Campaign for Batya Levine's new album, where Anat will be the vocal director, is here. You can find the lyrics for Shirat Hayam, which Anat sings at 25 minutes, in English and Hebrew here. You can also buy the record Safra by George Mordechai here and find the rest of the Rising Song albums here.

Content notes: we're discussing the obliteration of Amalek (with possible genocide implications) from 8:57 to 13, and from 34:22 to 38.

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, Khesed joins Lulav and Jaz to talk about G-d's need for attention, revolutionary versus incrementalist approaches to liberation, and weird storytelling mechanics (like, why do we get instructions for how to celebrate leaving Egypt before we've left Egypt? listen here to find out*). Also, the whole episode is a Perchik Corner this episode; you have been warned.

This week's transcript is available here. Unfortunately, it is at the time of release only a partial transcript, but we expect it to be a complete transcript within the next few days, and we sincerely apologize for the delay.

This week, we reference Rabbi Sandra Lawson's podcast, which you should definitely check out if you like queer people talking about Torah. 

Content notes: this episode is filled with references to slavery, and contains multiple mentions of deaths of humans and animals. There is a (non-graphic) discussion of the deaths of innocent children around 22 minutes in. There's a genital mention around 36 minutes, and a discussion of genocide from around minutes 43-46. 

*by, "find out," we mean, "hear Jaz's theory, which is absolutely not definitive, but which they firmly stand by."

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, we are joined by long-time friend of the pod Nora Chernov, with whom we discuss embarrassing fandoms, uncircumcised lips, and literal sorcery. We also get some of those good good listener emails, and so get to share a Noach conspiracy theory. 

Full transcript available here. 

Nora reads some different translations than us, including the JPS Tanakh and the Alter Bible translation. You can read Ethan's full textual breakdown of Noah as a trans man here. The book recommendation we received was for Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings. You can find Nora on Twitter @NoraChernov.

Content notes: This episode contains discussions of slavery and human suffering from natural/divinely created disasters.

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. 

Support the show