Parashat Sh’lahDvar Torah on the occasion of Pride Shabbat June 13, 2026 This commentary on Torah portion, Sh’lach [Numbers 13:1-15:41] includes bits from essays by Joy Ladin, one of her poems, and my thoughts connecting them all. For those who … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ruach HaYam Learning
Parashat Shemini 2024
Dvar Torah Shemini March April 6, 2024 B’nai Brith Somerville
Good Shabbos. I am again honored to be able to bring words of Torah to you.
I dedicate this dvar torah to my brother, Robert Weinberg, of blessed memory whose yarhtzeit is this week.
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. On Shabbat Ha Chodesh, which we have today, we also read Exodus 12:1-20 in preparation for Passover. Today, I am focusing only on Leviticus chapters 9 and 10, on the enigmatic and mysterious story of Nadav and Avihu, who offer outsider fire – Eish Zarah – Continue reading
Strange Fire and Flaming Queers: Topics in Leviticus (Apr 3, 2022)
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***
The Book of Daniel: Reading the Writing on the Wall and other Queer Things (Feb 27, 2022)
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)
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***
Chanukah queer Torah schmooze for all (Dec 5 2021)
Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg December 5, 2021
This evening is the 8th candle of Chanukah. If you celebrate, bring your menorah!! We’ll dip into texts appropriate to the season: a few excerpts from Judith, midrash about Chanukah, interesting texts and poetry. Judith is a truly multifaith heroine so we have stories for everyone. Feel free to contribute a memory from our intensive study of Judith in the Time Before and/or a favorite song. The study will be eclectic, relaxed, hopefully a tad festive Banner is a Hanukiah depicting Judith, Italy, 19th century(?) The Jewish Museum, NY. 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)
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***
Hannah Narrative: Thunder, Trouble, and Following Our Inner Voice (August 26 2021)
Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg August 26, 2021
The Hannah Narrative is recited by Jews every year on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year (this year falling on September 7). Through a close reading of 1 Samuel 1 we will prepare ourselves to hear the thunder of change and the quiet inner voice of our souls. You will find source sheets here: https://tinyurl.com/RuHay-Hannah Although Hannah is held up as a model of prayer by Jews and Christians alike, how often do we ask what Hannah is actually praying for? What is her heart crying out for? What inner strength does she call on? What external prods and goads does she have? Does Hannah want to be recognized as being more than she appears? Can we as queer folk dig into our transgressive hearts to find a new understanding of Hannah as a woman whose dreams may reach beyond being mother and wife? And what is the role of Hannah’s co-wife, Penninah? Is she a nuisance or a holy troubler of the waters? You may wish to read a commentary I wrote a few years ago. You may enjoy this except from Marcia Falk’s Un’taneh Tokef (page 29 in her book “The Days Between”) A great shofar is sounded And a voice of slender silence is heard. The voice is one’s own a reed in the chorus a breath in the wind Banner is an etching by Marc Chagall (1958): “Hannah Evokes the Eternal.” Hannah in red robe is prominent in the foreground and stretching up to pray. Smaller in background is a figure who appears to be uncomfortable or disdainful. A few livestock are looking on. At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details] Study begins at 7:15 ET. ——>>>>>> 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***Tzara’at (“leprosy”) and Salvation – Inside and Outside the Gates (June 24 2021)
Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg June 24, 2021
In 2 Kings chapters 5-7 we find stories of three different types of men affiliated with tzara’at. Usually (mis)translated in the Bible as “leprosy,” it is an unsightly skin affliction which generally results in the sufferer being excluded from community until they can become cured and purified. In this cycle of stories, we have the non-Israelite King Naaman who is leprous; Gehazi, the servant of the prophet Elisha, who becomes leprous; and four lepers sitting outside the gates of Samaria waiting to die. We will read these stories for comic element, to learn about Elisha’s miracle working, and to ponder class differences in treatment of illness.
We will look especially at the story of the four lepers who build their own community outside the gates, and who “precisely because of their vantage point, outside of society, perceive God’s salvation, which would otherwise have been missed by the nation.” [Rav Alex Israel] I wish to think through some of the lessons of Liam Hooper’s book, “Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence,” which I feel teaches that the knowledge gained by those who are outside the gates is transformational – not in order to survive as outcasts but in order to repair the world. There is a positive energy that can radiate from those who have had to care for each other outside the gates, and who bring their knowledge to those in the city, in fact transforming those who othered them.
Banner shows Naaman the Syrian bathing in the waters of the Jordan River at the advice of the prophet Elisha and ridding himself of his leprosy (2 Kings 5). Woodcut from the Cologne Bible, 1478-80.
At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.
——>>>>>> 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***
Ruth and Naomi: The Divine of Human Relationship (May 20 2021)
Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg
May 20, 2021
The book of Ruth poses hard questions about the relationship between humanity and God, and between one human and another. Like Job, Naomi agonizes over being abandoned by God, even afflicted by God. The community of Naomi’s birth rejects her upon her return. Yet Ruth is able to transform the village and effect Naomi’s restoration to respected elder. What does it mean that God can afflict human beings? Ruth and Naomi sit outside the gates at the beginning. What is the role of women in transforming society? What is the role of marginalized people generally in the repair of the world? What can we apply from Liam Hooper’s teaching in April?
Tikva Frymer Kensky writes: it is up to humanity to ensure that the foundations of the earth do not totter. The way to do this is right behavior and social justice. This is an enormous task, but the way to accomplish it has been revealed: God has instructed and continues to instruct the people as to how they are to behave. “In the Wake of the Goddesses”, pg 106
We will read the book of Ruth with the teachings of Liam and Frymer-Kensky in mind – looking for fresh insights on the meaning of chesed and how to perform it.
Banner shows two woodcuts by Margaret Adams Parker. In both, Naomi and Ruth and villagers are portrayed as long robed and hard laboring – not the common idyllic scenes. First image shows Naomi entering her old village, drooping, supported by Ruth. Caption “Ruth 1:19 – And the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’” Second image shows Naomi looking up at Ruth. Caption “Ruth 3:16 – And she said, ‘Who are you my daughter?’”
At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details]
Study begins at 7:15 ET.
——>>>>>> 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***