Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? One who learns from everyone, as is said,
“Because everyone has been my teacher, I have gained understanding.” —(mAvot 4:1)
Rabbi Hanina said: From my teachers I learned much, from my colleagues still more,
but from my students most of all. –(BT Ta’anit 7a)
This is a list of the various classes and workshops I have taught. For more information about my teaching and for student endorsements, please read here
Ruth and Naomi: Boundary Crossing, Bitter Soul, and Chesed (May 17, 2018)
Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – May 17, 2018. See end of post for logistics. (Scroll to end for logistics) 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?’” Join…
Reading Torah through LGBTQ Eyes: A study of Joy Ladin’s work (April 19, 2018)
Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – April 19, 2018. See end of post for logistics. Join us for a discussion led by Penina Weinberg about Joy Ladin’s Tikkun Magazine article (fall, 2014): “Both Wilderness and Promised Land: How Torah Grows When Read Through LGBTQ Eyes.” (We will have copies at the study session). This is by way of preparing us for Joy’s book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, due out later in 2018 from Brandeis University Press. We hope to have an opportunity to learn…
Trans(forming) Angels in Jewish Lore: Gender, Trauma, and More – February 15, 2018
Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – February 15, 2018. See end of post for logistics. Inspired by our reading of Julia Watts Belser and Ezekiel, and coming out of long studies on these matters, Ezra Rose Greenfield, Ruach HaYam member, darshan, and workshop leader, will teach about the multiplicity of different places that angels appear as supports/catalysts for transition. They will present some of the Hechalot literature (early Merkavah mysticism) as well as teachings by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. Rabbi Ruttenberg has explored a medieval ruling on the transition of Elijah from man to…
Breaking the Binary: King David and his Dualities – January 18, 2018
Breaking the Binary: King David and his Dualities – January 18, 2018 6:45pm – 9:15pm @ Eitz Chayim (See logistics at end) In many ways, bisexuality is binary breaking; it defies the notion that people have to bat for one team. But the word can also carry binary notions of its own. Enter King David: poet, warrior, king, lover of both men and women. What binaries does he break? Which does he enforce? And why does it matter that the man involved is King David, hero of heroes? We’re so excited to have one of our long time members, Sarah…
Disability and Divine Power: Reading Julia Watts Belser (December 21, 2017)
Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – December 21, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Penina Weinberg. Banner for event has a painting of an ecstatic person in red, possibly flaming, dress whirling in a blue wheel chair. Caption is “Ezekiel’s vision split open my own imagination. Hearing those words chanted, I felt a jolt of recognition, an intimate familiarity. I thought: God has wheels!” from “God on Wheels—Disability and Jewish Feminist Theology” by Julia Watts Belser in Tikkun 2014 Illustration from…
Gendered in the image of God: The first human (August 17, 2017)
Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – August 17, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Penina Weinberg. In speaking of the creation, the Kabbalists call the first human du-partzufin, a Greek term meaning two visages, ie two faces on one body, not two bodies. They describe the divine and human each as bi-sexual. They say that both genders are present in all humans and that this is the image of the divine. What does that actually mean? How does non-binary fit into…
Women’s Voices in the Talmud (July 13, 2017)
Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop @ Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA July 31, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Jonah P We’re very excited to have guest teacher Jonah P back for a second year! Don’t miss this opportunity! The Talmud was the project of hundreds of male rabbis over many generations. When and where do women’s voices appear? Who are the female characters who elbow their way into the stories and legal cases? What wisdom did they leave us with? In this session, we will listen to these…
Sex of the Soul: Gendered in the Image of God (June 22, 2017)
The text which we will look at after reviewing the place of Mopsik’s work in the history of the Kabbalah is here: Mopsik Sex of the Soul pp 46-52 Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA June 22, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Penina Weinberg. We will dip one toenail into Charles Mopsik’s book: Sex of the Soul: The Vicissitudes of Sexual Difference in the Kabbalah. Mopsik was a modern scholar of Kabbalah. With him we will re-visit the creation…
Saul and the Necromancer of Endor (April 20, 2017)
Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA April 20, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Penina Weinberg. King Saul’s visit to the necromancer of Endor (1 Kings 28) introduces us to man who is at the end of his political life but hoping for saving words from beyond the grave. Saul hopes the necromancer will bring up the ghost of Samuel to help him. We will look at what drives Saul politically to seek out the necromancer, and at how the woman’s wizardry…
Ki Tisa as a Song of Longing (Mar 16, 2017)
Ruach HaYam Facebook Subscribe to newsletter Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA March 16, 2017. See end of post for logistics. This study is led by Penina Weinberg. Parashat Ki Tisa is a Song of both longing and danger. First, the longing. Previous to our parsha, Moses has gone up to the top of Mount Sinai, entering the cloud of God’s presence, to remain with God for 40 days (Ex 24:18). While Moses is up on Mount Sinai encountering the Divine, the children of Israel wait expectantly at the foot of Mount Sinai for Moses…