At Anshe Emet, we make a difference. Please help us show respect for Ben Rosenstein as we purchase the headstone he was denied. Last weekend, we had the privilege of welcoming Noam Sienna to our synagogue for Shabbat. Here is an excerpt from his D'var Torah: "This story takes place just ove...
When I spoke at Anshe Emet Synagogue for Pride, I challenged them to transform the memory of queer Jewish history into action... One of the new projects that they have taken on is honouring Ben Rosenstein, a transmasculine Jewish immigrant who died of tuberculosis in 1915, and is buried in Chicago in a pauper's grave without a headstone.
The synagogue is raising money to remember this queer/trans ancestor by providing Ben with a proper headstone. This project is so important, especially in a time when the stories we tell about America, about migration, and about family, are ever expanding. The greatest kindness that one can do in the Jewish tradition is to give dignity to the dead. Will you help me honour the life and death of Ben Rosenstein?
I really want to read A Rainbow Thread. Is it available as an ebook?
Not to my knowledge... But you can order it at arainbowthread.com. If you need an ebook for accessibility reasons, email the publisher — you can find their contact at shabb.es.
An interview about an anthology exploring marginalized voices in Jewish history
Originating from a broad range of geographic and chronological contexts, these texts, many of them appearing for the first time in English, offer the reader a broad vision of what it has meant to be a queer Jew throughout history — even in contexts where queerness has traditionally been assumed absent. Academic and lay readers alike will discover an astonishing variety of personal stories, poems, and midrashim in the anthology... I have been following the project since Noam first decided to publish it as a book — and was delighted to discuss it with him in more depth...
SL: What are your hopes for the book now that it’s been published?
NS: There’s almost no area of the Jewish world or aspect of Jewish life that is not touched upon in some way in the book — rabbinic literature, Hebrew poetry, Jewish immigration, secularization, modernization, and the development of the field of sexology. I really want other scholars to run with all of those different directions. The hope I have moving forward is that more people will be able to open up these historical fields.
There’s definitely more academic work to be produced from the book. About a third of the material in the book has never been published in English translation. Some material, sourced from archives, appears in this book for the very first time.
One reason why I chose to publish it with a trade press rather than an academic press is because I also wanted it to have a wider audience than just academics. I wanted a high school, even middle school, student to be able to read it, and I very consciously tried to write in a way that was accessible to laypeople. I’m excited to see the book serve as a resource for nonacademics: artists, filmmakers, playwrights, graphic novelists and people who are doing other kinds of Jewish programming. The stories included in this book could make wonderful plays, art installations, documentary films, comic books and graphic novels, children’s books, et cetera. I’m not the person to do that, but I’m really excited to put out the raw material for other people to work with.
SL: There’s a lot of talk right now among Jewish authors about what is out there for young readers that represents the full spectrum of Jewish experiences.
NS: It’s so rich and so much of it is unknown, and so really this book is an excuse to get people to read primary sources from Jewish history. If the fact that it’s about lesbians or about cross-dressing stowaways or about Yeshiva students sleeping with each other gets people excited to read that, great — but what’s equally exciting to me is that this might be a conduit for someone to learning about Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire, or life in colonial Brazil, or in medieval Iraq.
The intent of this book is to broaden the horizon of Jewish history — in terms of sexuality, gender, temporality, and location. I think people might be surprised to discover just how many areas of Jewish life can be enriched through the incorporation of these marginalized voices.
ברוך שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה / Blessed is the One who has enlivened us, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.
Not much more to say at the moment except acknowledge the overflowing gratitude to all the mentors, colleagues, scholars, activists, lovers, and friends who contributed to making this book possible. Looking forward to sharing it with all of you! If you’d like to bring me to your community to share the stories of A Rainbow Thread, please get in touch!
ORDER NOW: A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969
Noam Sienna , author of the book A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969 , joins Lex and Dan for a conversation about expanding our understanding of the Jewish past. [1] [2]
"[A rabbi in 1969] looked at his Jewish 'bookshelf.' And he said 'I don't see anything that deals with homosexuality.' [He concluded] that homosexuals don't exist in Jewish history. But the mistake that he makes is that he looks at what happens to be on his 'bookshelf' -- the Mishnah, and Talmud, and Medieval compilations of Jewish law, all written by men, mostly written in Europe -- and thinks 'that's everything I need to know about Judaism.' But that bookshelf is just a sliver -- the '1%.' As soon as we move the spotlight over a bit, we see an entirely different picture of Judaism."
Listen in to the latest episode of Judaism Unbound, featuring Noam Sienna, author of A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts!
Zeitlin’s kabbalistic poem offers a stunning, yet difficult, fusion of Yiddish expressionism and futurism on the one hand, and mystical and messianic thought on
If you want to read about the fusion of modernist futurism and mystical messianism in Yiddish poetry, you may be interested in this article in the latest issue of In Geveb. Nathan Wolski analyses Aaron Zeitlin’s Keter, which uses the image of an “androginos,” a multi-gendered (or non-gendered) being from Jewish mythology, to portray his vision of a unified new consciousness.
“Although the messiah figures throughout the poem, the messianic is primarily imagined as the overcoming of fallen reality and the return to humanity’s edenic condition, prior to duality and multiplicity, outside time, and before sex. This new state is described variously throughout the work, but perhaps the central image for this new phase in human existence is the androgyne... Zeitlin’s androgyne rises at the very end of history following the annihilation of time, and signifies unity regained and the arrival of new consciousness... Furthermore, the new androgyne will not simply be a recapitulation of the old. In place of a back to back configuration, as described by the rabbis, the new Woman and Man, like the cherubim above the ark, will be aligned face to face... So united, sexuality—the most essential marker of duality—comes to an end. Hence the surprising call of the poet, “May sexuality cease!” and the wish for “Liberation from multiplicity, / From sexual two-ing and three-ing!””
And here are some excerpts from the poem itself:
An androgyne will arise from us, planted like a tree by its stake!
And the most supremely-sonorous and sharpest of axes
Will be unable to shatter in pieces its ONE:
Its clothing and robes—
Stone,
And it, the serene one, alone—
Luminous stone.
Awesome and radiant and beautifully Samsonite-grown—
Luminous stone.
At its feet—
Everything.
And it, serene colossus—
Over all.
It looks and understands
An expectant, quiet understanding.
It stands—
And is stone...
And that androgyne,
The one extending unto Keter
Will not be like the ancient androgyne,
Who once stood in the Garden of Eden,
Before Adam-Eve were separated
By the serpent-youth, the divider!
No one will tear it apart,
A one-alone will it be, a child of sun and stones,
And its two countenances
Will be aligned one towards the other,—
Not like before, when stormy desires
Burned like smoke,
Because Adam’s face could not see Eve’s...
At that time shall begin
A never-been-before monumentality.
The old wine barrel—will lie empty,
God will uncork a new barrel of wine, [primed and ready,]
A world without evil and without sexuality,
The world of after-world shall it be!
For many queer Jews, Jewish tradition seems like a rich tapestry which at best ignores them and at worst rejects them entirely. In reality, queerness and queer Judaism have been a constant subplot of Jewish history, if only we care to look. Spanning almost two millennia and containing translations from more than a dozen languages, Noam Sienna's new book, A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts From the First Century to 1969, collects for the first time more than a hundred sources on the intersection of Jewish and queer identities. Covering poetry, drama, literature, law, midrash, and memoir, this anthology suggests that Jewish texts are not just obstacles to be overcome in the creation of queer Jewish life, but also potential resources waiting to be excavated. Through an unprecedented examination of the histories of gender and sexuality over two millennia of Jewish life around the world, this book inspires and challenges its readers to create a better future through a purposeful reflection on our past.
theatrejew replied to your link “Noam Sienna: Judaism Unbound Episode 170 - Queering The Jewish...”
isn't it a bit of a stretch to say that they're mostly written in europe when that only applies to the medieval texts? and even then to have an *overwhelming* majority of texts written in europe would have to kind of be an active conscious decision right?
@theatrejew it’s a good question!
You’re right that it was only the medieval and post-medieval Jewish texts which were written in Europe! The preview is a little condensed — here’s the full quote, which is me imagining Rabbi Solomon Freehof describing his bookshelf, ca. 1969: “I have the classical codes of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah and Talmud; I have the medieval compilations of Jewish law, Maimonides, etc.; I have a few early modern 18th/19th century compilations of Jewish law, all written by men, mostly written in Europe; and that’s it.”
So yes, hopefully that’s clearer: the early modern compilations of Jewish law on Rabbi Freehof’s bookshelf are the ones which were “mostly written in Europe,” and that would certainly be true for almost all American rabbis in the mid-20th century. It’s thankfully not true of this anthology, which contains material from all over the Jewish world.
