Limmud Seattle 2019

Engaging with Torah, Jewish mystical texts, our own experience, and queer theory, this workshop will examine gender nonconforming and non-binary imagery in Jewish sacred thought. Some of the most obvious interpretations of Kabbalah involve problematic gender archetypes. Not only gender, but binaries of all sorts are reified in much of the popular imagery—the transcendent divine is associated with the male aspect of divinity, situated above the female/immanent aspect.
However, our tradition actually contains many diverse images for the divine interplay. We will explore how aspects of the divine flow, and stories of our biblical ancestors, express shifting genders, gender roles, and orientations in a rich interplay to create life, nourish the world, and bring redemption.