textual analysis

While you might be aware of Islamic tradition regarding the revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammed by the angel Gabriel, have you ever wondered how it was recorded and transmitted? Did Muhammed write down this divine message, or did transmission take place via another method? In this episode, our hosts Gabriel Reynolds, Francesca Murphy, and Mun’im Sirry are joined by Professor Shady H. Nasser, an associate professor of Arabic Studies at Harvard who provides his understanding of the variant readings which have arisen within Islamic tradition. 

This week, Grandpa Moshe tells us a story for a really long time, the Israelites reject fast fashion, and ~someone special~ gets a date for Tu B'Av. Also, Lulav condemns "nation-ly nations," otherwise known as nation states, and Jaz has a grammatical digression about plural vs singular you.

Full transcript here.

There's a good overview of Tu B'Av here. Lulav references the classic poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, and if you haven't read it recently, that's always fun. Jaz read Freelance Rabbi by MaNishtana and we both read Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce. You can also see Jaz's old Tamora Pierce fan account, @incorrectTammy. Jaz also references the books When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and How Good Do We Have to Be? by Harold Kushner.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 was written by Jaz Twersky. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, we start the last book of the Torah, and realize the five books have names that are super focused on words. We also learn about the philosophy behind audio editing, compare the geology of the Middle East to the "middle west" of Wisconsin, and find the true meaning of family (it has to do with hair, and also I guess choice and love and stuff). Plus, some shenanigans with parallel structures in grammar, and measuring the appropriate sizes of beds.

Full transcript available here. 

Jaz referenced meeting their friend Nora, who came on the podcast for Episode 14 —Va'eira: Enough Frogs to Overwhelm Our Oppressors. Lulav mentioned a recap episode of Friends at the Table that summarized the events of the Autumn and Winter seasons in Hieron; that episode is Spring in Hieron 00: What Came Before, if you want to jump in.

Some Tisha B'Av events this year: 

• Tisha B'Av of Teshuvah (Return): Mourning the Destruction of Black Lives (in person action in New York, in Grand Army Plaza, organized by JFREJ) with a digital participation option
• What We've Lost: A Communal Conversation About Exile and Song During a Global Pandemic (Online, Jul 26, 2020 at 17:00 Eastern Time)
• Tisha B’Av 5780: Will Things Ever Be The Same? Jewish Tradition as it Adapts and Resists Disruption/Destruction (online panel with Rabba Yaffa Epstein, Rabbi Marc Baker, Alicia Jo Rabins and Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, at 12:00 Eastern Time)

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 was written by Jaz Twersky and Reuben Shachar Rose. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, we tag the parsha like a fanfic (with Major Character Death), treat Biblical poetry like commercial jingles, and conclude that Moshe can't lead anymore because he wouldn't abolish the police and thus isn't a comrade. Plus, there's an annoyed angel who Jaz wants to be friends with, and a posthumous punishment that Lulav disagrees with for unexpected reasons.

Full transcript here.

We discussed some of the conversations around defunding the police; New York just voted on its budget, which Mayor Bill De Blasio claims met activists demands to defund the NYPD by $1 billion, but in reality, a sizable chunk of that is just moving money around. We also talked about Avatar; the Last Airbender, which you can watch on Netflix now! The story of Onkelos talking with Titus and Balaam can be found in Gittin 56b and 57a. You can also check out Friends at the Table, the podcast with very long timescales that we discuss at the end of the episode, and follow it on Twitter @Friends_Table.

Content notes: non-graphic discussion of deaths of Miriam and Aaron from 11:24-13:55. non-graphic discussion of cities being destroyed and conquered from to 21:04-28:25, religiously motivated murder from 41:50-42:28, moderately gross and NSFW reference involving bodily fluids from 45:20-45:50.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 Jaz and Reuben Shachar Rose. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, Jaz and Lulav are joined by Xava De Cordova, host of the queer Talmud podcast Xai, how are you? We talk about why a staff helps bring religious traditions together, how cool it is to have 250 union organizers as biblical characters, and the beauty of a time-travelling anarchist visionary. Xava also reveals her secret title as head of the Anti-Moses Sentiment Committee. (Lulav says she's not a member of that particular committee, and instead belongs to the rival Moshe-was-Progressive-to-Some-Extent-But-as-Soon-as-He-Got-a-Taste-of-Power-Became-a-Bootlicking-Liberal Brigade.)

Full transcript here.

You can support Xava on Patreon, follow her on Twitter at @xaihowareyou, and listen to her podcast in a variety of places, including on Soundcloud.

All of us reference sci-fi books this episode! Jaz references the book The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, and Xava speaks to the novel The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, and Lulav references Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Also, Xava and Lulav discuss Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Of the four of those, I think we can most wholeheartedly recommend The Dispossessed.

Content note: this episode includes non-graphic discussion of death.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 was written by Reuben Shachar Rose and Jaz Twersky. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, Tanakh is used as a pickup line, Moshe gets into an argument with G-d about how everyone has value actually, scouts go exploring and name a place "Grape" even though they shouldn't be able to name it because people are already living there, and the Israelites are incredibly bad at Simon Says. Plus, we spend some time getting to know Yehoshua, but kinda wish we didn't because he's a narc. 

Full transcript here.

The quote from Psalms that Jaz said at the beginning of the episode can be found here. Svara, the organization that sent it to Jaz, also is doing daily drop-in queer Jewish text study, which you can sign up for here. When talking about Grey's Anatomy, Lulav forgot the inimitable Christina Yang. She is culturally Jewish on account of her stepfather & mother, and therefore was the first Jewish main-cast character.

You can buy I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom here and Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, also by Kai Cheng Thom, here. The reference to Caleb being Miriam's husband comes from the Talmud, from this long bit in Sotah (11b and 12a) where they're talking about a lot of aspects of Caleb's family that are confusing.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 Jaz and Reuben Shachar Rose. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

For this week's episode, Jaz and Lulav are joined by guest Julia Franco. Julia introduces us to Tzipporah's gay dads and Miriam's skin condition, Lulav reclaims the word pascal, there are continuity errors, the priests form a long daisy chain of blessings over two bowls, and meanwhile, the rabbis don't endorse procrastination but do endorse second chances to be involved in religious life. 

Full transcript here.

Shout out to Mem on Twitter @shabbosdyke for xer insights about Christian use of terminology. These are vuvuzelot, that Lulav thinks are the holy things that priests are using. Lulav mentioned the podcast Sefirat HOmoer, another queer Jewish podcast. BoJack Horseman, with the character Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack, can be watched on Netflix. You can see the verse in Bamidbar 11:10 here. Also, Lulav mentions Gödel's incompleteness theorem super offhandedly, and if you want to read more about that it looks like you can do that here.

Here's the midrash about Miriam telling her father to go back and re-marry her mother. Here's Rabbi Meir saying you can't declare your relatives pure of tzaraat. You can learn more about Alicia Jo Rabins here, and you can buy "Snow" and its album here. Also, if you want to include us in your Jewish archive, drop us a line? Here's Julia's "Prince of Egypt" fanfic and her Tumblr, plus the specific post from her Tumblr that she sent when she was pitching us on coming on the episode.

Content notes: non-explicit sex mention from 34:45 to about 35:45. Also, Julia drops a swear word at 37:21.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 was written by Reuben Shachar Rose and Jaz Twersky. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, we talk about water that's maybe poison, maybe magic, and maybe an abortifacient! But maybe just water. Also, we discuss people who are built-in societal dissenters because they're straight-edge genderqueer punks with long hair — I mean, nazarites who have taken a vow not to drink alcohol or cut their hair. Plus, there's a bonus priestly blessing origin story and the same thing 12 times with a different hat.

Full transcript here.

If you're enjoying our work, you should also check out the work of Black queer Jewish creators, such as...

• Rabbi Sandra Lawson, including her podcast (sadly no longer running), music, and writing. 
• Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, a Yiddish singer who combines traditional Ashkenazi and African-American musical traditions. You can buy his music here.
• Michael Twitty has a book called The Cooking Gene about Southern cooking, family, history, identity, and more which you can purchase. He also has a blog here. 
• Chris Harrison writes for the Union for Reform Judaism. His most recent piece is Black Jews are Tired
• Y-Love, a formerly Hasidic rap artist, whose music you can buy here.

If you've got spare dollars, we're also donating to our local bail funds and urge you to do the same. Here's another list of Black-run orgs you can donate to (and some other additional resources, such as petitions to sign). You can also give directly to things like this fund for Black trans protesters. Also, a Native youth organization in Minneapolis was damaged and could use some help.

Find the Black-owned businesses in your city; here's a list for New York. Plus, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice has a script for NYC about defunding the police that you can adapt for your city, as well as this similar script. Here's an article about the Minneapolis Park Board cutting ties with the police and a petition to end the University of California PD; you can push that where you live.

Here's the children's blessing. The book Jaz read is Leadership in the Wilderness by Erica Brown. The strengths of different ages is from Pirkei Avot 5:21. 

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 Jaz Twersky. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, we discuss the ethics of counting, come up with some alternatives for the English word "tribe," and discover that the Torah believes in West Coast, Best Coast. Plus, we decide that two leaders are boyfriends just because.

Full transcript here.

You can buy Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde from your local independent bookstore. The etymology for the word "tribe" can be found here. You can also check out this report on nuclear waste signage. Also, we reference the Shrieking Shack briefly; they're "a Harry Potter re-read podcast for lapsed fans," which include us, as people who grew up with the books and the fandom and also cannot stand JK Rowling for many reasons (not least of which is the transmisogyny). Anyway, here's the episode we referenced. On a more serious note, you can also check out the results from the 2015 US Trans Survey, and the open letter from the National Center for Trans Equality's former staff on why they left.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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.

This week's episode includes celebrating sabbaticals, bemoaning Biblical slavery, and comparing campy 90s gay movies to Torah law.

Full transcript here.

Content notes: Around minute 43, there's a discussion of all the graphic curses G-d will rain down for disobeying. Like really graphic. 44:08-44:40 in particular should especially be skipped if you're queasy about cannibalism or mass graves.

At 49:20, Jaz talks about Xava talking about shmita years; you can check that out in episode 5 of Xai, How Are You?.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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 was written by DiCo. Our logo is by Lior Gross, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Orthodox Union.

This week, we discuss asymmetrical priests, sex worker daughters, and the symbolic meaning of Lulav's name. Also, we talk about different Jewish denominations' responses to intermarriage and a good Tumblr post.

Full transcript available here.

You can buy Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman and support a queer Jewish author while enjoying a fun read. The article from Sinai Synagogue quoting William Herlands' idea of disabled kohanim being out in the community is here. You can also read "Towards Acceptance, Holiness and Removing Stumbling Blocks" by Lauren Tuchman, writing about stumbling blocks from a literal perspective, as a blind rabbinical student. You can read Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live by Sacha Lamb, and also read their Tumblr post under the name kuzu. You can listen to Sefirat HOmoer here and follow them on Twitter here. Also, thanks to Mona @ediblesocks for the listener question! You can check out the work of one of the creators of the Trans Day of Torah project, Binya Kóatz, here.

Content note: general note for ableism mentions throughout the episode.

Support us on Patreon! Send us questions or comments at kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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.

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 kosherqueers@gmail.com, 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.