Have read Parashat #Vayekhel (hang on, am I supposed to read Pekudei too?)

#SheepchaseReadsTorah

A #queer reading of the #parsha #Vaera.

#Torah #SheepchaseReadsTorah #ComingOut

(Of course the reason is to show God’s power to the Egyptians and thus the world, not to destroy them, though I do like a good bit of #smiting…)

#SheepchaseReadsTorah

Have read the #parsha for this week, #Vaera. Chatted with my partner about why God doesn’t just smite them all:
“What kind of story would that be? ‘We’re the Jews, God does everything we want.’”

Fair point.

כִּי עַתָּה שָׁלַחְתִּי אֶת־יָדִי וָאַךְ אוֹתְךָ וְאֶת־עַמְּךָ בַּדָּבֶר וַתִּכָּחֵד מִן־הָאָרֶץ׃
I could have stretched forth My hand and stricken you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been effaced from the earth.

https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.9.15
#Torah #SheepchaseReadsTorah

#Parsha #Vayechi really made me think about mortality and what is left in the world after those of us *without* children die. So much of #Judaism is centered around family and much of the first book of the #Torah is about the lineages of children of Abraham (after Noah).

I think for #queer people in particular, we may be childfree/childless and so genetically we leave nothing behind to carry on our story. So what is our place in Jewish history?

#SheepchaseReadsTorah #mazeldon #Jewdiverse

How might queer Jews understand #parsha #vayechi? As the story of Joseph, his bones, and the importance of finding, remembering, queer ancestors.

#torah #SheepchaseReadsTorah

Rashi on Israel blessing Joseph’s sons in #parsha #vayechi. #TIL fish can’t be touched by the evil eye because they’re under water (there’s an etymological connection that leads to the word ‘fish’ that’s explained in Berakhot 20a). #SheepchaseReadsTorah

וידגו. כַּדָּגִים הַלָּלוּ שֶׁפָּרִים וְרָבִים וְאֵין עַיִן הָרָע שׁוֹלֶטֶת בָּהֶם:
וידגו AND LET THEM INCREASE — like fishes (דגים) which are fruitful and which multiply and which the evil eye cannot effect (Berakhot 20a).

https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.48.16.3

So about a year ago when I first started reading the #Torah I used the hashtag #SheepchaseReadsTorah over on the bird site. I kept using the same tag as I read the whole #Tanakh and then decided I’d just keep using it with subsequent texts (both ‘canonical’ and other non-fiction texts about aspects of #Judaism).

I’ve decided I’ll use the tag here to make it easy for you to mute my musings if they become annoying! (Also will help me search for my own toots related to Torah).