Sometimes women with voices are shut out of the camp. But that’s not the end of the story.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Apr 8, 2024
"...Right, so only Miriam gets tzaraat...
And only she is punished.
Only she is maligned.
Only she is sent away.
The thing is this: The text never says that the Kushite wife thing that caused Miriam and Aaron to "speak against" Moses about wasn't true.
...Most of the women murdered as witches were, in some way, woman who didn't have the protection of a man with power...or those who were racial or religious others (Quakers in a Puritan community, eg).
...All of these things were part of the larger system of which the discrediting of female healers was a part.
We must always be attuned to questions like:
What narrative are we trying to advance, and whose interests does this serve?
beyond nostalgia
really, the cucumbers weren't great in Egypt
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Mar 25, 2024
"...I think about the people who finally, finally told the truth, who began to generate some momentum–to be told by their institutions that recourse and accountability was coming, only to find that what they were offered fell far too short of acceptable. Only to be put in the position of having to push again, and again, and again.
I think about the people who have been trying, often single-handedly, to move organizations and institutions from the inside, listening to stakeholders whine and kvetch and resist and try to pull their way back to those oppressive systems, all the while feeling that exasperation, even extreme burnout, that Moshe does in this moment..."
In describing the giving of the Torah on Sinai, the Torah writes that G-D spoke in “a great voice that did not cease.”
The Midrash offers 3 explanations:
The voice was not limited to Hebrew. but spoke the languages of all 70 foundational nations.
The voice is continuous - speaking to each of us now, this very day, although we cannot hear it.
The voice did not have an echo.
Of these three reasons, the third seems the most perplexing. After all, shouldn’t the Creator of all speak with a little reverb? One would expect the giving of the Torah to have all the bass, the Dolby Digital Surround Sound that you’d expect from the Master of the Universe.
The reason is because when the Torah was given, it was not meant to stand in contradiction to Creation, but rather to part of our world. An echo shows that the sound waves bounced off everything - but the Torah was absorbed and became one with all.
This poem is another lament that in the patriarchal worldview, women aren't people, they're property - and so are children. The sotah's unborn child is killed. God forbids a cuckold.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you.
This poem is a lament that in the patriarchal worldview, where women aren't people, they're property. In the texts women are mentioned only in passing, yet doing many ritual things.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you.
This week's parashat is a double portion - Bahar & Bechukotai.
These poems are about our obligation to be stewards of the earth, to protect her from degradation. If we treat her well, she'll do likewise.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you personally.
This week's parashat is a double portion - Bahar & Bechukotai.
These poems are about our obligation to be stewards of the earth, to protect her from degredation. If we treat her well, she'll do likewise.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you personally.
The same evil men justifying their hate and violence are here.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you personally.
This week's parashat is a double portion, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim.
The poems for my upcoming Jewish Wheel of the Year Journal are about finding freedom in exile and about rejecting hateful and evil laws.
The journal will have blank pages for taking notes, sketches, or just musing about what the Torah or Haftarah readings for each Parashat and Yom Tovim mean to you personally.