לאז מיך פאַלן אויב איך מוז פאַלן. דער מענטש וואָס איך וועל ווערן, וועט מיך כאַפּן.
בעל שם טוב
Let me fall if I must fall. The One I will become will catch me.
The Baal Shem Tov
וכן בכל דור ודורשיו הם משלימין התורה, כי התורה נדרשת בכל דור ודור לפי מה שצריך לאותו דור. ולפי שורש כשמתן של אותו הדור, כך השי"ת מאיר עיני חכמי הדור ההוא בתורתו הקדושה. והכופר בזה, ג״כ כאילו כופר בתורה ח"ו. וכן ראיתי בספר הקדוש ששם המפורש היה משתמשין בו בכל דור, כ"א לפי דורו, ולפי שורש נשמתו, וכן כל התורה כולה שהוא שמותיו של הקב׳׳ה.
In every generation, the scholars (of that generation) are making up [alternative translation: are finishing, or filling up] the Torah, because the Torah is being interpreted in every generations according to the needs of that generation. And according to the source of their souls - so is God enlightening the eyes of the wise people of that generation, in Its holy Torah. And whoever denies that, it is as if they deny/do not believe in in the Torah, heaven forbid.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
- Martin Buber
(א) ברם, כגון דא צריך לאודעי כלל גדול. כי: כמו שנצחון לנצח דבר גשמי, כגון שני אנשים המתאבקים זה עם זה להפיל זה את זה, הנה אם האחד הוא בעצלות וכבדות ינוצח בקל ויפול גם אם הוא גבור יותר מחבירו, ככה ממש בנצחון היצר, אי אפשר לנצחו בעצלות וכבדות, הנמשכות מעצבות וטמטום הלב כאבן, כי אם בזריזות, הנמשכת משמחה ופתיחת הלב וטהרתו מכל נדנוד דאגה ועצב בעולם.
והיינו השמחה האמיתית בה' אלהיו, הבאה אחר העצב האמיתי לעתים מזומנים על עונותיו במר נפשו ולב נשבר, שעל-ידי זה נשברה רוח הטומאה וסטרא-אחרא ומחיצה של ברזל המפסקת בינו לאביו שבשמים.
ומקרא מלא דבר הכתוב: (דברים כח מז): "תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה וגו'". ונודע לכל פירוש האר"י ז"ל על פסוק זה.
In truth, at this point there is a general principle you need to know. Let's compare this to winning any other competition, one in the physical realm. Think of two men who are wrestling with one another, each attempting to throw the other down. If one of them would be lazy and sluggish, he would be easily beaten—even if he were stronger than the other.
The same applies when it comes to winning against the yetzer: You can't beat it while in a state of laziness and sluggishness which are symptoms of depression and a fossilized heart. The only way to win is with the zeal that comes out of joy and a wide open heart, free from any nuance of worry or anxiety in the world.
And what is it that can be gained? It is the true joy in Havayeh your G‑d that comes after a true sadness at designated times over one's sins with a bitter soul and a broken heart. Through this, the spirit of tumah, the Other Side and the iron curtain separating between you and your Heavenly Father are broken. As it is the verse in the Torah Because you did not serve YAWA your God in joy, etc. and it is known what the ARI said about that.
זה הכלל גדול בעבודת הבורא יתברך שמו, שאנחנו בני ישראל מחויבים להאמין בב' תורות: בתורה שבכתב ובתורה שבעל פה, שכולם ניתנו מרועה אחד. תורה שבכתב מסר לנו על ידי משה עבדו נאמן ביתו, מכתב חרות על הלוחות, באש שחורה על גבי אש לבנה. ותורה שבעל פה מה שנמסר למשה רבינו עליו השלום על פי פירושה, "כל שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש." נמצא שעיקר תורה שבעל פה ניתנה לנו כפי מה שהצדיקים שבדור יפרשו את התורה, כן יקום. וזה כח הגדול שמסר לנו הבורא ברוך הוא מחמת אהבתו ובחירתו לעמו ישראל, וכפי רצונם מהתורה כך מתנהגים כל העולמות. וזהו מה שאמרו חכמינו ז"ל: (מועד קטן טז:) הקדוש ברוך הוא גוזר גזירה והצדיק מבטלה.
A basic principle in God’s service: we ... believe in two Torahs: written and oral, both given by a single Shepherd. ...The written Torah was given us by Moses, God’s faithful servant, in writing etched on the tablets, black fire on white fire. The oral Torah given to Moses is its interpretation, including ‘‘everything a faithful student is ever to discover.’’ This means that the oral Torah given to us essentially follows the interpretation of the zaddikim of the generation. As they interpret the Torah, so it is. This great power has been given us by the Creator out of love for Israel, and all the worlds follow their will in Torah. Thus did the sages say: ‘‘The Holy One issues a decree, but the zaddik may nullify it.
אגרת הקודש מרבי אלעזר מליזענסק:
מכתבו הגיעני, והראתיו לכבוד אדוני אבי מורי נ"י ויזרח לנצח. והיה בקראו בו, תסמר שערותיו, ונזדעזעו אבריו, בראותו שיש בעולם שטותים, ודברי הבלים ופתיים כאלו.
כך אמר אא"מ: מי שהוא שואל אם לומר זמירות אלו, או לזולתם. ואם לומר שיר השירים בעת הזאת, או באחרת, ושאר שטותים כאלו, אשר במכתב אין להעלות אותן על הכתב.
Letter from Rebbe Eluzer of Leżajsk (4th generation Hasidic leader):
I got your letter, and I showed it to my father. When he read it, he was shocked, and shaken to his core, seeing that such empty and stupid ideas exist in the world.
This is what my father said: whoever asks: "Should we sing this song, or that song?" and whatever "to recite the Song of Songs, at this time or at another time?" and other stupid things like that, which are not worthy of being written down.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
A fourth area of obvious Hasidic influence is Heschel’s great belief in the Hasidic virtues of hesed and simhah as key to the spiritual life. When we heard Heschel read the famous passages in the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef or the Kedushat Levi about the proper mokhia (preacher or chastiser), who brings people back to God be-derekh ha-hesed (‘‘by means of kindness’’) rather than by harsh threats, we understood that Heschel saw his own role in this way. He never berated Jews for not being observant, but tried to show them the light and beauty that he found in the religious life. He saw his job as helping people to open their eyes in a deeper way, and he knew that this could only be done by positive example, not by anger or judgment. In this sense I think it fair to say that he did indeed take on the role of rebbe, however reluctantly, for liberal Jews. There is something very much Hasidic, in the original sense of Hasidism (before it became a weapon against modernity and sometimes revealed an angry face) present in this approach. Hasidism understands anger, even righteous anger, as a negative characteristic, emerging from too strong a pull to the bad side or the presence of too much black bile in the system. It has to be countered by the activation of haesed, divine love or compassion, for which Hasidism is named, after all. To be a hasid is to be an ish ha-Aesed, something Heschel tried to exemplify all his life. This is found in his writings on education and of course formed the basis for his commitment to reasserting the voice of religion in powerful nonviolent movements for social change. In Martin Luther King he saw gevurah shebe-Aesed, if I may say it in Hasidic language—the tremendous power that lay hidden in acts of love.
(Modern Judaism, Volume 29, Number 1, February 2009, p. 72)
ספר רזין דאורייתא, בשם הרבי ר' מיכל מזלאטשוב
אולם הכוונה, דנודע אשר יצחק נולד בנשמת נוקבא, וכמו שכתב בעל אור החיים הק', ועל ידי העקדה היה לו נשמת דכר להשפיע. ועל פי זה מובן למה לא נמצא באדם יותר עקרה מאשר מבבהמה, אשר בפסוק נשתוו זה לזה בברכה, לא יהיה בך ובבהמתך עקר ועקרה, רק זאת נודע סדר הגלגולים. ולפעמים נקבה תסובב גבר כי בסבת הגלגול נשמת נקבה תבוא בזכר, כאשר י'תרעם ה'גלגל ו'יתרעש ה'חוזר לבוא בגלגול שני ושלישי. ואם נקבה אשר תסובב בגבר, שני נקבות אינם מולידים, רק על ידי מעשי הטוב מחליפין הנשמה, וליצחק החליפו הנשמה. לפיכך לו ולא לה, כי יצחק היה צריך לאותו דבר ולא רבקה:
Teaching from Rabbi Yechiel Michael from Zloczow (1731-1786)
It is known that when Issac was born, he was born with the soul of a female, as it is written in Or Hachaim, and through the akeidah (binding of Issac) he got a male soul that can influence (meaning, can impregnate). [With that we can understand why they more infertile humans than animals, even though that they both got the same blessing "It will not be within you and within your animals infertility".] But, this is known according to the Sod (Secret/Mysticism) of reincarnation - that at times, a female would be in a male body, because in the reasons of gilgal (reincarnation) the soul of a female would come to be in a male. ... that is why it says by Issac that Hashem (Divine) answered to him and not to her (Rebecca), because he needed divine help to be able to have kids.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
וענין ג' הוא בחינת ייעוד חכמים בהתחברות בלב שלם ותמים לא שיהיו בד בבד שעליהם אמר הכתוב (ידמיה נ) חרב אל הבדים (בדכות ס''ג.), אלא יתועדו יחד ויחדדו זה לזה ויסבירו פנים זה לזה, וכנגד זה אמר ויחן שם ישראל לשון יחיד שנעשו כולן יחד כאיש אחד, והן עתה הם ראוים לקבלת התורה:
(the third thing is) the teaching of the wise coming together with each other, and connecting with a full and whole friendship (heart). Not to be separated from each other, as for that the Talmud teaches us based on the words of Jeremiah, that it's like a sword on those who are [studying] alone. But, we need to come together, grow from each other [from the differences], and treat each other nicely. That is why the Torah uses a singular word, because all the Israelites became like one person - and now they were ready to receive to Torah.
(free translation by Abby Stein)
וּבָאוֹ כֻלָּם בִּבְרִית יַחַד, נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמַע אָמְרוּ כְּאֶחָד, וּפָתְחוּ וְעָנוּ יְהֹוָה אֶחָד, בָּרוּךְ הַנּוֹתֵן לַיָּעֵף כֹּחַ:
And they all came together in a covenant, ”We will do and we will listen,” they said as one. And they opened and answered, “God is one,” Blessed is the One who gives strength to the the tired. (translation by Abby Stein)
This oneness goes through history and it goes through Klal Yisroel / all the God wrestlers with whom we feel we share. [It goes through our connection to other religions too,] and the commonality also extends beyond human beings: We share with the birds, we share with the mammals, [with] the chimpanzees (who [have been shown to be able to] learn how to speak to each other in American Sign Language and then pass it on to the next generation). And when I watch the geese and the little goslings down at the lake, they also connect me with the oneness of it all.”
- Reb Zalman schachter-shalomi, “Renewal is not Judaism-lite“, 1998
I wanted to show that if you claim being trans is unacceptable in traditional Judaism, well, here is a community that is not just okay with accepting me as I am, but is celebrating with me, rejoicing with me. What I’m hoping is that by sharing my story, others in the same situation will realize that you can have your name changed in a synagogue. There are so many synagogues where you can’t, but there are also those where you can — the Jewish Reform movement, the Conservative movement. Within Orthodoxy, there’s still a long way to go. Every time something like this is done, it’s one step closer to acceptance for everyone.
I managed to keep myself from crying during the ceremony, but I choked up at one part. It was a traditional blessing that meant, “Blessed are you, O Lord, who has kept me alive and brought me up to this day.” I’m grateful that I survived to this day. That was a point that was really important. The name change was also a very emotional part. The way the community reacted was so amazing.
Even the negative feedback has ended up being positive. People would ask me, “I don’t get it, are you religious or not?” My answer to them is, “That’s not a yes or no question.”
- How This Ex-Hasidic Woman Lost and Found Her Judaism, Huffington Post, June 9, 2016
"בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ\עַצְמָהּ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא\ה מִמִּצְרַיִם”
(In every generation a person must regard themselves as though they personally had gone out of Egypt), Whenever we leave a narrow place, a place of constriction, painful servitude, a place where we are not authentically who we are, that leap taking, that transitioning, is an exodus. A freedom walk.
Rabbi David Ingber, Romemu
by Rabbi Eli Kukla
Jewish sacred texts such as the Mishna, the Talmud, midrash and classical legal codes acknowledge the diversity of gender identities in our communities, despite the way that mainstream Jewish religious tradition has effaced the experiences of transgender, intersex and gender queer Jews. This blessing signals the holiness present in the moments of transitioning that transform Jewish lives and affirms the place of these moments within Jewish sacred tradition.
ברכה זו נאמר לפני בציעת כל מעשה העברה:
ברוך אתה יהוה, אלהינו מלך העולם, המעביר לעוברים.
לאחר הביצוע:
ברוך אתה יהוה, אלהינו מלך העולם, שעשני בצלמו.
This blessing may be recited before any moment in the transitioning process: Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God, Ruler of Time and Space, the Transforming One to those who transform/transition/cross over,
Afterwards recite: Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God Ruler of Time and Space who has made me in God’s image.
Joy Ladin, Torah In Transition - transtorah.org
Painful as it was, I grew up in the world of “male and female God created them,” a world in which gender was, and in many ways still is, essential to humanness. In this country, you can’t get a birth certificate, social security number, driver’s license, or passport without being allocated to the ranks of male or female – which means you can’t get a job, insurance coverage, the right to drive or rent a car or move across borders without taking your place, at least on paper, in the gender binary. In some public places, you can’t pee without identifying yourself as male or female. Thanks to sonograms, many babies are gendered even before they are born, and those who aren’t are labeled “male” or “female” the moment their pelvises see the light of day.
In this sense, as Genesis 1:27 suggests, gender is absolute; we aren’t treated as human until we take our places in the binary.
But as God and Adam discover in Genesis 2, gender is not only an image in which we are created; it is an image in which we create, and recreate, ourselves, through our relationships to one another. Even in the most rigidly gendered social arenas, gender is not absolute. The gender of an octogenarian has little in common with the gender of an adolescent. The gender of the young veiled bride is very different from the gender the same woman will express when she is a forty-something mother of three, and both are different from the gender she expresses when she is in hospital scrubs performing surgery. Gender is something we bring out of ourselves, shaping and reshaping it in response to changing needs for completeness, companionship and a place in the world.
Gender, then, is not a matter of bodies or even souls; as Adam recognizes when he first sees Eve, gender is a way of relating to others that enables us to feel like ourselves. To the extent that gender grows out of relationships, even within the categories of “male” and “female,” our genders are fluid, shifting in nuance and emphasis as we move in and out of contact with people we know and need in different ways. In other words, both accounts in Genesis are true; or rather, truth is what we get when we take both, contradictions and all, together. Gender is both a given of existence and a relationship driven process, an absolute template and a fluid mode of self-expression. And as I’ve discovered, both conceptions of gender have advantages, even for a transsexual.
Some of us may be created according to the male and female binary; I wasn’t. Like Adam, I’m a homemade creature. God didn’t create me in relation to a category; I had to be individually imagined, assembled, animated. Like Adam, I had to confront the loneliness of that individuality before I could find my place in the world, and like Adam, I have learned that what I needed to find that place was always within me.
As one study of child development points out, all of us learn to act like the gender we “are” by learning to avoid behaviors that are associated with genders we “aren’t.” This means that masculinity contains – indeed, is defined by – the femininity boys and men are taught not to express; all males internalize a femininity that, like Adam’s rib, can be brought out of our male identities and fashioned into new female selves. In this sense, I’m not approximating a femininity that isn’t mine; like my breasts’ ability to grow when exposed to estrogen, femininity has always been there, sleeping within me. Like Adam, I simply – simply! – had to cut myself open to give birth to the woman swaddled and smothered by my masculinity. Our tradition teaches us that we grow through reading Torah. But the Torah itself grows by being read, remains alive, fresh, startling and new, by becoming part of the lives blossoming and dying around it. As our Sages tell us, the Torah is our life, and the length of our days. All our days: gay, straight, male, female, trans, the days we first open our eyes to the world and the days we gaze our last upon it. The Torah’s roots stretch down to the depths of our being; its limbs stretch through us, toward the future. It is not only our right to read the Torah through our gay, lesbian, bi- and trans- lives; it is our obligation. The Torah’s life depends on ours.
- Jay Michaelson, The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism, 2009, p. 218.
- Rabbi Becky Silverstein, My Jewish Learning, 2013
(יד) וַתִּשֶּׂ֣נָה קוֹלָ֔ן וַתִּבְכֶּ֖ינָה ע֑וֹד וַתִּשַּׁ֤ק עָרְפָּה֙ לַחֲמוֹתָ֔הּ וְר֖וּת דָּ֥בְקָה בָּֽהּ׃ (טו) וַתֹּ֗אמֶר הִנֵּה֙ שָׁ֣בָה יְבִמְתֵּ֔ךְ אֶל־עַמָּ֖הּ וְאֶל־אֱלֹהֶ֑יהָ שׁ֖וּבִי אַחֲרֵ֥י יְבִמְתֵּֽךְ׃ (טז) וַתֹּ֤אמֶר רוּת֙ אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעָזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹהַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹהָֽי׃ (יז) בַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּמ֙וּתִי֙ אָמ֔וּת וְשָׁ֖ם אֶקָּבֵ֑ר כֹּה֩ יַעֲשֶׂ֨ה יְהוָ֥ה לִי֙ וְכֹ֣ה יֹסִ֔יף כִּ֣י הַמָּ֔וֶת יַפְרִ֖יד בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינֵֽךְ׃
(כב) וַתָּ֣שָׁב נָעֳמִ֗י וְר֨וּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּ֤ה כַלָּתָהּ֙ עִמָּ֔הּ הַשָּׁ֖בָה מִשְּׂדֵ֣י מוֹאָ֑ב וְהֵ֗מָּה בָּ֚אוּ בֵּ֣ית לֶ֔חֶם בִּתְחִלַּ֖ת קְצִ֥יר שְׂעֹרִֽים׃
(14) They broke into weeping again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law farewell. But Ruth clung to her. (15) So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Go follow your sister-in-law.” (16) But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you sleep over, I will sleep; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the LORD do to me, if anything but death parts me from you.” (22) Thus Naomi returned from the country of Moab; she returned with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite.
וַתִּקְרֶאנָה֩ ל֨וֹ הַשְּׁכֵנ֥וֹת שֵׁם֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר יֻלַּד־בֵּ֖ן לְנָעֳמִ֑י וַתִּקְרֶ֤אנָֽה שְׁמוֹ֙ עוֹבֵ֔ד ה֥וּא אֲבִי־יִשַׁ֖י אֲבִ֥י דָוִֽד׃ (פ)
and the women neighbors gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” They named him Obed; he was the father of Jesse, father of David.
They gave us a powerful example, of love between women.
May their love guide same-sex couples, and all couples into a deeper connection
with each other and with the Spirit who created us to love. Amen.
- Prayer by Kittredge Cherry, Qspirit.net
במקום שיר אהבה - יהודה עמיחי
כמו שמ"לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו",
עשו את כל החקים הרבים של כשרות,
אבל הגדי שכוח והחלב שכוח והאם שכוחה,
כך מ"אני אוהב אותך"
עשינו את כל חיינו יחדו.
אבל אני לא שכחתי אותך
כפי שהיית אז.
Instead of love - Yehuda Amichai
From “thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk”
they made the many lawas of Kashrut
but the kid is forgotten and the milk is forgotten and
the mother is forgotten.
In this way from “I love you”
we made all our life together.
But I’ve not forgotten you
as you were then.