We learn about ourselves that we are called “Ivri”, which many connect with the act of crossing over. It’s a term given to us by others. In the Narrow Lands, where we are strangers, we are known as those who cross over the river. Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz tells us that the word ivri is also linguistically close "to words in other ancient Near Eastern languages that mean “dust” or “trespasser” (habiru or hapiru)."
We are now in the midst of the crossover texts: Texts filled with gender-bending, border crossings, survival, wandering, and displacement.
To be Jewish/Ivri in a non-Jewish/Ivri world is certainly an act of crossing boundaries, of trespass and transgression. It’s to be continually crossing over. I would argue that our presents and futures depend on crossings and transgressions and trespasses. Just as they did when the midwives of the Narrow Lands defied the leader's command to kill all males born to the Ivri*
The focus of several portions that close out Genesis is Joseph. A person who some rabbis say crossed over in the womb. Rashi tells us that when Leah and Rachel were both pregnant, Leah prayed that her child would be born a girl so that her sister could bear a boy. Some rabbis and commentators say that the fetuses were actually switched in the womb and that throughout their lives, the two retained aspects of each other. And certainly, we see Joseph dressed in a princess gown and displaying traditionally feminine aspects throughout his childhood.
Let's take a crossover lens, a trans lens, a queer lens to read the portions we are in the midst of reading - the most narrative part of the Tanakh: featuring Joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat, sibling rivalry, dreams, a famine, tragedy, and redemption.
Today, I give you a source sheet created by Binya Koatz who runs the Queer Yeshiva Shel Maala. Let’s just look at the part on Joseph:
If you finish, consider Jacob's deathbed blessing to Joseph:
בֵּ֤ן פֹּרָת֙ יוֹסֵ֔ף בֵּ֥ן פֹּרָ֖ת עֲלֵי־עָ֑יִן בָּנ֕וֹת צָעֲדָ֖ה עֲלֵי־שֽׁוּר׃ וַֽיְמָרְרֻ֖הוּ וָרֹ֑בּוּ וַֽיִּשְׂטְמֻ֖הוּ בַּעֲלֵ֥י חִצִּֽים׃ וַתֵּ֤שֶׁב בְּאֵיתָן֙ קַשְׁתּ֔וֹ וַיָּפֹ֖זּוּ זְרֹעֵ֣י יָדָ֑יו מִידֵי֙ אֲבִ֣יר יַעֲקֹ֔ב מִשָּׁ֥ם רֹעֶ֖ה אֶ֥בֶן יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ מֵאֵ֨ל אָבִ֜יךָ וְיַעְזְרֶ֗ךָּ וְאֵ֤ת שַׁדַּי֙ וִיבָ֣רְכֶ֔ךָּ בִּרְכֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ מֵעָ֔ל בִּרְכֹ֥ת תְּה֖וֹם רֹבֶ֣צֶת תָּ֑חַת בִּרְכֹ֥ת שָׁדַ֖יִם וָרָֽחַם׃ בִּרְכֹ֣ת אָבִ֗יךָ גָּֽבְרוּ֙ עַל־בִּרְכֹ֣ת הוֹרַ֔י עַֽד־תַּאֲוַ֖ת גִּבְעֹ֣ת עוֹלָ֑ם תִּֽהְיֶ֙יןָ֙ לְרֹ֣אשׁ יוֹסֵ֔ף וּלְקׇדְקֹ֖ד נְזִ֥יר אֶחָֽיו׃ {פ}
Joseph is a wild ass,
A wild ass by a spring—Wild colts on a hillside. Archers bitterly assailed him;They shot at him and harried him. Yet his bow stayed taut,And his arms were made firmBy the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob—There, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel— The God of your father’s [house], who helps you,And Shaddai who blesses youWith blessings of heaven above,Blessings of the deep that couches below,Blessings of the breast and womb. The blessings of your fatherSurpass the blessings of my ancestors,To the utmost bounds of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph,On the brow of the elect of his brothers.
________________________
Notes and Sources
*When the Ruler of the Narrow Lands demands our sons be killed, midwives refuse to comply. They are referred to as midwives to those who cross over--or perhaps cross-over midwives. From Rabbi Leah R. Berkowitz:
While studying the story of the midwives in Exodus 1:15, I noticed that they are called meyalledot ha'ivriot, referring to the ethnicity of the midwives and/or the women they served. In light of this midrash, however, I began to understand the term ivriot as a mark of the midwives’ courage. When Pharaoh ordered them to kill the male newborns of the Hebrew women, the midwives were willing to be “on the other side,” risking their lives by defying Pharaoh’s order.
Ze Kollel Responses
Below, you will find comments that arose in the Ze Kollel discussion of Binya Koatz's source sheet. Most are summaries of comments. If it's a direct quote, you will see quotation marks.
Ivri
Ivri, which is spelled ayin bet reish, also shares letters with criminal and pregnancy
Crossing over - Ivri/Jewishness doesn't fit a contained category, whether it’s gender or the categories that Europeans created: it’s not an ethnicity; it's not racial. Being Jewish defies these categories.
This whole idea of Ivri as transgression, trespass, and crossing over, inspired people to think of how gender also transgresses binaries. We also asked how to approach the subject of the texts in a way that honors fluidity, making space for the "de-categorical".
"How does one make space for the de-categorical? This is an impossible question for institutions."
Wild Ass
The poetry of "Joseph as a wild ass" was not lost on the group. From the Fox translation:
Young wild-ass,
Yosef,
young wild-ass along a spring,
donkeys along a wall.
Bitterly they shot at him,
the archers assailed him,
yet firm remained his bow,
and agile stayed his arms [and] hands—
by means of the hands of Yaakov’s Champion,
up there,
the Shepherd, the Stone of Yisrael.
By your father’s God—
may he help you,
and Shaddai,
give-you-blessing:
blessings of the heavens, from above,
blessings of Ocean crouching below,
blessings of breasts and of womb!
"I keep thinking of Joseph as a Wild Ass, as a threat to their brothers, and yet she is the one who holds prophecy that goes against the strictures of the tribe."
These texts can say so much. Biblical Hebrew contains multiple possible readings. How can we read biblical poetry?
Violence
"I first learned about the violence against Joseph as envy, but now I wonder if the violence was against Joseph’s freedom to express themselves more freely than their brothers could. Now it seems connected to homophobia and of men being frustrated because they cannot express themselves as freely as they would like to."
The sexual violence against both Dinah and Joseph is something to think about - Dinah has male characteristics and Joseph more femme characteristics and both experience violations of consent.
Amsterdam and Homosexuality
The group discussion turned its attention to Amsterdam when one discussant said that they felt that they felt there was an aggressive endorsement of everything homosexual in Amsterdam. From decorations on trams, to sidewalk crossings, to the myriad flags that grace its city streets, everything seems happily queer.
And yet...
There is a strong interaction between normalcy and the public celebration of homosexuality. This is a huge part of Dutch identity: that it was the first country in the world to make gay marriage legal. Diversity is so public that it is regimented in order to be normal. But it’s more white and privileged...
Queer women and gender non-conforming people get assaulted regularly at Pride in Amsterdam.
Dutch people still pride themselves on being things that they haven’t been for a long time: We’re so tolerant, so open. The insistence on this unreflective self-definition has made tolerance an ugly word.
The last word
"It’s very exciting to see how many different ways that we can interpret the Talmud. I thought I knew these stories. But now I am excited to find my own."