All of the texts within the play, and all of the notes and translations in this source sheet, are compiled in my upcoming book "Sources of Pride" an anthology of over 250 lectures I have given over the past decade.
The book will be published in September 2025, and is available for pre-order: https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/sources-of-pride/
Note on translation: The Translations I did myself, I translated at times masculine God language into gender neutral. In some of the texts, I went with the Yiddish "Hashem" (literally: The Name) the most common colloquial use for the proper names of God, the same mentioned in the play.
The book will be published in September 2025, and is available for pre-order: https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/sources-of-pride/
Note on translation: The Translations I did myself, I translated at times masculine God language into gender neutral. In some of the texts, I went with the Yiddish "Hashem" (literally: The Name) the most common colloquial use for the proper names of God, the same mentioned in the play.
‘‘The Hasidic teaching is the proclamation of rebirth. No renewal of Judaism is possible that does not bear in itself the elements of Hasidism.’’
- Martin Buber
ספר רזין דאורייתא, בשם הרבי ר' מיכל מזלאטשוב
למה זה נאמר (בראשית כה:כא) ויעתר לו יהוה ותהר רבקה אשתו, כי אם עיקר התפילה היתה על ההריון ממילא מובן אם נאמר ויעתר לו יהוה הכוונה קבלת התפלה וממילא נתעברה אשתו.
אולם הכוונה, דנודע אשר יצחק נולד בנשמת נוקבא, וכמו שכתב בספר אור החיים הקדוש (בראשית י"ח פסוק י'), ועל ידי העקדה היה לו נשמת דכר להשפיע. ועל פי זה מובן למה נמצא באדם יותר עקרה מאשר מבבהמה, אשר בפסוק נשתוו זה לזה בברכה, לא יהיה בך עקר ועקרה ובבהמתך (דברים ז'), 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, ולזאת ליצחק החליפו הנשמה. לפיכך לו ולא לה, כי יצחק היה צריך לאותו דבר ולא רבקה:
Sefer Razin DeOraisa, in the name of the Rabbi Rebbe Mechela of Zlotchov (1725-1781)
Why does it say (in Genesis 25:21) "and Hashem answered his (Isaac's) prayers, and his wife Rebecca became pregnant." It would be understood on its own if the Torah just said "and God answered his prayers" that it means his prayers were accepted, and obviously his wide became pregnant.
However, the meaning of this verse is as follows: it is known that when Isaac was born, he was born with the soul of a female, as it is written in the Holy Book Or Hachaim (Genesis 18:10), and through the akeidah (binding of Isaac) he got a male soul that can influence (meaning, can impregnate). With that we can understand why there are 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" (Deuteronomy 7). 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. And now if the soul of a female is in a male, then this couple are two women, and two women cannot (without outside help) impregnate each other, and only sometimes through good deeds (in this case, prayer) their soul is changed. That is why it says by Isaac that Hashem answered to Him and not to Her (Rebecca), because he needed divine help to be able to have kids.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
It should be noted that in the Kabbalistic teachings that Reb Mechela is referring to ("It is known" in early Hasidic books refers to Kabbalistic teachings, usually from Rabbi Isaac Luria "The ARI" (1534-1572) and his students), especially in Sh'ar Hagilguim, they also references several other way of how and when a "female reincarnated in a male" can still naturally procreate with a (cis) woman. Some of those ways include through having sparks of a male soul, and others.
PS: See below (Second video) a video of this text from Reb Mechela in Yiddish with English subtitles.
לאָז מיר פאַלן אויב איך דאַרף פאַלן,
דער וואָס איך וועל ווערן וועט מיר כאַפּן.
- בעל שם טוב
Let me fall if I most fall,
The one I will become will catch me.
- The Baal Shem Tov
I realized that all forms of religion are masks that the divine wears to communicate with us. Behind all religions there’s a reality, and this reality wears whatever clothes it needs to speak to a particular people.
- Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life’s Greatest Mystery
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן הֲוָה אָזִיל לִטְבֶרְיָה, וְהֲווּ עִמֵּיהּ רַבִּי יוֹסֵי וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה וְרַבִּי חִיָּיא. אַדְּהָכִי חָמוּ לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי פִּנְחָס דְּהֲוָה אָתֵי. כֵּיוָן דְּאִתְחַבָּרוּ כְּחֲדָא, נַחֲתוּ וְיָתְבוּ תְּחוֹת אִילָנָא חַד מֵאִילָנֵי טוּרָא. אָמַר רַבִּי פִּנְחָס הָא יָתִיבְנָא, מֵאִלֵּין מִלֵּי מַעַלְיָיתָא דְּאַתְּ אָמֵר בְּכָל יוֹמָא בְּעֵינָא לְמִשְׁמַע.
פָּתַח רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן וְאָמַר (בראשית יג) וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו מִנֶּגֶב וְעַד בֵּית אֵל עַד הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הָיָה שָׁם אָהֳלֹה בַּתְּחִלָּה בֵּין בֵּית אֵל וּבֵין הָעָי. וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו, לְמַסָּעוֹ מִבָּעֵי לֵיהּ. מַאי לְמַסָּעָיו. אֶלָּא תְּרֵין מַטְלָנִין אִנּוּן. חַד דִּידֵיהּ וְחַד דִּשְׁכִינְתָּא. דְּהָא כָּל בַּר נָשׁ בָּעֵי לְאִשְׁתַּכְּחָא דְּכַר וְנוּקְבָא בְּגִין לְאַתְקָפָא מְהֵימְנוּתָא. וּכְדֵין שְׁכִינְתָּא לָא אִתְפָּרְשָׁא מִנֵּיהּ לְעָלְמִין.
תָּא חֲזֵי, כָּל זִמְנָא דְּבַר נָשׁ אִתְעַכַּב בְּאוֹרְחָא (בכל חיליה) בָּעֵי לְנַטְרָא עוֹבָדוֹי. בְּגִין דְּזִוּוּגָא עִלָּאָה לָא יִתְפְּרַשׁ מִנֵּיהּ וְיִשְׁתְּכַח פָּגִים בְּלָא דְּכַר וְנוּקְבָא. בְּמָתָא אִצְטְרִיךְ כַּד נוּקְבֵיהּ עִמֵּיהּ, כָּל שְׁכֵּן הָכָא דְּזִוּוּגָא עִלָּאָה אִתְקַשְּׁרַת בֵּיהּ. וְלָא עוֹד אֶלָּא דְּהָא זִוּוּגָא עִלָּאָה נָטִיר לֵיהּ בְּאָרְחָא וְלָא מִתְפָּרְשָׁא מִנֵּיהּ עַד דְּיִתוֹב לְבֵיתֵיהּ.
Rabbi Shimon was journeying to Tiberias, and there were with him, Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Chiya. While on the way, they saw Rabbi Pinchus coming to meet them. After exchanging greetings, they all sat down under a great shady tree by a hillside.
Rabbi Pinchus said (to Rabbi Shimon): Now that we have already sat down, we wanna hear some of those great teachings that you share every day.
Then Rabbi Shimon said: "It is written, 'and he went on his journeys from the south to Bethel unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai' (Gen. 13:3). It says, 'He went on his journeys' instead of 'his journey.' Why is that? There is a reference not only to his own journeying, but also that of the Shekhinah, who always went with Abraham, and therefore we learn that every person needs to be male and female at all time, for the sake of his faith, he ought not to think or imagine that the Shekhinah forsakes him in any way.
See, it has been said, a man ought always to cleave to his wife that the Shekhinah may always be with him, yet it is possible to go alone on a journey and the Shekhinah will still be with him. And when doing so he ought to direct his prayer to the Holy One that this may be, and in this way the male and female will always be associated in union with oneself.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
In this model, the individual mystic's soul, gendered feminine, first participates in an act of transgender-homoerotic mystical fellowship with those of hir fellow mystics in order to at once welcome in the Divine feminine (in some cases entering into erotic union with Her) and immediately switch gender roles to embody that Divine feminine for her congress with the male Godhead. This act of psychic double-transvestism is abetted by the Kabbalistic trope that casts God and Israel as the two lovers in the Song of Songs, or the two cherubs over the ark, with Israel taking the female role. ( Dr. Jay Michaelson)
שער הגלגולים, הקדמה ט'
גם דע, כי לפעמים יתגלגל האיש בגוף נקבה, לסבת איזה עון, כמו משכב זכור וכיוצא בו. והנה הנקבה הזאת שהיא גלגול נשמת זכר, אינה יכולה לקבל הריון ולהתעבר.
והנה האשה הזאת צריכה זכות גדול לשתוכל להתעבר ולהוליד, ואין לה מציאות אחר, זולתי שתתעבר בה איזו נשמת אשה נקבה אחרת בסוד העבור.
אמנם אי אפשר לה ללדת בנים זכרים לשתי סבות, האחת היא, לפי שהכתוב אומר, אשה כי חזריע וילדה זכר, אבל כאן האשה היא זכר כבעלה, ואינה יכולה ללדת זכרים אלא נקבות. הסבה הב' היא, לפי שכיון שאותה נשמה של הנקבה שנכנסה בה, לא נכנסה רק בסוד העבור לבד, כדי לסייעה שתתעבר ותלד, ולכן כיון שהאשה הזאת יולדת, אין הנשמה ההיא צריכה עוד להשאר שם בסוד העבור ללא צורך, ואז בעת שיולדת נכנס בה הנשמה ההיא של סוד העבור, ואז הולד ההוא יוצא נקבה ולא זכר:
Sha'ar Hagilgulim, Chapter 9
Sometimes a man may reincarnate into the body of a woman because of a sin, such as Mishkav Zachor (IMO, this is NOT talking about standard gay sex, though that is the common translation) or something similar. This woman who has received the soul of a man will not be able to conceive and become pregnant.
This woman will need great merit to enable her to become pregnant and give birth. The only way it can be done is that some other feminine soul must enter her as an ibur.
However, she cannot give birth to sons for two reasons. The first is [as follows:] There is a verse that says, "…If a woman puts forth seed, and a male child is born" (Lev. 12:2). In this case, the woman is a male, just like her husband. She cannot give birth to boys, but only to girls.
The second reason is that the feminine soul that has entered her does so only as an ibur in order to help her become pregnant and give birth. Once this woman gives birth, that soul does not need to stay there any longer for no reason. At the time that she gives birth, that [feminine] soul enters into the fetus as an actual gilgul, and not as an ibur, like it was at first. That is why the child that is born must be female and not male.
From my upcoming book, Sources of Pride:
This text is very personal to me, as it was the first text I ever read, while I was still Hasidic, that helped me hope that maybe I am not alone, maybe I am not alone in what I feel and know - that I am a girl – and I do belong.
I am quoting from my book, Becoming Eve, where I talk about it:
“The Door of Reincarnation, a study of human souls and their place in the world. I opened the second book and began to read.
It was early on a Friday morning that winter when I reached Chapter 9. The chapter focuses on the gender of souls, and how different souls may enter different bodies throughout time.
I was sitting at my usual place, at the table mounted to the eastern wall of the study hall. There were only a few other students in the study hall at that hour, and the room was quiet. In front of me was my book on my bookstand, which I’d been reading in the dim light, drinking a cup of Taster’s Choice as I turned the pages.
In Chapter 9, I read:
“At times, a male will reincarnate in the body of a female, and a female would be in a male body,” the words jumping up from the page in front of me.
I froze. I read it again. And again. And again.
For the first time, after sixteen years, I had found a text that justified my existence. Maybe I wasn’t crazy after all!
I stood up from my chair and left the study hall, walking outside into the cold air, into the forest, where I cried like a baby.”
This text is very personal to me, as it was the first text I ever read, while I was still Hasidic, that helped me hope that maybe I am not alone, maybe I am not alone in what I feel and know - that I am a girl – and I do belong.
I am quoting from my book, Becoming Eve, where I talk about it:
“The Door of Reincarnation, a study of human souls and their place in the world. I opened the second book and began to read.
It was early on a Friday morning that winter when I reached Chapter 9. The chapter focuses on the gender of souls, and how different souls may enter different bodies throughout time.
I was sitting at my usual place, at the table mounted to the eastern wall of the study hall. There were only a few other students in the study hall at that hour, and the room was quiet. In front of me was my book on my bookstand, which I’d been reading in the dim light, drinking a cup of Taster’s Choice as I turned the pages.
In Chapter 9, I read:
“At times, a male will reincarnate in the body of a female, and a female would be in a male body,” the words jumping up from the page in front of me.
I froze. I read it again. And again. And again.
For the first time, after sixteen years, I had found a text that justified my existence. Maybe I wasn’t crazy after all!
I stood up from my chair and left the study hall, walking outside into the cold air, into the forest, where I cried like a baby.”
I wanna note and acknowledge that this text is heavy. Especially the line "because of a sin such as Mishkav Zachor" a term most commonly translated as gay sex.
Personally, this text is meaningful for several reasons:
Personally, this text is meaningful for several reasons:
- First and foremost, for myself as a Hasidic teenager, and I imagine the same to many other people who would be raised in communities where there is no conversations around queer people, and even less recognition, this was the first, and for a while only, text that taught me that what I am feeling is real.
- I think the cultural context, which is a very religious (albeit definitely radically open for the time) community in the small city of Safed, in the 16th century Ottoman Empire, is kind of important here. Do I think these rabbis writing then were accepting of LGBTQ people in any way that we would call supportive today? Most likely not. However, they are writing in a time when there was no awareness of these issues in any way similar today - yet they are still more open than far too many people today, even here in the US. To me, that's the beauty of it.
- Plus, similar to 2, the fact that rabbis writing in the 16th century recognize that trans people exist, even with the supposed "sinful" reasoning. Especially given that we now have people in the highest offices in the US preaching hate against our existence. In that way, the existence of this text in 16th century Judaism is beautiful and inspiring.
- It also is worth noting that in Kabbalah, something happening because of a "sin" isn't seen as a punishment in the conventional way most think about it today in Western society. Rather, in the context of this text, reincarnation because of the "sin" is a positive opportunity to fix and fulfill something missed in a past life.
We Are Twilight People
By Rabbi Reuben Zellman
As the sun sinks and the colors of the day turn, we offer a blessing for the twilight, for twilight is neither day nor night, but in-between.
We are all twilight people.
We can never be fully labeled or defined.
We are many identities and loves, many genders and none.
We are in between roles, at the intersection of histories, or between place and place.
We are crisscrossed paths of memory and destination, streaks of light and swirled together.
We are neither day nor night.
We are both, neither, and all.
May the sacred in-between of this evening suspend our certainties, soften our judgments, and widen our vision.
May this in-between light illuminate our way to the Divine who transcends all categories and definitions.
May the in-between people who have come to pray be lifted up into this twilight.
We cannot always define; we can always say a blessing. Blessed are You, Source of all, who brings on the twilight.