Gregg Drinkwater

Powerful, engaging and intellectually rigorous anthology devoted to commentaries on the Torah, seen through a queer lens. There is a whole range of perspectives on the weekly portions, from a whole spectrum of writers: rabbis and academics and activists; gay and straight and transgender; Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist. Some essays directly tackle the problematic pieces of the Hebrew Bible (particularly the ones that have been used as excuses to condemn homosexual show more behavior as ungodly and immoral), while others use the Torah portions as jumping-off points for discussing the modern-day movement for equality and inclusion. There are a few pieces that I didn't connect with (mostly because overly Freudian and/or deconstructionist angles make me roll my eyes), but overall I am so glad to have found this wonderful collection, and can see myself turning to it again and again -- just as with its focus, the Torah itself. show less

This book has both an introduction and a preface. It's...a bit much. I hate to say it, but the writing is super dense and not at all accessible. It's overly academic and super dull, and -I didn't even make it past the introduction-. In a 'blink and you miss it' moment in the introduction, the person who wrote the introduction notes that "people" thought this should have included solely essays by LGBT+ rabbis. They immediately explained that most of the essays were by straight allies. I show more instantly noped out. "People" were probably members of the LGBT+ community. I'll search for takes from people in the LGBT+ community. show less