Becky Silverstein, Laynie Soloman: Judaism Unbound Episode 273 - Trans & Jewish World-Building
Becky Silverstein and Laynie Soloman, co-founders of the Trans Halakha Project, join Dan and Lex to kick off a series of conversations that will intertwine explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
[1] The Trans Halakha Project housed at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, aims to curate existing resources that have been developed for trans Jews and by trans Jews, identify new areas of halakha that have yet to be developed, and finally to create opportunities for developing new halakhic literature and practice guides that speak directly to these areas of need. Learn more at Svara.org/Trans-Halakha-Project.
[2] Learn more about Becky Silverstein by clicking here, and learn more about Laynie Soloman by clicking here.
[3] One way that all of us can become more supportive and empowering of trans folks is to learn some important vocabulary. For a glossary of terms from the Jewish organization Keshet, click here. For a glossary of terms from PFLAG (a national organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies), click here.
[4] For additional Judaism Unbound conversations exploring the topic of halakha (a term we will leave undefined here, listen in to hear how our guests approach it!), see either of these: Episode 164: Going, Jewishly - Leon Wiener Dow or Episode 172: Judaism with Purpose(s) - Ayalon Eliach.
[5] Becky Silverstein references a presentation he gave at the Trans Jews are Here convening. We were proud to be a convening sponsor of that convening earlier this year (2021), and you can watch some of the publicly-available sessions at this link.
[6] Laynie Soloman references Robert Cover’s framework of “nomos and narrative.” Learn more about it here.
[7] ShavuotLIVE, Judaism Unbound’s 30-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning (FREE, all on Zoom, with Becky Silverstein as a featured presenter), is coming up on May 15th-16th, 2021. Register at bit.ly/2021shavuot!