In her groundbreaking book Standing Again At Sinai, Judith Plaskow writes “I did not become a feminist Jew by adding up columns of sexist and nonsexist passages in the Bible and tradition and deciding the nonsexist side had won.” Both Jewish religious practice and feminist politics were a priori commitments for her. The challenge for Plaskow was not proving that traditional Judaism had been egalitarian all along, but drawing on both Jewish and feminist tradition to create a religious framework for Jewish women and queer folk seeking equality. Inspired by this model, I approach Torah commentary on this blog with both reverence for our sacred texts and dedication to working class struggle. My aim is not a rejection of Jewish teaching that may contradict my politics, but alternative interpretations towards a religious framework for arbeyter Jews seeking a better world. Jewish tradition has much to offer our political analysis and the movement for socialism has much to offer our reading of Torah.
I, the author, am a Minnesota-based organizer in the labor movement and the Democratic Socialists of America. Without an editor, this blog features my sharpest prose alongside my worst excesses as a writer.
