Earlier this year, the Trans Halakha Project—an initiative of SVARA, a queer and trans yeshiva—published a series of teshuvot, or answers to questions about halakha (Jewish religious law). These pieces speak to questions of Jewish life and practice for trans people, from who is obligated to undergo circumcision or to follow the prescriptions around menstruation, to whether it’s permissible to wear a chest binder when immersing in the mikveh (a ritual bath that traditionally requires nudity). While there have been some previous efforts to apply halakha to specific questions of trans life, almost none of this work has been produced by trans people themselves until now. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman speaks with three members of the yeshiva’s Teshuva-Writing Collective: Laynie Soloman, Alyx Bernstein, and Rabbi Xava de Cordova. They discuss why the collective took up these particular questions, how they understand the nature of religious authority in Judaism, and what it means to reimagine halakha for trans flourishing.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts, Events, and Further Reading:
The Teshuva-Writing Collective's teshuvot
Beit Yosef by Rabbi Joseph Karo
“An Unrecognizable Jewish Future: A Queer Talmudic Take,” Rabbi Benay Lappe, ELI Talks
“Euphoric Halakhah,” Laynie Soloman, Evolve
Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Joseph Karo
“Are Trans Women Obligated in Niddah? How Can That Obligation Be Fulfilled?,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Trans Halakha Project
“Embracing Halakhah That Was Not Addressed to You,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Evolve
“The Androgynos in the Laws of Milah & Niddah: A Potential Approach to Trans Halakha,” Alyx Bernstein, Trans Halakha Project
“A Created Being of Its Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Theology for Men, Women and Everyone Else,” Rabbi Elliot Kukla, TransTorah
Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld
“The Talmud and Other Trans Archives” event with Max K. Strassfeld, Joy Ladin, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Ari Brostoff, Jewish Currents
“Immersing in a Mikvah While Wearing a Chest Binder,” Jamie Weisbach, Trans Halakha Project
“Mai Mevarech: A Berakha for Testosterone Gel,” Laynie Soloman, Trans Halakha Project
“Milah & Hatafat Dam Brit in a Case of Sakanah (Danger),” Ariel Ya’akov Berry, Trans Halakha Project
“Compiling the Next Trans Codex: Learning from the Writers of the Trans Halakha Project,” upcoming event series, Shel Maala and the Trans Halakha Project