A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969

by Noam Sienna, Judith Plaskow (Contributor)

For many queer Jews, Jewish tradition seems like a rich tapestry which at best ignores them and at worst rejects them entirely. In reality, queerness and queer Judaism have been a constant subplot of Jewish history, if only we care to look.

Spanning almost two millennia and containing translations from more than a dozen languages, Noam Sienna's new book, A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts From the First Century to 1969, collects for the first time more than a hundred sources on the intersection of Jewish and queer identities.

Covering poetry, drama, literature, law, midrash, and memoir, this anthology suggests that Jewish texts are not just obstacles to be overcome in the creation of queer Jewish life, but also potential resources waiting to be excavated. Through an unprecedented examination of the histories of gender and sexuality over two millennia of Jewish life around the world, this book inspires and challenges its readers to create a better future through a purposeful reflection on our past.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Queer, Nonfiction, Religion, LGBT, History

452 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2019

Reviews

[federico garcía LOCA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overflowing with gratitude that this book has been compiled and that I read it Jews be gay as hell!!

[Nicholas Perez]

Thanks to Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing, for DMing me and telling me about this book after we discussed Philo of Alexandria and his views of trans people and the influence of his usage of "logos" upon early Christians.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in June in honor of Pride Month!

An impressive collection of sources, spanning 2 millennia and many continents. that all prove that Queer Identity has existed among the Jewish people since the Beginning. What I especially appreciated was the multiplicity of genres, and the journey into different Jewish communities around the world and in different periods of time.

Recommend for anyone interested in Queer Studies, Jewish Studies, Feminist Studies, and Religious Studies.

[bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderfully wide range of primary texts through history with great context and reservation of modern judgment from the author/editor, which is rare in collections like this. i love gossip. i love gossip the way the guy who wrote in to the yiddish forward in the 1930s to share a story abt a trans man he knew in his shtetl 40 years earlier who "always had a good name as a fine upstanding jew" and in fact "married a nice girl" loved gossip. i read the first half with thrills n chills and noted many items to describe to my wife later-- the town notice that young men were sneaking out to fuck! the town notice that young men had found a new place to fuck! bachelors forbidden from owning looms! a young man who "holds [another man] by the beard, gazes deep into his eyes, and explains complex talmudic passages"!! the last quarter got a little dull in its shifting focus to dry respectable political/social advocacy but that's really the fault of history isn't it

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have been waiting all of our lives for this book! I'm so glad it's finally here to connect us through history and show us that we aren't the first.

[William Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this is you're interested in fascinating tidbits from late antiquity to the 1970s that show the nuanced, changing, and evolving takes on sex, gender, sexual oriental, and romance of one of our most ancient living traditions. Pivotal for scholars of Judaism or queer history, but also great for the arm chair bookworm looking for stirring poetry.

[Adrian Shanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Sienna has curated a comprehensive anthology providing countless new ancestors and a robust queer jewish lineage across time and space. Thank you, Noam, for this Rainbow Thread!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection of sources from the first century to modern times. Having done some research in this area, this is not simply easily found sources put together for the first time. Instead it provides readerS or scholars with new texts they are unlikely to find. The book does not skim over or deny the difficult relationship of religion to queerness through the centuries. Instead it shows those who would say this is a modern phenomenon that this topic has always existed in text, at times more positively than others, and therefore LBGTQ+ individuals have been part of the Jewish community from the start.

[Kyra Boisseree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m wavering between 4 and 5 stars for this one. It was a very good anthology, and, though it sometimes paused to explain basic Jewish terms, did not feel like a beginner’s text, which I appreciated. It introduced me to queer Jewish writers that I’m excited to read more of, and informed me some writers that I already knew of were queer and Jewish! The included responsa were fascinating, and I page-flagged some of the poetry. I sometimes feel as though queerness and Judaism exist in separate spheres of my life, but this book bridged that gap admirably.

[Helayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take it in pace. Some of the readings are very emotionally taxing, but each one is so thoughtfully selected. I would never have seen about 99% of them if not for this book. Phenomenal. Highly recommend.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of 120 stories, excerpts, poems, texts from 2000 years and many different countries and types of people, with engaging introductions and commentary.

Quote from the author on the podcast Judaism Unbound: "[A rabbi in 1969] looked at his Jewish 'bookshelf.' And he said 'I don't see anything that deals with homosexuality.' [He concluded] that homosexuals don't exist in Jewish history. But the mistake that he makes is that he looks at what happens to be on his 'bookshelf' -- the Mishnah, and Talmud, and Medieval compilations of Jewish law, all written by men, mostly written in Europe -- and thinks 'that's everything I need to know about Judaism.' But that bookshelf is just a sliver -- the '1%.' As soon as we move the spotlight over a bit, we see an entirely different picture of Judaism."

[Charles Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone asked me, "if you gave this book to an LGBTQ person, would they feel better or worse about Judaism after reading it?"

Honestly, I have no idea; I don't identify as someone with any of those identities, so who am I to say. But whereas I had no awareness, no knowledge of what it was like to be a queer or gay or non-binary or transsexual Jew at any point in history, now I know a little more. I know a little more about how people found love and oppression and hope and art and kindness and persecution and hatred and intolerance in and around the Jewish community over the last 2,000 years. I never saw these things, or sought them out. I'm grateful that I did, and now I want to know more.

[Yara Changyit-Levin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the main source of readings I used in semester-long study of Queer Jewish history. I went from being unsure if this was even a feasible field to research, before I was introduced to this anthology, to becoming fascinated and inspired to do further research, reading, and writing in this area.

As Sienna expresses in the introduction, I too hope that this collection is only the first of many projects of its kind! I was inspired to start writing a YA fantasy novel myself based on some of these primary sources, and I look forward to seeing other research projects, essays, articles, and works of art created by people who discovered Queer Judaism through this book.

[Gil Segev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is required reading for any queer Jew who wants to pay homage to the generations that came before us. The title could not be more fitting, as this anthology ties together 5,000 years of queer Jews in a resounding, undeniable declaration that "we were here." This collection has both non-fiction and poetry, showing the evolution of human storytelling on top of the recurring themes. The explanations before each piece offer context and history to the texts, and the translations are both sympathetic and accurate. Buy this book for all of your relatives.

[Nia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many thanks to Masha for this book, which she gave me as a gift over a year ago, and I've only had a chance to actually look at it recently. My apologies, as this is a worthy contribution to the literature, some of the essays of which are a little on the imaginative side, but certainly fit within the context of providing a different point of view within the existing literature.

[Sara Sypolt · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing anthology. read this for a college research project. astounding stories and impeccable intersections of identity and seeing how they impact the author of poems, or the person giving speeches/writing official documents on jewish queerness. highly recommend for its diversity and historical richness.

[Jordon Gyarmathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book I was dying to read for awhile. It was so fascinating to read about gender and sexuality from Jewish sources spanning thousands of years and dozens of different places around the world. The book clarifies how varied, complex, and non-uniform the queer-Jewish relationship has been. I'd highly recommend this to any queer Jews.

[BOOK BOOKS]

I WENT TO ORDER A BOOK FOR MY MOM AND ENDED UP ORDERING THIS ONE FOR ME TOO AND MEEEME *_____*

THAT LOOKS AMAZING, MEMER.

[NOTE FROM GOODREADS MEMER, WHO WAS NOT ON FOR THIS SHIFT: IT IS AMAZING, AND IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO SEE HIM TALK, YOU SHOULD GO.]

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cool book. I did not finish the whole thing in order, but rather followed some of the pathways in the appendix which I enjoyed. The introductions to each text are very well done. They do a nice job contextualizing what you will read so that you can fully understand it.

[AJ Dees · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is AMAZING. Found myself getting lost in this book over and over again. I recommend this book to anyone, Jewish or Gentile!

[Deke Moulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal

[Hannah Kass · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-have/must-read for every queer Jew!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noam Sienna, the editor of the impressive “A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts From the First Century to 1969” (Print-O-Craft), notes that “queer Jews often feel like they are the first and only of their kind.” Their history is rarely featured in traditional day school or after-school religious classes, or acknowledged by many members of the Jewish community. Sienna’s “A Rainbow Thread” seeks to correct this neglect by offering a wide variety of texts – positive and negative – speaking specifically to, and about, queer Jews.
Sienna writes that “the significance of [his] book resides in its recovery of a lineage which has been denied and withheld from the people who have sought it. History is important for everyone, but it takes on a special importance when evidence of one’s very existence has been manipulated and censored, forgotten, buried, and destroyed. This is particularly true for queer Jews and others with doubly- and multiple-marginalized identities who so often must fight for recognition and legitimacy on many fronts, both inside and outside the various communities to which they belong.” Sienna has collected texts from early rabbinic writing to 1969, the year of the Stonewall riots (which is regarded as a major turning point in the LGBTQ community). “A Rainbow Thead” includes 120 texts, a number considered significant in Judaism because it is said to be the age of Moses when he died.
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...

[Mills College Library]

296.44 R154 2019