Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition
AWARDED: 1998 Lambda Literary Award, spirituality/religion category\ One of the first women to be ordained as a rabbi explores how lesbians can shape Jewish tradition to resonate with their own experience.\ -Makes a solid contribution to both Jewish feminism and lesbian and gay studies, breaking new ground in its focus on transforming Jewish religious life from a lesbian perspective. . . . Writing in a straightforward, inviting-sometimes pastoral-voice that reaches out to a larger audience,...
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One of the first women to be ordained as a rabbi explores how lesbians can shape Jewish tradition to resonate with their own experience. Lambda Book Report An extremely valuable and visionary source for Jewish lesbians who long to be recognized and to participate fully in mainstream synagogue life. . . . The author is to be congratulated for bravely taking on such an all-consuming topic and writing such an accessible, powerful and provocative book.
Acknowledgments1Lesbian and Jewish: What's the Problem?12Troubling Texts from Torah173Jewish Lesbian Interpretation of Torah374Haznea Lekht Im Elohekha: Jewish Lesbian Visibility535Ahavat Hesed: Transforming Relationships716Asot Mishpat: The Commitment to Justice977Modern Texts: Jewish Lesbian Sexuality1138Modern Texts: Jewish Lesbians and Gender Nonconformity1339Contemporary Jewish Lesbian Fiction15110Visions for the Future163Notes169Glossary189Works Cited193Index207
\ Women's Review of BooksMakes a solid contribution to both Jewish feminism and lesbian and gay studies, breaking new ground in its focus on transforming Jewish religious life from a lesbian perspective. . . . Writing in a straightforward, inviting-sometimes pastoral-voice that reaches out to a larger audience, Alpert defines lesbianism in a multi-faceted way that allows her to examine shifting understandings of lesbians in Jewish tradition.\ \ \ \ \ Lambda Book ReportAn extremely valuable and visionary source for Jewish lesbians who long to be recognized and to participate fully in mainstream synagogue life. . . . The author is to be congratulated for bravely taking on such an all-consuming topic and writing such an accessible, powerful and provocative book.\ \ \ American Studies InternationalLike Bread on the Seder Plate will capture the interest of many readers with varying levels of knowledge of Jewish and lesbian history; it will guide and enable their future study; it will inspire readers to implement many of Alpert's specific suggestions toward the transformation of Jewish tradition; and it will serve as an excellent resource for scholars of both Jewish and lesbian cultures in the United States.\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsThe volume's title comes from a practice started in the 1980s by Jewish lesbians who placed a crust of bread on the seder plate to symbolize their alienation from Judaism. Rabbi Alpert contributes to the protest with a compelling exegesis of biblical texts reevaluating the Torah's presumed prohibition of homosexuality that can be used as a framework for reexamining Jewish lesbian concerns such as coming out, sexuality, relationships to families, and contributions to a more just world within the tradition of their religion. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \ \ \ \ American Studies InternationalAn excellent resource for scholars of both Jewish and lesbian cultures in the United States.\ \ \ \ \ \ Women's Review of BooksA solid contribution to both Jewish feminism and lesbian and gay studies, breaking new ground in its focus on transforming Jewish religious life from a lesbian perspective.\ \ \ \ \ \ Lambda Book ReportAn extremely valuable and visionary source for Jewish lesbians who long to be recognized and to participate fully in mainstream synagogue life.... The author is to be congratulated for bravely taking on such an all-consuming topic and writing such an accessible, powerful and provocative book.\ \ \
