When the master narratives that guide our lives inevitably crash, how should we respond? Rabbi Benay Lappe asserts that there are three options: cling to the story as though nothing happened, discard it altogether, or integrate the old with the new and adapt. Arguing for the unique foresight of queer and marginalized perspectives in bringing the future of Judaism into being, Rabbi Lappe demonstrates how Talmud provides a blueprint for innovation and choosing option three.
Rabbi Benay Lappe is Founder and Rosh Yeshiva of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. She holds a BA in Italian Literature and an MA in Teaching from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MA in Hebrew Letters from the University of Judaism, and an MA in Rabbinic Literature and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. An award-winning educator specializing in the application of queer theory to Talmud study, she has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Temple University, The University of Judaism, The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, The Graduate Theological Union's Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Milken Community High School, and The Wexner Institute. Rabbi Lappe also currently serves as Director of Education at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, and is an Associate at CLAL—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, where she was appointed by The Righteous Person's Foundation as its first Spielberg Fellow. In 2016, Rabbi Lappe was awarded the Covenant Award for innovation in Jewish education by the Covenant Foundation.
