Khayey Soro / חיי שרה

This is a weekly series of frum, trans, anarchist parsha dvarim [commentaries]. It's crucial in these times that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns (or worse: is) Judaism. Our texts are rich—sometimes opaque, but absolutely teeming with wisdom and fierce debate. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance. I aim to offer comment which is both true to the source material (i.e. doesn't invert or invent meaning to make it say what I want it to say) and uses Torah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

Content note: Discussion of trans surgeries, trans healthcare, Trans Day of Remembrance, circumcision.

Despite the name, the parsha isn't really about Soro: it's about the aftermath of her death. Avrohom buries her, sends his servant to find a bride (Rivke) for Yitskhak, and Avrohom marries Keturo. But a real highlight this week is a Rashi comment about Avrohom making his servant make an oath on his cock.

This week marked Trans Day of Remembrance. As Jews we're constantly commanded to remember, and as trans people we are only afforded a short memory: our elders are killed and our stories are erased. I don't have much to say about this right now except give people their flowers while they're alive.

I'm writing this week from my bed as I recover from my facial masculinization surgery: an augmentative rhinoplasty. With the help of New York State Medicaid, I've made my (already above-average) nose bigger, sexier, more Jewish. The guys don't get as much facial surgery as the dolls and I think we are missing out.

"Put your hand under my thigh," Avrohom instructs his servant. Rashi elucidates that this means Avrohom has his servant swear on his penis, his most precious mitsve object. The oath is about finding Yitskhak an acceptable wife, and perpetuating the line of Jews—it's almost appropriate that his servant takes an oath on Avrohom's penis, the source of all Jewish life to come. The servant's mission is to go into the world and find a way for Yitskhak (as an extension of Avrohom) to spread his seed.

Avrohom circumcised himself as an old man of 99: arguably an early gender affirming surgery. Circumcision is something that Jewish men do to our Jewish sons (and, unintentionally, to some of our other children). The circumcised penis is not a private object of shame or vulnerability, but a public mitsve; one of the many that separates Jews from goyim, which we are supposed to do with pride but often flush us with embarrassment. But not Avrohom: he holds his cut dick so dear that it warrants divine relevance. This homoerotic moment secures the future of the Jewish people.