Another Leviticus double feature, and boy is it a doozy, both in terms of content and quantity. The portions open with a discussion of the practices around Yom Kippur, as well as a detailed explanation of the scapegoat, before discussing such things as why blood is prohibited to eat; various prohibitions against incest; the infamous verses concerning homosexual sex; some mentions of divination and soothsaying; as well as restatements of the sexual laws with punishments and a brief rundown of laws concerning justice, fraud and theft, payment on time, leaving crops for the widows and strangers, and how to treat strangers in general!
Just, a lot going on here, with a lot of very extensive commentary we had to skip over if only because of time. It's one of the more difficult portions to work though, especially given the group we have is entirely some blend of gay and/or trans and the commentaries [that we are drawing from] display a certain paucity around the topic even as they display a lot of motivation to identify and fill any loopholes they can see with the various modes of incest listed, for example.
There's just a lot to be said about everything, and it's difficult to put concisely.
Quotes are limited this week just because of how dense the commentaries and discussions around them were- there's just too much going on to get as pithy as some of these have been before.
It is interesting being able to look back at the first of the two portions and go "oh, that's them, that's the original scapegoat", especially when you're streaming the Torah with a goat fursona pngtuber. There's an extended discussion of how to properly handle the goats as there's a sort of spiritual goat laundering happening- you have two goats, and draw lots to see which one is sacrificed to G-d and which one is cast into the wilderness to Azazel. An important note is that nobody was entirely clear what Azazel was, be it a place or some kind of group of goat-demons or Satan. To help identify this, Ibn Ezra gave us a funny little hint, a clue, to follow on.
We also got to see Ramban get fucking livid about Aristotle, as well as some really funny editorializing.
RAMBAN: I cannot explain more, for I would have to close the mouths of those who claim to be wise in the study of nature, following after that Greek Aristotle
SEFARIA, RAMBAN'S FRIEND: fuck him up ramban
In a somewhat surprising commentary by Ibn Ezra on the topic of gay sex, we did find a offhand mention of transfem neovaginas? We're unsure what Rabbi Hannanel was pulling from but. Huh. Neat. It doesn't really go anywhere because he doesn't consider them possible, but it's interesting to see some of these ideas existing in the discourse in the 12th century, if not earlier.
Rashi is taking no prisoners with this one
We also made a fearsome discovery. We'd previously only attained Sefaria panelling 3 deep, but this week we became enlightened and discovered
THE
I N F I N I T E
C A N V A S
After a week off for passover, we return!
Achrei Mot opens with a discussion of the sacrifice and rituals around the Day of Atonement, including the original scapegoat, blood prohibitions, and other such things before getting into the messier discussion of incestuous sex, sodomy, and bestiality.
There was a great deal of discussion around the scapegoat again, as well as the understanding of why it was done, the ritual significance of the lots, and who the fuck Azazel is anyways. We talked about biblical idiom and its translations around uncovering nakedness and the prohibitions around incest, as well as the weird edge cases. Sforno decided to share his thoughts and immediately make things weird, particularly around how people would probably fuck family all the time were it not for the assorted prohibitions, as well as how the only problem with marrying and fucking a woman's sister is if you do it at the same time, which presents some fascinating cuckoldry potential.
There is also, of course, the verse on prohibiting male-on-male sex, which is used alternately as a broad condemnation of homosexual sex to being specifically about anal. Much like in passages on genocide, there's the temptation to just cast it aside, and just like then there's a desire to push back- what value can be had from holding a bitter thing? A thing you know is wrong and are seeking to destroy? How do we reconcile or elide the contradictions of the divine? It's a messy question whose simple answers are, at least to some of us, deeply unsatisfying. At least we can all agree on the necessity of gay sex in the world.
Anyways, let's learn about angel fashion! Spoilers, it's kinda boring.
On the other hand, Sforno has some really fascinating discussion of sheydim biology, the metaphysics of demons and blood, and how many demons were simply a Kind Of Guy, even including an anecdote about "Joseph Shida", or Joe Demon
Broad selection of topics today. We start with a rundown of some of the Commandments alongside a few other perennial favorites like the prohibition against picking up the remains after your harvest your field; move on to jurisprudence and punishments for fucking other people's slaves; get into the rules behind the first fruits of trees, tattoos and piercings, magic, and respecting the elderly; the importance of correct weights and measures and being kind to the stranger; not sacrificing children; assorted punishments for various configurations of sex1; and ends with not following the practices of canaan, with a final line about the punishment for using ghosts and familiars again for good measure.
Discussion opened with a simple but useful question: why do so many of these verses end with a variation of "I am your god, Adonai"? It's a ubiquitous phrase that's easy to stop paying attention to, but it's clear that the commentators had some similar questions- it's taken as one part emphasis, one part rejoinder to keep the fear of G-d in mind, and one part a specific implication for G-d's relationship or position to a particular admonition. For instance, the sages suggest the verse on not putting stumbling blocks before the blind ends this way as a reminder that G-d judges someone who would make life more difficult for someone who's disabled, and that while other people may not be able to read into your intent, G-d will. There's also some discussion of the connotations of "fear" when it comes to the divine.
Broadly speaking, as a section that has a lot of commands pertaining to and moral theory from the sages on questions about sex and variably esoteric sorts of behavior2, a lot of this portion isn't a great read! Sforno in particular has some wild swings that resemble arguments still used in modernity even in christianity, and as a bunch of queers who know/are/love witches and have evil sex it's hard to get around some of this stuff! At least we can find comfort in organizations like NIST having the mandate of heaven, probably.
We also had some discussion about the particulars of idolatry for the benefit of some of our members who weren't here last year or are less familiar, since it's a recurring subject and somewhat complicated by how religious movements often have iconic and aniconic movements over time3.
Anyways, this is also a portion that caused me to stop in my tracks because I had to see sforno talk about evil cums and precious bodily fluids
Meanwhile in the haftarah, Rashi discusses the me sowing/me reaping meme as represented in Amos 9:
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including incest, bestiality, gay anal, period sex, and adultery
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for instance, the classic prohibition on mixing kinds of animals, seeds, and fibers in a garment
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this also led to a brief discussion of how i prefer to avoid the term "idol" entirely outside this context when i can help it, since unless the group in question actually calls their icons idols, it kinda inherently positions you as being at least a bit disrespectful about them