Ruttenberg (editor): The Passionate Torah (2009)

NYU Press, the publisher of The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism has this to say about its offering

In this unique collection of essays, some of today’s smartest Jewish thinkers explore a broad range of fundamental questions in an effort to balance ancient tradition and modern sexuality. In the last few decades a number of factors—post-modernism, feminism, queer liberation, and more—have brought discussion of sexuality to the fore, and with it a whole new set of questions that challenge time-honored traditions and ways of thinking. For Jews of all backgrounds, this has often led to an unhappy standoff between tradition and sexual empowerment….

Rachel Barenblat in her review of the book in Forward goes a bit beyond and picks on a few of the 18 individual essays edited by Danya Ruttenberg into a single volume. Here is the section that prompted me to mention the tome in this blog.

Forward columnist Jay Michaelson’s essay “On the Religious Significance of Homosexuality” explores kabbalistic understandings of masculinity, femininity and the divine. If you already enjoy stretching your brain into the acrobatics of classical Kabbalah, this essay is for you. If you don’t, you may find yourself skimming until you reach his closing assertions about why sexuality matters.