Developing Sacred Chutzpah – When the Queer Voice Challenges the Status Quo Power Construct

Introduction

This recording is from the Pardes Winter Learning Intensive, that was held from January 6-10, 2019. The week was called Power, Privilege & Responsibility and Yiscah Smith is teaching on parshat Lekh Lekha.

The course itself was based on the verse in Bereishit – Genesis – 12:1: “God said to Avram, ‘Go to yourself, away from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.’” This verse demands that we heed the still small voice within – Even if it’s queer!. It introduces to us the spiritual practice of Lekh Lekha — moving away from one sense of self — the finite self – the ego based self – the limited self, towards another sense of self — the infinite self – the beyond ego self – the limitless self. But why would a person move away from the familiar to an unfamiliar and unknown destination?

You can download the source sheet here.

Yiscah Smith

Yiscah Smith is an adjunct faculty member at Pardes, where she teaches Hasidism and spiritual texts. A spiritual activist, educator, mentor, and meditation guide, Yiscah approaches Judaism as a spiritual practice rooted in the encounter with the Divine spark within and beyond oneself. Yiscah holds a Master’s Degree in Jewish Education from The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Yiscah’s passion is encouraging and empowering others to carve their own paths. Her work takes many forms: faculty at Pardes, Applied Jewish Spirituality, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality; founder and director of Conscious Community Nachlaot in Jerusalem; international lecturer; and author of Planting Seeds of the Divine: Torah Commentaries to Cultivate Your Spiritual Practice. As an avid gardener, Yiscah also enables her passion for growth to find expression in the natural world.