(ט) וַיִּקְרָ֛א יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ אַיֶּֽכָּה׃

God יהוה called out to the Human and said to him, “Where are you?”

Genesis 3:9

Discussion Questions

1. Where could queer women be “hiding” in the passage?
2. How does accounting for queer women impact the meaning of the text?
3. What are the broader implications of this passage and its commentary?

Supplementary Material

And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Adam the first man was a heretic, as it is stated: “And the Lord called to the man and said to him: Where are you”? (Genesis 3:9), meaning, to where has your heart turned, indicating that Adam turned from the path of truth.

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b:11

WHERE ART THOU — He knew where he was, but He asked this in order to open up a conversation with him that he should not become confused in his reply, if He were to pronounce punishment against him all of a sudden. Similarly in the case of Cain, He said to him, (4:9) “where is Abel thy brother?” Similarly with Balaam, (Numbers 22:9) “what men are these with thee?” — to open up a conversation with them; so, also, in the case of Hezekiah with reference to the messengers of Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:3).

Rashi on Genesis 3:9

When I confront a human being as my You and speak the basic work I-You to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things.

He is no longer He or She, limited by other Hes and Shes, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition that can be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is You and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light.

The human being to whom I say You I do not experience. But I stand in relation to him, in the sacred basic word. Only when I step out of this do I experience him again. Experience is remoteness from You.

The relation can obtain even if the human being to whom I say You does not hear it in his experience. For You is more than It knows. You does more, and more happens to it, than It knows. No deception reaches this far: here is the cradle of actual life.

Martin Buber, I and Thou

Commentary

Rachel Session (Summer 2021)

Water

Women are completely removed, eve is the driving force behind this and we hear nothing of her thought process. She is stripped of her agency, her rebellion means nothing.

Earth

– G-d only called out to ‘the man’, not both of them.
– Rav Yehuda deems Adam a heretic, but says nothing of Chava who was the inciting force
– No need to address her, as she’s had the knowledge longer and doesn’t require the clarification that Adam does?
– Adam didn’t make the active choice, just followed her lead – lack of responsibility tied to his heresy?
– hid from the divine as a Unit, but only Adam was called

Fire

rhetorical question – everyone already knows the answer to the question, so why do we ask?
distillation of judaism: asking questions that don’t strictly needed to be asked for the sake of picking apart the answer
we can only answer as much as we’re comfortable with
maybe someone already knows your queerness, but the coming out process can still be important
judaism allows us to ask the question in order to open the dialogue, but the answer is totally up to the answerer’s comfort level

buber – seeing others as separate vs seeing everyone as interconnected

god is calling adam out – you turned away from me, i need you to be present with me
it’s very scary to call someone out and also to be called out
you’re supposed to be here with me and you’re not – acknowledging the interconnectedness and closeness of humans and god
ties back to buber – we’re inherently connected, people can temporarily remove themselves but we can also notice that separation and return them to the larger group

adam turned from the path of truth, but what is truth in this context?

Air

Maybe Adam was really turning to Eve at that time?
G-d’s not talking directly to any women

G-d is totally a sassy angry parent right now “not mad, just disappointed”
It’s like when you get in trouble and your parent asks a question they know the answer to but they want to see what you say
ie asking Adam “where are you?” when G-d knows full well
or “hey cain, where’s your brother?”

the where are you might not be physical, where are you what are you doing?

not sure where the queer women are in this. is g-d ignoring them?
a: getting away with stuff instead of being asked where they are

Spirit

G-d asks Adam “Where are you?” So where are Queer women in this passage? G-d already knows where Adam is, but the question makes Adam identify to himself, where he is. So perhaps G-d already knows where Queer women exist in the Torah and we have to ask ourselves that. So there’s something in the process of identification.