After a season of soul-searching, I’ve decided to rebrand the Queer Women In Torah Workshop. Honestly, I’ve always found the name too dry and clinical. It’s not evocative, it doesn’t resonate, and it doesn’t invite people to ask questions about it. I didn’t change it because I hadn’t given it much thought until now.
Inspired by the idea of Dinah as part of a hidden lineage of queer Jewish women, I’ve decided to rebrand the Queer Women In Torah Workshop as the House of Dinah Sapphic Torah Study.
Why name it after Dinah? Because from the time ink was put to paper in writing the Torah, Dinah has been silenced and erased from her own narrative—an experience that many queer women can relate to. Naming this learning experience after Dinah is my small way of reclaiming her agency and her narrative as well as writing queer women into the story of the Jewish people.
Beyond the name, I’m also changing how I talk about this offering. Although the basic structure, tasks, and outcomes are the same, the term workshop has particular connotations that don’t fit what I have in mind for participants. So, I’m going to stop calling it that and instead refer to it as an interactive learning experience. People who participate in the House of Dinah Sapphic Torah Study are invited to actively engage with learning in community, not passively consume information privately.
Bizarro Torah 