Thursday, September 3, 2020

Queerying 14th after Pentecost A

River Needham M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

ID: a Seder plate with wine and matzah

Tanakh: Exodus 12:1-14
The Becoming One said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. But if the household is too small for a lamb, let them share one with a near neighbor, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.

Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire. You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to the Becoming One. For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both human and animal; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
How else has this story been queered?
When does the first of the year fall this year? Have the traditions changed? How?
What Mitzvot are connected with this holiday?
Where else might we all contribute to ensure that everyone may be free?
What mitzvot involves doorposts today?
When is genocide permissible?

What are your queeries?




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