Growing Up on the Wrong Side of the Mechitza: A Case Study of Contemporary Queer Jewish Language

What is it about?

This paper explains eight words or phrases used by LGBTQ+ Jewish people in Seattle that describe a queer identity or activity and which come from Jewish languages or Jewish cultures. These terms include words that come from or make puns on words from Hebrew and Yiddish to create new words for queer relationships and activities, such as 'lesbitzin,' a lesbian rabbi's wife, from lesbian + the Yiddish word rebbetzin, a rabbi's wife. Another participant said that they 'grew up on the wrong side of the mechitza,' a new figure of speech meaning 'transgender' which referred to the curtain which divides men from women in some synagogues. These words also include two words from the Talmud (the main collection of Jewish commentary on the first five books of the Bible) which there describe ways of being intersex but which some modern transgender and non-binary Jews are reclaiming for themselves even if they aren't intersex. All these examples show that LGBTQ+ Jews use many different parts of Jewish history, languages, and culture to talk about their queer identity, and that they do so both to figure out their role in certain religious activities, especially those that differ by gender, as well as to distinguish themselves from non-Jewish queer people and strengthen queer Jewish communal identity.

Featured Image