Assigned Female… by Satan? The Gender(s) of Eydl of Brody with Justin Jaron Lewis. A CLGS Jewish Queeries Series Event

Click here to join this CLGS Jewish Queeries Series event via Zoom!

In this online CLGS Jewish Queeries Series event, Justin Jaron Lewis explores Eydl of Brody (d. 1885), who is remembered as one of the few Hasidic Jewish women to become a Rebbe (a spiritual leader and wonder-worker).  Our changing views of gender, however, raise the possibility of understanding Eydl as a trans man, or as non-binary. Much depends on our selection from contradictory stories and artifacts. For example, it was a common belief among her followers that Satan had prevented this great soul from being born in a male body.  Justin will share some of these stories, and invite reflection on how we may wish to remember, understand, and learn from Eydl.

Justin Jaron Lewis (any pronouns) is a rabbi, maggid, and Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Lewis has authored Imagining Holiness: Classic Hasidic Tales in Modern Times (2009), and translated Many Pious Women, a Yiddish text from Renaissance Italy in praise of Jewish women.