2 Queers 4 Questions: Recent Episodes
2 Queers 4 Questions
A dvar Torah on parashat Ha'azinu by Ezra Furman. With dreams, songs, the Sifrei, Moses, Jewish holidays, the Sefat Emet and food.
A dvar Torah on parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech by Agnes Borinsky. With Ben Lerner, Caedmon, poetry, failure, Moses, today and possibility.
A dvar Torah on parashat Ki Tavo by Ezra Furman. With completion, storytelling, covenants, arrival and starting over.
A dvar Torah on parashat Ki Tetzei by Agnes Borinsky. With vows, seeking, lost animals, Bob Kaufman and silence.
A dvar Torah on parashat Shoftim by Ezra Furman. With news, anxiety, authority, Rashi, prophets and trust.
A dvar Torah on parashat Re'eh by Agnes Borinsky. With circumference, crossing over, change, altars and Elul.
A dvar Torah on parashat Eikev by Ezra Furman. With rain, love, the Ronettes, the Shma, Rabbi Chanina and awe.
A dvar Torah on parashat Devarim by Ezra Furman. With Moses, Rabbi Yosei bar Chanina, murder in Gaza, Isaiah, Tisha B’av and rebuke.
A special joint-parsha episode for the week of Matot-Masei: Agnes & Ezra in conversation about this week's double parsha (strangely, the first double parsha of the year this year). Really I think this was just a very difficult and upsetting Torah portion and we were both afraid to do it alone. This is a throwback to the first era of this podcast, when we had rambling conversations about the holidays and asked four questions. And our questions this time around are not even questions. They are just four topics that we were too busy/lazy/excited to turn into questions. They are four rooms in a little bungalow. Join us on an intimate walkthrough:Q1. Cities of asylum?Q2. Horrific war?Q3. Vows?Q4. The end of the book of Bamidbar?Also: this episode has noticeable technical flaws! Editing: weird. Timing: off, due to some delay issue. Sound: pretty low quality, Agnes's audio gets better after a rocky start but it's all pretty low-fi. What are we, professionals?Chazak Chazak, see you in the book of Deuteronomy babes.[Music by Ezra Furman & Sam Durkes in a little practice room in Los Angeles, February 7th, 2017.]
A dvar Torah on parashat Pinchas by Agnes Borinsky. With reassurance, Pinchas, murder, tractate Sanhedrin, the Sfat Emet, Rebbe Nachman and heartbreak.
A dvar Torah on parashat Balak by Ezra Furman. With transphobia, language, Balak, Bilam, art gigs, community and blessings.
A dvar Torah on parashat Chukat by Agnes Borinisky. With water, the lake, death, Miriam, Avivah Zornberg and the unconscious.
A dvar Torah on parashat Korach by Ezra Furman. With anger, Allen Ginsberg, Korach, Moses, God, Aaron, and liminality.
A dvar Torah on parashat Shlach by Agnes Borinsky. With parents, children, therapy, God, hearts and eyes.
A dvar Torah on parashat Behaalotcha by Ezra Furman. With making records, speech, Moses, Cock Sparrer, Dr. Martin Luther King and Pesach Sheini.
A dvar Torah on parashat Naso by Agnes Borinsky. With James Baldwin, vows, betrayal, Rashi, Bob Dylan and Moses.
A dvar Torah on parashat Bamidbar by Ezra Furman. With God, failure, numbers, Rabbi Yehoshua and language.
A dvar Torah on parashat Bechukotai by Agnes Borinsky. With dreaming, New Year's resolutions, heartsickness, restitution, history and waking.
A dvar Torah on parashat Behar by Ezra Furman. With time, repentance, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, the Maharal of Prague, the Omer and the Baal Shem Tov.
A dvar Torah on parashat Emor by Agnes Borinsky. With Shabbat, Robin D.G. Kelley, imagination, priests and bodies.
A dvar Torah on parashat Kedoshim by Ezra Furman. With justice, weirdness, holiness, homophobia, Julia Kristeva and strangers.
A dvar Torah on parashat Acharei Mot by Agnes Borinsky. With Aaron, grief, James Hillman, imitation, blood and gay sex.
A dvar Torah on parashat Metzora by Ezra Furman. With chronic illness, the inhuman, blood, birds, the Sfat Emet and Passover.
A dvar Torah on parashat Tazria by Agnes Borinsky. With skin outbreaks, high priests of Los Angeles, Rav Hamnuna, demons and bodies.
A dvar Torah on parashat Shmini by Ezra Furman. Contains violent and disturbing images. With awakenings, Nadav, Avihu, Aaron Bushnell, Rabbi Yaacov Leiner of Izbica and the burning bush.
A dvar Torah on parashat Tzav by Agnes Borinsky. With fire, forever, the Sandlot, love, dance and matches.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayikra by Ezra Furman. With The Blow, impossible love, Moses, God, Abraham, Agnes and transformation.
A dvar Torah on parashat Pekudei by Agnes Borinsky. With GPT-3, Serah bat Asher, language, Simone Weil, and dwelling.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayakhel by Ezra Furman. With jewelry, shame, Gertrude Stein, Gaza, Moses and sin.
A dvar Torah on parashat Tetzaveh by Ezra Furman. With names, siblings, Miriam, Aaron, Moses, garments and Dinah.
A dvar Torah on parashat Trumah by Agnes Borinsky. With Cecillia Gentili, God, Moses, the exile of speech, Song of Songs and Gaza.
A dvar Torah on parashat Mishpatim by Ezra Furman. With Mt. Sinai, Moses, depression, Rabbi Joey Rosenfeld, slavery, angels, Avgi Saketopoulou and trauma.
A dvar Torah on parashat Yitro by Agnes Borinsky. With Joe Brainard, memory, Shabbat and the Vilna Gaon.
A dvar Torah on parashat Beshalach by Ezra Furman. Contains violent references concerning police murders. With Mario Woods, God, Pharaoh, water, wilderness, Shel Silverstein, Shabbat, Eric Garner and George Floyd.
A dvar Torah on parashat Bo by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring darkness, break-ups, Lou Reed, Pharaoh, God, Stephen Levine and light.
A dvar Torah on parashat VaEira by Ezra Furman. Featuring Moses, God, 6th grade sleepovers, transness, coming out, revolution and names.
A dvar Torah on parashat Shmot by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring silence, Carolee Schneeman, God, Moses, Pharaoh, elbows, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and colors.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayechi by Ezra Furman. Featuring diaspora, exile, Jacob, B'nai Yisrael and the Sfat Emet.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayigash by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring faith, friendship, Joseph, Egypt, Proverbs and the Song of Songs.
A dvar Torah on parashat Mikeitz by Ezra Furman. Featuring Joseph, his brothers, Menashe, Benjamin, queerness, assimilation, trauma and healing.
A blast from the past. Recorded 2 years ago in 5782 (or 2021 for all you assimilationists) as part of our podcast's first iteration, 2 Queers 4 Questions (which, is that still what we're called? I dunno it's blurry and we don't care). We both recently listened and were struck by some of the stuff in here, questions and texts that go very deep to the meanings and possibilities of this holiday. So we wanted to share the conversation once again. Happy Chanukah, honey.Our questions are:1. Who is the enemy and how do we fight them/it?2. What ruins is it time for us to rededicate?3. Which miracle? / Where do we want to look for our miracles?4. What darkness are we hoping to light? / What do we do with darkness, what do we do with light?
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayeshev by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring Jacob, Tamar, Judah, Christina Sharpe, blood, love and recognition.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayishlach by Ms. Ezra Furman. Featuring Jacob/Israel, Eisav, a mysterious man, Abraham, and enemies.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayetze by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring Jacob, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariyah, and angels.
A dvar Torah on parashat Toldot by Ezra Furman. Transness, queerness, disability, parenthood, siblinghood, the physical, the spiritual, family, the winding path.
A dvar Torah on parashat Chayye Sarah by Agnes Borinsky. Featuring Abraham, Eliezer, Rebecca, Isaac, ee cummings, Judith Butler and camels.
A dvar Torah on parashat Vayera by Ezra Furman. Content Warning: contains violent and disturbing imagery. Featuring Abraham, Isaac, Hagar, Ishmael, Sodom & Gomorrah.
It's time for Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning par excellence, the day that first of all commemorates the destruction of our temple in Jerusalem and then piles on every other tragedy in Jewish history. We're talking about how to mourn, how to heal, how to be broken and what comes next.
In tribute to Tisha B'av's theme of a ruined structure, we've blown apart our usual terse style of inquiry and left our four questions as four piles of deconstructed rubble:
- Are we actually sad what does it feel like to mourn on purpose on schedule are we faking it is this real grief.
- Okay but what about a temple is the temple supposed to be our home would it feel like a home if we could make it again do we even want it to be our home what happens when you lose your home that you maybe didn’t even really want to begin with?
- How do we understand blame responsibility collective guilt blaming the victim consequences a loss of coherence.
- And but then what’s next what do you even do the day after things fall apart is it painful is it exhilarating can we get a little bit of aftercare?
AT LAST! We've been counting the days, and now it's Shavuot. And it's our first-ever in-person episode. How appropriate for a long-awaited holiday commemorating an in-person encounter between God and the Jewish people. So let's get intimate. Let's talk about love, revelation, wheat.
Our questions - a little oblique this time: 1. Do we want it? 2. Do I have to show up? 3. Who's invited? 4. Will I see you again?
The Omer, baby. Not a holiday, you say? Correct. But an unmissable aspect of the Jewish calendar, and maybe, as we discuss, the key to bringing out the "fuck you" that lies at the heart of having our own Jewish map of time. This is the in-between time, the time of growth, waiting, anticipating, grieving, counting.
Our questions: 1. Are we going away from, or are we going towards? 2. Why is this counting personal? 3. Is Zionism a spiritual problem or a political one? 4. Is the Omer boring?
Pesach. Passover. It's kind of the big one in a way. One of the most iconic and most encompassing and also the origin of the format of this very podcast (four questions). And it celebrates the origin of our people and of our calendar and our autonomy... it was a daunting one and also we were really busy and we are super late. Sorry. But c'mon get off our backs. We hope it is illuminating!
Our questions: 1. What does it mean to put a traumatic experience at the center of our collective narrative? 2. What vision of freedom does this holiday invite? 3. Food: why? Why food? 4. What are the undigested emotions at play in this holiday – anger, frustration, failure?
Our Purim episode stumbles in way past deadline, maybe a little hungover but in high spirits. This is a lighthearted holiday which holds many secrets... Our questions:
- Who comes out of the closet on Purim?
- Is exile always a bad thing?
- Who has authority when God seems absent?
- Why do we throw a wild party to commemorate such a terrifying event?
Chanukah... oh, Chanukah. What a joyful bundle of contradictions. The minor holiday with a major cultural profile. The festival of lights in the darkest of times. The insurgent anti-assimilationist celebration that turned into an imitation of a certain keystone holiday of the Xtian empire. You may think you know this holiday, but let's take a closer look.
Our four questions for Chanukah:
- Who is the enemy and how do we fight them/it?
- What ruins is it time for us to rededicate?
- Which miracle? / Where do we want to look for our miracles?
- What darkness are we hoping to light? / What do we do with darkness, what do we do with light?
Email us at 2Queers4Questions@gmail.com! Music by Sam Durkes & Ezra Furman!
Okay now we're really into the deep-cut holidays. The last of the high holidays is the most mysterious, when we finish reading the Torah, pray for rain and dance like mad.
Our questions: 1. Why is there a holiday about nothing? 2. What happens at the end of the Torah? 3. Have you ever seen the rain? / What’s rain got to do with it? 4. Why do we dance?
It's Sukkot! Temporary dwellings, agricultural prop-work, tons of joy, a sprinkle of nihilism, rubbing our difference in the devil's face. Learn about the B-side of the High Holidays. We surprised ourselves with this one and how thematically juicy it is. And it turned out to be a surprisingly emotional episode, too. Join us?
The Queers (as always): Agnes Borinsky & Ezra Furman The Questions (rather minimalist, like a Sukkah): 1. What do we build? 2. What do we do? 3. Why is Kohelet so emo? 4. Who's invited, and why?
Yom Kippur. So intense. Drop that bagel and get repenting. The 2 Queers take on the holiest day of the year. We get into the weeds real fast with this one, but hang on because just beyond the weeds is where the good stuff is to be found.
Our questions: 1. Is Yom Kippur a solemn or a joyful day? 2. What does fasting do? 3. What's the relationship between personal reckoning and communal reckoning? 4. What do we learn from Jonah?
Email 2queers4questions@gmail.com to contact us for any reason at all. Feedback, corrections and more questions encouraged.
HAPPY NEW YEAR y'all, it's our Rosh Hashanah episode and it is a sweet one and a good one. Pass the honey and judge us mercifully, it's the beginning of a new calendar year. (Or is it????)
Our four questions for Rosh Hashanah map on to the four major names of the holiday: 1. Why do we have a Jewish calendar? / Rosh HaShanah, head of the year 2. What does a shofar do? / Yom T'ruah, day of the shofar-blowing 3. What and how are we remembering? / Yom HaZikaron, day of remembrance 4. What do we do with guilt? / Yom HaDin, day of judgment
Please enjoy, and hey - feel free to send any reactions, comments, corrections, interesting additions, drashot, etc., to 2queers4questions@gmail.com. Big blessings from us to you for a sweet new year. <3 Ezra & Agnes
Our first proper episode is here, and it's about the month of Elul, in which we get super quiet and introspective and everyone wonders what is going on with us. It's a month to prepare for the High Holidays and to focus on self-assessment, repentance, repair, relationships.
Our Four Questions for Elul: 1. What is teshuvah and how do we do it? 2. Is being trans a kind of teshuvah? / Is doing teshuvah a kind of transness? 3. Is teshuvah subversive? 4. How is God involved?
Welcome to 2 Queers 4 Questions! In which we ask four new questions about each Jewish holiday. This is our introductory episode, which hopefully explain where we're coming from, what we're trying to do and why.