2 Queers 4 Questions

Parshat Noach, with Ezra by 2 Queers 4 Questions

Parashat Breishit, by Agnes.

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...

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 s...

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 co...

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 ques...

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: 1. Who comes out of the closet on Purim? 2. Is exile always a bad thing? 3. Who has authority when God seems absent? 4. 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: 1. Who is...

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 (rathe...

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...

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 shofa...

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 teshuv...

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.