Blessings beyond the Binary

Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family

Edited by Nora Rubel and Brett Krutzsch

Rutgers University Press

Transparent made history as the first television show to feature a transgender character in the main role, as the first streaming series to win the Golden Globe for Best Television Series, and as, in the words of journalist Debra Nussbaum Cohen, “the Jewiest show ever.” No television show in history has depicted the lives of American Jews with as much attention to Jewish rituals, quirks, or culture. And no series has portrayed issues of gender and sexuality alongside Judaism with such nuance and depth, making Transparent a landmark series in the history of television.

Blessings beyond the Binary brings together leading scholars to analyze and offer commentary on what scholar Josh Lambert calls “the most important work of Jewish culture of the century so far.” The book explores the show’s depiction of Jewish life, religion, and history, as well as Transparent’s scandals and criticisms and how it fits into and diverges from today’s transgender and queer politics.

The first book to focus on Transparent, Blessings beyond the Binary offers a rich analysis of the groundbreaking series and its connections to contemporary queer, trans, and Jewish life.

Blessings beyond the Binary is an extraordinary collection that reminds us why Transparent had such an impact while it aired. Rubel and Krutzsch have compiled a collection of scholars from across almost every conceivable interested discipline to shed light on the many facets that made the show sparkle. The analyses and insights in the individual essays begin with Transparent but take the reader higher and further and use the show as a starting point, not a destination. This volume will be invaluable to scholars in so many fields, and although Transparent may be gone, this work will live on. Jenny Caplan, associate professor in the Department of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio

Using a multiplicity of methods, this volume explores precisely what made Transparent reflective of its time; its possibilities and limits as a groundbreaking, deeply queer show; and what made it the most Jewish show on television. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersections of Jewishness, gender, and sexuality. Samira K. Mehta, author of Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States

NORA RUBEL is the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor in Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester. She is the author of Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination and coeditor of Religion, Food, and Eating in North America.

BRETT KRUTZSCH is the assistant director of New York University’s Center for Religion and Media and editor of its award-winning magazine, The Revealer. He is the author of the book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics.

"Introduction," Nora Rubel and Brett Krutzsch

Part I: Transforming Jews on TV
1. "Rebooting Jewish Television," Joshua Lambert
2. "'Happy Yom Kippur': Televising and Translating Atonement," Nora Rubel
3. "Melancholy and Joy: Jewish Nomadism and Transparent," Ranen Omer-Sherman
4. "The Historiography of Transparent," Martin Shuster

Part II: Performing Judaism and Jewish Identity
5. "Dancing Out the Torah: Ritual, Bodies, and Transitions in Transparent," Jodi Eichler-Levine
6. "From Oy to Hineni: Language and Transition in Transparent," Sarah Bunin Benor
7. "Pfefferman's Complaint: Transparent and the Tenacity of Jewish Familial Stereotypes," Jarrod Tanny
8. "The Gentile, the Demonic, and Collapsing Binaries in Transparent," Shaul Magid

Part III: Transgressing and Queering Gender
9. "Nostalgia, Queer Time, and the Ethnic in Transparent," Jennifer Glaser
10. "Don't All Have Your Family: The Critique of Religion in Transparent," Kathryn Lofton
11. "From Beautiful Rabbi to Queer Kohenet: Gender and Judaism in and Beyond Transparent," Shari Rabin

Part IV: Queering Jewish and Transgender History: Three Perspectives on Transparent's Use of the Holocaust
12. "Queer Temporality in Trans Times: Connecting and Belonging in Transparent's Second Season," Joshua Falek
13. "Queering the Holocaust: Intersecting Jewish and Transgender Identities in Transparent," Kerstin Steitz
14. "Making Jewishness Transparent and Transparent Jew-ish," Marilyn Reizbaum

Part V: Transitioning and Concluding
15. "Run from Your Parent's House: Transfeminism and Abraham's Blessing," Slava Greenberg
16. "La-La-Lech-Lecha: Transparent's Musical Movie Finale," Warren Hoffman
17. "Conclusion," Brett Krutzsch

Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Related Titles