Onto the Bridge: Nomos and Narrative, and Gendering/Queering Halakhah

Abstract: What is halakhah? Why does it matter to modern Jewish discourse—feminist, queer or otherwise? What challenges does it pose to us, and how should we go about addressing them? This essay is addressed to those of us for whom halakhah, however understood and defined, remains a salient component of our Judaism and Jewish living, and to those who view the grip of halakhah on Jewish practices and beliefs as considerable enough (even in "non-halakhic" spaces) that it must be confronted (and reformed). Robert Cover's works, and most particularly his essay "Nomos and Narrative," have been among the most recurring and productive resources to which scholars engaged in seeking an expression of halakhah that is feminist and queer-affirming have turned. In the main part of this article, I shall survey the value and uses of Cover's work for a number of thinkers, including Rachel Adler, Gordon Tucker, Laynie Soloman and Russel G. Pearce of the Trans Halakhah Project, Tamar Ross, Ronit Irshai and Tanya Zion-Waldoks. In the conclusion, I shall note some of the challenges that may follow, including those posed (explicitly and implicitly) by the works considered herein to each other.