Hot Off the Shtender

Hot Off the Shtender is a weekly blog that explores texts and reflections from the bet midrash. Lovingly referred to as “HOTS,” this is a SVARA resource you won’t want to miss.

Three SVARA-niks, including Jhos, dance in a line, holding hands and smiling.

An (Im)Perfect Step

March 24, 2023

by Jhos Singer

Here we go. True confession. I was a serious marching band nerd. There. Done. I’ve said it. In a time…

World Building In the Bet Midrash

March 17, 2023

by Bronwen Mullin

Do you have a movie that you rewatch again and again just for the pleasure of it? You know how…

A learner reads from a masechet resting on a shtender. There are orange sticky-arrows scattered across the page, indicating where a certain line of Talmud starts and ends.

Finding Echoes of Real People in Our Queer Rabbi Ancestors

March 10, 2023

by Alyx Bernstein

Content warning for discussion of death, grief, and mourning. When I was a kid, my favorite pastime every Saturday was…

A photograph of a field. There is a tall spruce tree framing the shot on the left side, and two cows can be seen walking up the slope of a hill.

Making the Tradition What We Say It Is

March 3, 2023

by Laynie Soloman

Content warning: This piece names historical anti-Jewish violence and current violence in Palestine. Earlier this week, Israeli settlers carried out…

A SVARA-nik stands in front of a dark background. In the foreground at the top of the image, a series of colorful, neon lines are visible.

Turning Our Dreams Upside Down

February 24, 2023

by Elaina Marshalek

We have entered Adar, a month about which the Talmud teaches, “When Adar enters, joy increases” (Taanit 29a). The peak…

An image of Rabbi Bronwen's tattoo can be seen on her left arm. The tattoo is of Yentl leaning seductively on her masechets of Talmud with the constellation of Capricorn (the hybrid goat-fish) astrological sign in the sky behind her.

She Shall Inscribe Her Hand to God

February 17, 2023

by Bronwen Mullin

For the last thirteen years, I’ve been an advisor to my Jewish friends, congregants, students and colleagues about their tattoos.…

A SVARA-nik, wearing an orange lanyard and brown sweater, points at a line in an open page of Talmud.

Not a Rabbi, Not Yet a Rav

February 10, 2023

by Ren Finkel

After years of working in the service industry, making ends meet as best I could in the gig economy, I…

A SVARA-nik, face out of the frame, learns from a page of Talmud. They are leaning on a table, which has a laptop open to a Zoom screen full of faces.

Ask, And They Will Tell You: Reflections on the Teshuva-Writing Collective

February 3, 2023

by Alyx Bernstein

When I was 15, about nine months after coming out as a baby trans girl, I found my way to…

Laynie stands at the front of the room in the bet midrash with their hand raised in the air. SVARA-niks are scattered throughout the room standing and seated in celebration.

On the Table in Front of Us

January 27, 2023

by Laynie Soloman

Years before I entered a SVARA bet midrash, I learned a text from a friend, who learned it from a…

Maggie is standing in front of their green pickup truck. They are wearing a yellow hat and a green winter coat. Their dog can be seen sitting in front of the steering wheel. It is a bright blue winter's day in Chicago.

What Carries Us Through a Crash

January 13, 2023

by Maggie Kraus

On a cold and miraculous day last March, I lived out a fantasy I didn’t realize I had until it…

A learner is seated in the bet midrash, pointing to a section of a page of Talmud. They have a pencil in one hand, and the table beneath them has a lot of learning resources scattered about.

Questions, Practice, and Moving Toward Life

January 6, 2023

by Becky Silverstein

In June 2022, the On Being Project paused its weekly podcasts. The podcast’s host and executive producer, Krista Tippett, shared…

Two learners stand outside at Queer Talmud Camp. They are facing one another, and they are surrounded by other learners who appear to be gathered in a circle around them.

Healing, Heroes, and Holding Hands

December 23, 2022

by Jhos Singer

Julie (my practically-perfect-in-every-way spouse) and I have, over the past few years, gobbled up a series of action-y adventure type…