Grateful for Our Portion: Growing the Trans Halakha Project Beyond SVARA

The Trans Halakha Project began in 2021 as a way to help trans people find the answers they were seeking about how to live full, ritually infused Jewish lives that uplifted the sacredness of being trans. As Becky recalls, “[Laynie and I] were in a meeting, and one of us mentioned an email asking us if we had a resource addressing a specific facet of trans life. A rabbi wanted, very lovingly, to celebrate a trans person in their congregation. We began talking about the dozens of Google Docs where information like this was stored, noting that each of us and others had their own versions.” We knew that behind every question from a cisgender colleague was a trans person seeking to live an aligned, integrated Jewish life. Trans Jews had (and have!) so many questions—practically and theologically, all of which live under the banner of “halakha”—and we wanted to help answer them. We could never have imagined how powerful it would be to start answering these questions for ourselves.

So we began to imagine how we might consolidate resources and empower trans Jews to add to them. We began to create space for people to make ritual and blessings and to take on the larger exploration of sources and discourse through the creation of responsa. These first years of the Trans Halakha Project have shown that we can truly create the halakha that we need through learning together, teaching each other, and revealing our svara in community. We have learned with hundreds of trans Jews, supported two cohorts through the process of creating their own responsa, and published an anthology of ritual and blessings. We grew our leadership team (welcome, Binya and Xava!), and shared our Torah out in the world.

As we move into this next chapter of our work, the Trans Halakha Project will grow into its own organization, moving beyond the “walls” of SVARA’s bet midrash. We are feeling bittersweet, because alongside the new possibilities that will emerge from this new organizational setup, there is the sadness of leaving the yeshiva. As such we are reflecting on this teaching from Mishnah Berakhot 4:2 about an early sage, R’ Nechunya ben Hakana, and the blessing he would offer upon exiting the bet midrash:

רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנָה הָיָה מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּכְנִיסָתוֹ לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ וּבִיצִיאָתוֹ תְּפִלָּה קְצָרָה. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, מַה מָּקוֹם לִתְפִלָּה זוֹ. אָמַר לָהֶם, בִּכְנִיסָתִי אֲנִי מִתְפַּלֵּל שֶׁלֹּא תֶאֱרַע תַּקָלָה עַל יָדִי, וּבִיצִיאָתִי אֲנִי נוֹתֵן הוֹדָיָה עַל חֶלְקִי

Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakana would pray a short prayer upon his entrance into the study hall and upon his exit. They said to him:  What room is there for this prayer? He said to them: Upon my entrance, I pray that no mishap will transpire caused by me. And upon my exit, I give thanks for my portion.

R’ Nechunya enters the bet midrash with deep awareness of the power contained within the space and his role to steward it properly, praying that nothing should be accidentally taught incorrectly through anything that he does. And as he takes his leave, he expresses gratitude for his chelek (חלקִ), his portion, which Jastrow tells us also means “share,” “allot,” or “divide,” perhaps recognizing the fact that R’ Nechunya’s “share” of Torah is one among many present in the bet midrash. 

And now as this project leaves SVARA, we (Laynie, Becky, Binya, and Xava) offer some of our reflections: What has our chelek been that we’ve collected/received from the Trans Halakha Project thus far while it’s been housed at SVARA?”

Laynie: Ben Zoma famously teaches in Pirkei Avot, אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר, הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ — “Who is rich? One who takes joy in their portion.” I hear echoes of Ben Zoma in R’ Nechunya’s prayer, and as we transition this project into its next stage, we are truly rich and resourced through the portion we have received during our time growing at SVARA. For me, the most special thing about SVARA for me is SVARA-niks—the immensely creative, joyful, playful, kind spirit of our yeshiva that you all create when we come together. I am so grateful and proud that this community helped us grow the Trans Halakha Project, infusing it with this very spirit. This way of living, learning, and looking at our tradition will enable this project to thrive in its new stages, whatever they may be. This is the chelek that I’m carrying with me into this new moment—a thread of continuity with the community and people in this incredible yeshiva that gave real life to this project.

Becky: What a blessing that SVARA chose to incubate and grow the Trans Halakha Project. From my first moments in a SVARA Bet Midrash, I have felt deeply what it means to be embraced and celebrated, to be acknowledged for the wisdom that emerges from individuals and from community. SVARA has taught me to be earnest, to be present in what I know and what I do not know. The Trans Halakha Project has only deepened those lessons. As a conduit for the holiness and vision and love of trans Jews for each other and the tradition, the Trans Halakha Project has provided connection points for countless trans Jews and allies, paths for Jewish life and religious expression. I want to just sit and let the awesomeness wash over me.

Binya: I’m grateful to be a chelek and to add a chelek. I’m grateful to be a chelek, a humble part, of this trans Jewish blossoming, and to’ve been given the chance to spend some of my limited time on this earth curating new trans liturgy for my people to use and delight in. (A few weeks ago a trans girl came up to me at a party !! and said she used our bracha when starting to take estrogen…) And through this work, I’m grateful to’ve been able to add a helek, a missing piece, that – like the Shel Silverstein book – has left us rolling clunkily as a people for millenia, sorely missing it. With the time and support needed from our students, our contributors, and SVARA, we’ve started to fill in that lack, and I cannot be prouder of the contributions to a flourishing trans Judaism – and thereby a flourishing Judaism – that we’ve made. 

Xava: Being a part of the Trans Halakha Project so far has offered me the chance to see a flowering of trans brilliance in Jewish law and writing that has invigorated me with passion for our tradition. Getting the chance to write my own teshuva and help others create their own feels like getting to witness the first moments of a new generation of radical shapers of Jewish law. My own relationship to halakha, like everyone’s, is always changing and this time has given me a portion of hope and joy in that relationship that couldn’t have happened any other way. I’m so grateful for my portion as a student and supporter of these wise writers, and to be a part of whatever the next stage of this journey will be. 

In April 2022, reflecting on one year of the project, Becky and Laynie noted that “[a]s we shape halakha in the image of trans people, we will undoubtedly create and uncover new halakhic realities…We know that when those who have not had a seat at the table begin to create and shape halakhic expressions, halakha is made better for all of us. If we’ve done this work right, halakha will be transformed by the fact that we’ve come together and breathed new life into this Torah.” We are proud to have breathed this new life into Torah together at SVARA, and can’t wait to continue growing this wild tradition alongside each of you.

As we walk into our reconfigured bet midrash, we pray that no mishap transpires from our work, and that from it only truth and beauty flow. 

Thank you.

You can stay connected to the Trans Halakha Project in its next chapter by following their Instagram account and visiting their website.