place – Feminism and Religion

Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Touching Roots: An Incredible Lightness Of Being

This was originally posted on Jan. 7, 2o13

A few days ago, a German-speaking friend spoke with an Eiloff relative of mine who lives in St. Nikolaus, Saarland. My relative remembered hearing the story that Heinrich Eiloff, my 2x great-grandfather, emigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s. Since we connected, I am experiencing an incredible lightness of being.

This is the first time my two years of genealogical research have led to a “Kunta Kinte” moment, a connection with a relative in “the old country.” I have been unable to trace most of my ancestors back to the places of their birth.

My relative in St. Nikolaus was perplexed by a call from Greece from a woman claiming to represent his American relative. But when she explained that I only want to find my roots and perhaps visit relatives in St. Nikolaus, he said, “that would be very nice.” He promised to speak with other living relatives and said we should call in a month or two and he would tell us what he found.

Re’eh: When Turning to Monotheism Requires Violence.

I have covered all of the Torah portions for the month of August except for Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), which was the parshah for yesterday the 12th of August, 2023. It contains discussions of idolatry, the inheritance of the land, what counts as kosher animals, the prohibition against eating blood, the sabbatical years, and a list of festivals and their observance. As one reads, it becomes clear that the main concern of the parshah is threefold: observance; idolatry; and place. Re’eh is more or less an argument for monotheism, one that acknowledges the existence of other gods, institutes a series of rewards and punishments to convince people to join in, and resorts to violence when people are unconvinced. What does that mean for feminism? We will see.