The Peoplehood Orientation understands rabbinic literature (defined broadly) as a tool for nurturing a sense of peoplehood, using methodologies that cultivate this sensibility. As R’ Soloveitchik offers in his picture of bet midrash learning, studying rabbinic literature enables “a symposium of generations [to come] into existence.” A Peoplehood Orientation recognizes Torah — especially when taught with commentary — as a central tool through which peoplehood is constructed, and therefore rabbinic literature is taught using modalities that enable learners to connect with themselves more deeply as part of the broader collective of Jewish people through this Orientation. Learners are encouraged to develop personal relationships with commentators, sages, and figures found within ancient texts, and to understand texts as a portal to the worlds in which our ancestors lived. If klal yisrael is to survive this next chapter of Jewish history, we must (re)turn to and recover authentic entities around which our people can coalesce as a collective. I suggest that perhaps we return to Torah, the project that not only initially forged us as a collective but also carried us — and continues to carry us — through diaspora.
March 2024
Peoplehood Orientation: Nurturing Klal Yisrael Through Torah Study
Nurturing Klal Yisrael Through Torah Study
Laynie Soloman (they/them) is a teacher and Torah-lover who seeks to uplift the piously irreverent, queer, and subversive spirit of rabbinic text and theology. Laynie serves as the Associate Rosh Yeshiva at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, where they direct SVARA?s Teaching Kollel and co-founded the Trans Halakha Project. They have learned and taught in various batei midrash (homes for Jewish learning) for almost a decade, and have served on the faculty of Yeshivat Hadar, Romemu Yeshiva, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Laynie holds an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and received the Covenant Foundation?s Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish educators in 2020. Laynie is a third generation Ashkenazi Philadelphian, and when they?re not learning Talmud, you can find Laynie reading about liberation theology, laying in their hammock, and singing nigunim.
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