#and i often use havayah

[queerspacepunk]

obviously there is a need to be cautious with this (see: the issues with ‘wrestling with g-d’ and ‘getting in a fistfight with g-d in a denny’s parking lot’) but i think there is some value to “irreverent” takes or translations of our prayers and blessings and beliefs.

i think it’s about connection. Obviously the original hebrew is incredible and valuable and beautiful, but it’s not a language i really speak or understand well at this stage, and rephrasing things not just in english but the vernacular i use and connect to is really powerful bc it makes g-d feel close.

i remember reading a really sweet but slightly funny translation of ‘eloheinu melach ha’olam’ as ‘ruler of all space-time’ and a friend and i riffing off of that and somehow ending up with ‘big bitch (honorific) of the whole wide world’ and i know that probably sounds terrible, but the closeness and connection i felt at that was amazing.

and yeah, again, we have to be careful of consequences and how it’s perceived from the outside, but if I can draw on the raw power of the phrase “g-d decided to let me live another day and i’m about to make it everyone’s problem” when I’m saying morning blessings and preparing myself for a day of Educating Cishets (which tbh isn’t that far off, translation-wise, when you think about it), then i think maybe we’re on to something.