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Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Literature with Jewish Content: A Bibliographic Overview
Get PDFThe topic of gay, lesbian, and bisexual literature with Jewish content has been taboo for a very long time. Because of Judaism's deep-rooted commitment to the family, alternative forms of sexual relationships have rarely been mentioned in Jewish literature. Only in the past twenty-five years, with the rise of AIDS, but starting in the radical 1960s with its innovative sexual and cultural critique and revolutionary approach to politics and power arrangements, have we seen the rise of Jewish literature on gay, lesbian, and bisexual lifestyles. Since homosexuality is still asur (forbidden) in Halacha, this is still a controversial topic and care must be taken to handle it with sensitivity. Still, librarians and teachers should introduce these issues at age-appropriate and text appropriate levels. This bibliographic essay demonstrates the wide range of material that exists on this topic from research guides and anthologies to novels and sociological works. The literature is growing by leaps and bounds; much of the material is useful for Jewish libraries but must be updated regularly since this field is undergoing great change. However, since gay history is still history, the encyclopedias and research guides will always be useful. The paper includes a special section on homosexuality and sexual politics in Nazi Germany, a special interest of the author, a son of Holocaust survivors
The RLIN Cataloging Category (CC) Code and Hebraica Cataloging at Yeshiva University Library
Get PDFIn doing Hebraica cataloging on RLIN, Yeshiva University (YU) librarians provide full title and statement of responsibility data in the original script. YU catalogers do not, however, provide full romanization of these elements, but stop after the title proper. The Research Libraries Group's definition of cataloging levels requires YU to code its records as less-than-full. It is argued in this paper that the Cataloging Category codes mask the quality of records containing complete bibliographic data in the original script, and that libraries in putting this data are penalized financially
Transgression in Jewish Literature
Get PDFJewish library collection policies as they relate to Jewish gay and lesbian issues are discussed. Questions considered are whether a book about gay Jews or a book written by a Jewish gay author should be included in Judaica collections. The issue is placed within a historical Jewish literary tradition which includes authors such as Grade, Ozick, Miller, Roth and Rukeyser-who write about such transgressive themes as sexuality, assimilation, self-loathing, agnostic rabbis, etc. Through personal examples drawn from her collection of Jewish short stories, Hot Chicken Wings, the author makes a case for including books with Jewish lesbian content. Also considered are the consequences of excluding such works and the ultimate arbitrariness of banning works with gay content from the Jewish library shelf.
The author also comments on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, written by a gay Jewish man, Tony Kushner. Even though Angels is being touted as an AIDS play, it is replete with Jewish characters, questions about assimilation, and Jewish self-loathing as exhibited by the lead character Roy Cohn. The play derives from a long tradition of Jewish avant-garde writing dealing with the nature of Jewish identity. For this reason, the author uses Angels to make a case against censoring gay themes in Judaica collections. Jewish literature throughout the ages has had a transgressive bent, and gay themes must be read in this context and viewed by Jews as legitimate literary material worthy of reading by Jewish communities
Values in Jewish Children's Literature
Get PDFWriters are supposed to be broadminded, liberal, objective, ecumenical people. Well, I admit that I am guilty of a very definite parochial prejudice. I happen to think that Jewish books—whether they are humorous and light, or grappling with serious matters—should have something Jewish to say to their readers. And to me, "something Jewish" means that, in some way,a book is plugged into the central nervous system of Jewish lore and knowledge, that it looks to Jewish sources for direction, and that it starts from the premise that the foundation of Jewish truth and wisdom—i.e., the Torah—is our unwavering focal point