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Wednesday April 17th, 4:30-6pm in the John Dewey Lounge, Old Mill
Rebecca J Epstein-Levi
Torah Edgeplay: Risk, Community, and Ethics from the Beit Midrash to BDSM

Much mainstream discourse on sexual ethics—religious and secular alike—treats “deviant” sexual activities as the height of individualism, pitting them against “traditional” communities in which chaotic, risky individual desires and appetites are subordinate to the collective good. But what if “deviant” sexualities offer models for communal ethics that account for collective wellbeing and identity as well as individual variation, risk-taking, and pleasure? What if it is precisely those communities’ engagement with risk that helps them develop social and moral virtue? And what if classical rabbinic text has within it narratives and resources that not only mirror and elucidate those communities’ virtues, but also mirror, illuminate, and help to mend their vices?

Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi is Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Vanderbilt University. An expert on sexual ethics, she uses unconventional readings of classical rabbinic text to study the ethics of sex and sexuality, disability, and neurodiversity. She will discuss her forthcoming book, Torah Edgeplay: Risk, Community, and Ethics from the Beit Midrash to BDSM.

Presented by the �պ����� Department of Religion, and the Jewish Studies Program at �պ����� in cooperation with �պ����� Humanities Center.  With support from the Lattie F. Coor Endowment, The Harry H. Khan Fund, and the program in German, Russian, and Hebrew.