Joy Ladin
Dr. Joy Ladin is a professor of English and holds the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. She is the first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution. Her memoir of transition, "Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders," was recently published by University of Wisconsin Press; her sixth book of poetry, "The Definition of Joy," was published June 2012.
Articles by Joy Ladin
The Jewish Community’s Obligation to Trans Youth
The urgency of taking action today to support trans students.
Passover: Festival of Binaries
Leavened versus unleavened; inside versus outside; Jew versus non-Jew; life versus death. Passover is a festival of absolute binary distinctions that we ritually link together in order to affirm our identity as the people God brought out of Egypt and to pass that identity on to our children. This is the Torah's equivalent of “Jewish Identity for Dummies.”
Shipwrecked with God
Communities, institutions, families and friendships create a sense of common identity, a sense of “we.” Since no two people – ...
Transgendered Hearts: Abraham, Sarah and Isaac
The Torah is strewn with transgendered hearts. How can that be true? The Torah, as we know, is not written ...
Camels and Consummation: Parashat Chayei Sarah
Jews read sections of the Torah each week, and these sections, known as parshiyot, inspire endless examination year after year. ...