Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

NEWS ITEM: “The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism” — that’s the title of an anthology just published by New York University Press. It explores what the Torah has to say about sex.

Provoking praise and some unease:
A book about the birds and bees.
What makes its publication news?
It solely concentrates on Jews.
This makes the project more complex
Than other works that deal with sex.

This daring new anthology
Treats sex without apology.
It’s frank and candid, to be sure.
And doesn’t shrink from the “impure”.

It even limns, in manner free,
Rabbinical pornography!
(The context is a Talmud tract
That deals with vamps, to be exact.
Another matter of surmise:
Do circumcisions penalize?).

All gender issues are explored.
The reader surely won’t be bored
To learn there is a subtle line
That links Eros to the divine.

The mikveh’s role is analyzed
And its importance emphasized.
Those using it leave, heaven-bent,
Awash with feelings of content.

One writer could have given much
To add that special Jewish touch:
If Monica a chapter wrote,
It would insure a juicy quote.

These themes perhaps will seem uncouth,
But not to fans of Dr. Ruth.
From modesty the book departs
And gives new thrust to private parts.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT