Liberating Ourselves (Parashat Shelakh Lecha)

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June 23, 2006 | By David Shneer

Topic(s): Coming Out

Media Type(s): Torah Commentary

Textual Source: Numbers

Torah Portion: Sh'lach Lecha

This resource is part of the Torah Queeries collection.

The author writes of the Israelites' desire to return to Egypt/Mitzrayim, to slavery, relating it to the idea of LGBT people leaving the confines of the perennial closet for greener “freer” fields – of being “out” of the closet. But we can also understand the temptation to “go back” and return to the known, to the safe, to the predictable. Predictability is very appealing. Going forward involves uncertainty, risk and fear.

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