On Shavuot we read the Book of Ruth, a text with special significance to the queer community for its depiction of an intimate relationship between women. Yet this text also contains sexual objectification, uneven power dynamics, and a focus on male-identified bodies as a source of women’s salvation.

How does this relate to the practice of eating dairy on Shavuot, a holiday that celebrates the grain harvest? In our age of factory farming, what does it look like, and what does it mean to us, to “queer” Jewish food?