SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva

SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva Empowering q***r and trans people to expand Torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of Talmud study. www.svara.org

Register now for Fall at SVARA! 📖Torah for the Here and Now is a new season of SVARA learning that invites us to discove...
08/26/2026

Register now for Fall at SVARA! 📖

Torah for the Here and Now is a new season of SVARA learning that invites us to discover the wisdom we need for the lives we’re living right now. Students of all backgrounds are invited to learn with us during our upcoming Fall Zman, which runs from October 19 through December 17. Check out everything we're serving up - we hope to see you back in the bet midrash!

✨FALL ZMAN: https://svara.org/start-learning/

ID: A series of colorful photographs depicting our faculty in the bet midrash. Text reads, "Torah for the Here and Now: Liberatory offerings for all learners, this fall at SVARA." The next slides show more information about our four Fall classes, which can be found at our website.

SVARA's Reader for the High Holidays is here.🩷We invite you to pause, reflect, and prepare for the year ahead with our n...
08/26/2026

SVARA's Reader for the High Holidays is here.🩷

We invite you to pause, reflect, and prepare for the year ahead with our new High Holidays reader featuring Torah from our extraordinary alumni community of q***r and trans rabbis, educators, activists, community leaders, and change-makers. Rooted in the learning they carried from their own lives into communities and spaces across the world, these voices offer wisdom for tending to what has been wounded, making and remaking Torah, and entering the new year with intention. We are so blessed to share their Torah with you here!

We want to express tremendous gratitude for our alumni authors: Mayim Yasmin, Rabbi Emily Aviva Kapor-Mater, Ma'ayan Seligsohn, Olivia Devorah Tucker, and Caroline Taymore. Dive into the digital booklet or view with a screenreader at the link below!

✨READER: https://svara.org/library/

ID: Snapshots from our new High Holidays Reader, which has a bold pink design theme woven throughout. The cover of the reader is a photograph of a large room filled floor to ceiling with books, manuscripts, and documents. Pink text above the photo reads, “Until We Say Enough: A SVARA Reader for High Holidays 5787.”

💜✨📖 Thank you, Julie! 🌄🥰🥹For so many years, faculty member Julie Batz has been a mainstay in the SVARA bet midrash. For ...
08/14/2026

💜✨📖 Thank you, Julie! 🌄🥰🥹

For so many years, faculty member Julie Batz has been a mainstay in the SVARA bet midrash. For hundreds and hundreds of learners (online and in-person; during semester-long offerings and one-night programs), Julie has brought unwavering warmth and generosity to her work as both a teacher and a student of our tradition. Her steady, welcoming presence has been invaluable to this community—grounding, joyful, curious, and always ready to meet learners (especially our sacred beginners) exactly where they are.

As Julie leaves SVARA to begin a new chapter, we’re holding so much gratitude for all she has given to this yeshiva and to the countless people whose lives she has touched through her Torah. We are excited to continue being in community and sharing in the joyful, necessary work of building a more liberatory Jewish future. Thank you, Julie, for helping make the SVARA bet midrash the place it is and always will be.

ID: A photo collage featuring pictures of Julie over the years. She is depicted beside countless SVARA learners in many different rooms that have held the SVARA Bet Midrash. Julie is most often smiling, reading, and laughing, with long brown hair and glasses. Purple text over the images reads, "Thank you, Julie!"

Recent studies indicate that LGBTQ+ nonprofits in the U.S. receive less than 1% of all philanthropic giving. 🤨🤯 When so ...
08/12/2026

Recent studies indicate that LGBTQ+ nonprofits in the U.S. receive less than 1% of all philanthropic giving. 🤨🤯 When so many of the institutions we rely on are up against this level of divestment, we’re reminded that SVARA's future has always been powered by the folks who learn with us, grow with us, and invest in us.

Over the last four years, our incredible community has helped more than double the share of SVARA’s revenue that comes from individual donors—from 10% to 20%. That growth means so many things to us, but perhaps most importantly, it means we continue to have the freedom to build the q***r, radical yeshiva we know the world needs. 💜 Join us today as a monthly donor and help sustain our work!

✨GIVE MONTHLY: https://svara.org/donate/

ID: A colorful photo of someone using the SVARA rainbow alef-bet strip as they fill out a Finding the Root worksheet, which rests on top of their masechet. Text reads, "Q***r non-profits receive less than one percent of all philanthropic giving in the U.S. Become a monthly donor and help sustain SVARA!"

As the High Holidays approach, we can't help but think about the beautiful year of learning we've shared together. The d...
08/10/2026

As the High Holidays approach, we can't help but think about the beautiful year of learning we've shared together. The depth, joy, and energy we’ve created together in the Gemirna Kollel, the Open Bet Midrash, and our return to Q***r Talmud Camp are powerful reminders of just how transformative our tradition can be. 📖💜

Today, we’re launching our Monthly Giving Campaign to help carry this energy forward. Monthly donors are the backbone of SVARA. Your recurring support helps us keep this learning vibrant, accessible, and growing year-round, and we're so grateful for that.

Join our core circle of monthly supporters today, and help make sure the magic of this year becomes the foundation for what we’ll learn together next!

✨GIVE MONTHLY: https://svara.org/donate/

ID: A SVARA-nik is seated in the bet midrash, wearing a maroon dress and glasses. They are smiling toward someone off-frame, surrounded by a long table lined with fellow learners and books. Text reads, "Join SVARA's Monthly Giving Campaign!"

In this week's Hot Off the Shtender, SVARA Fellow Chava Shapiro explores the legacies of some of our tradition's most po...
07/31/2026

In this week's Hot Off the Shtender, SVARA Fellow Chava Shapiro explores the legacies of some of our tradition's most powerful words: war, wilderness, ownership, and Torah. Chava writes with precision, poetry, care, and a commitment to the texts they're unpacking as they try to make meaning from the many directives our ancestors give us. Dive in at the link below, and follow Chava's writing and teachings at their substack, The Rubble. 💜

✨HOTS: https://svara.org/sharpened/
✨ CHAVA: https://digintherubble.substack.com/

ID: SVARA Fellow Chava Shapiro is standing on a mountain above a desert city landscape. They are wearing a beaded crown on their head, and their outfit is a colorful red pair of overalls atop a black and white embroidered shirt with a red bandana around their neck. They are holding flowers in one arm that are visible at the bottom left corner. The text to the left reads, "The wilderness has no fences, no titles or deeds, no name carved or flag staked into it. To receive Torah, the midrash insists, a person has to become like that terrain." A byline beneath the text reads, "Chava Shapiro, SVARA Fellow."

In this week's Hot Off the Shtender, SVARA Fellow Binya Kóatz excavates a familiar slogan with purpose and clarity, wond...
07/17/2026

In this week's Hot Off the Shtender, SVARA Fellow Binya Kóatz excavates a familiar slogan with purpose and clarity, wondering what it really means to say "your body is a temple." She writes through the lens of Jewish tradition, exploring the body (and the halacha surrounding it) as a site of Avoda—sacred service to our god—and divine-human partnership. This one is truly gorgeous; read the full piece at the link below!

✨HOTS: https://svara.org/body-temple/

ID: Binya is smiling with her eyes closed as her curly brown hair drapes down across her face. She is wearing a flowing scarf and a sleeveless top. Text from her HOTS piece reads, "Our bodies, like temples, are sites of cooperation between humans and the divine." A byline reads, "Binya Kóatz, SVARA Fellow." The SVARA logo is placed in the bottom-right corner. See less

After six years, Q***r Talmud Camp returned, and it was everything we dreamed it could be.For five unforgettable days in...
07/10/2026

After six years, Q***r Talmud Camp returned, and it was everything we dreamed it could be.

For five unforgettable days in Petaluma, more than 90 of us gathered to learn in chevruta, ask big questions, build deep friendships, and experience the transformative power of placing q***r and trans folks at the very center of our tradition.

We're still soaking it all in, and we'll be sharing more stories and reflections in the weeks ahead. For now, we're overflowing with gratitude: to every learner who brought their whole self to the bet midrash, and to our generous sponsors—Dr. Bronner's, Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, and Pushcart Judaica. Thanks to Pushcart's beautiful raffle donations and our incredible community, we raised more than $3,000 to sustain liberatory learning at SVARA.

As one camper shared: "I finally felt like I had found the puzzle into which the piece of my q***r Jewish self fits." Thank you for helping us build the future of Jewish tradition together. 💜

ID: A handful of photos, taken by Lydia Daniller, at Q***r Talmud Camp 2026, including colorful shots of our faculty poring over texts with learners who find themselves indoors in the bet midrash, outside on the porch of a large building, and seated on a blanket in the grass.

Q***r Talmud Camp is officially underway in the rolling hills of Petaluma, California! As we write this message, more th...
06/29/2026

Q***r Talmud Camp is officially underway in the rolling hills of Petaluma, California!

As we write this message, more than 90 QTC learners are immersed in the expansive and challenging terrain of Sanhedrin 4b/5a—learning in chevruta, asking big questions, and connecting with the wisdom of our tradition.

If you're feeling inspired to learn alongside us from wherever you are, we invite you to dive into Sanhedrin 17a/b, a text from the same masechet that explores what it takes to be a leader in a rapidly changing world. You can find everything you need to get started on our DIY Chevruta resource page.

✨DIY: https://svara.org/diy/sanhedrin17ab-form

We cannot wait to share all of the magical updates from camp as this week unfolds!

(P.S. As always, if you'd like to support the life-changing, ground-shifting learning that happens at QTC, you can make a gift of any size, at any time. Thank you for helping make a vibrant and q***r Jewish future possible!)

✨DIY: https://svara.org/donate

As we get ready to gather for five days of deep study, community, and transformation at Q***r Talmud Camp, we're feeling...
06/26/2026

As we get ready to gather for five days of deep study, community, and transformation at Q***r Talmud Camp, we're feeling especially grateful for a new piece by SVARA Faculty Fellow Natalie Boskin. In "The Origins We Imagine," Natalie turns to Masechet Berakhot to explore the earliest origins of prayer as we know it today. We hope Natalie's reflection offers a meaningful entry point into this beautiful QTC season and inspires all of us to go a little deeper as we prepare to learn together at camp. Dig in at the link below!

✨HOTS: https://svara.org/origins-imagine/

ID: Natalie is standing outdoors on a sunny day, leaning against a wooden fence. They are wearing a black button-up shirt and black sunglasses and smile toward the camera. Text from their piece reads, “No matter how or why you got to the bet midrash, I'm glad you did, and I hope that our tradition sparks something within you.” Beneath that, a byline reads, “Natalie Boskin, Faculty Fellow.”

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