Description

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Transparent made history as the first television show to feature a transgender character in the main role, as the first streaming series to win the Golden Globe for Best Television Series, and as, in the words of journalist Debra Nussbaum Cohen, “the Jewiest show ever.” No television show in history has depicted the lives of American Jews with as much attention to Jewish rituals, quirks, or culture. And no series has portrayed issues of gender and sexuality alongside Judaism with such nuance and depth, making Transparent a landmark series in the history of television.
 
Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family brings together leading scholars to analyze and offer commentary on what scholar Josh Lambert calls, “the most important work of Jewish culture of the century so far.” The book explores the show’s depiction of Jewish life, religion, and history, as well as Transparent’s scandals, criticisms, and how it fits and diverges from today’s transgender and queer politics. 
 
The first book to focus on Transparent, Blessings Beyond the Binary offers a rich analysis of the groundbreaking series and its connections to contemporary queer, trans, and Jewish life.
 

About the Author

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NORA RUBEL is the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor in Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester. She is the author of ​Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination and co-editor of Religion, Food, and Eating in North America.

BRETT KRUTZSCH is the assistant director of New York University’s Center for Religion and Media and editor of its award-winning magazine, The Revealer. He is the author of the book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics.

Praise For…

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"Blessings Beyond the Binary is an extraordinary collection that reminds us why Transparent had such an impact while it aired. Rubel and Krutzsch have compiled a collection of scholars from across almost every conceivable interested discipline to shed light on the many facets that made the show sparkle. The analyses and insights in the individual essays begin with Transparent, but take the reader higher and further and use the show as a starting point, not a destination. This volume will be invaluable to scholars in so many fields, and although Transparent may be gone, this work will live on."

— Jenny Caplan

"Using a multiplicity of methods, this volume explores precisely what made Transparent reflective of its time; its possibilities and limits as a groundbreaking, deeply queer show; and what made it the most Jewish show on television. A must read for anyone interested in the intersections of Jewishness, gender, and sexuality."
— Samira K. Mehta