Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family

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 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 and criticisms and how it fits into 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.

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.