The following is Mr. Noach’s personal statement of intent.

As a recent convert to Judaism, (June 3, 2004) even though I have a credential in Jewish Studies, I am disadvantaged with respect to positions in communal leadership by a simple lack of time spent within the tradition. I can’t think of a better way to remedy that situation than by immersing myself in the life and culture of Israel.

I am currently finishing my MA in Jewish Studies at the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. (Thesis defense Feb. 10, 2006; all other requirements completed; degree anticipated spring 2006). As a man of transgender experience (moving from female to male gender identification), it is my honor to complete thesis research in the area of ‘Gender Variance in the Rabbinic Imagination’.

I hope to be accepted for doctoral work at the GTU in the area of Interdisciplinary Studies. If I receive the Haas/Koshland Award, I will spend my first doctoral year in yeshiva at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, deepening my acquaintance with Biblical Hebrew, Torah, Mishnah and Talmud. My intention is to recognize and articulate rabbinic attitudes toward ambiguity and change, and give voice to those rabbinic traditions that may provide hope to the Jewishly disenfranchised. The work would begin with attitudes on gender, but would move elsewhere within the tradition.

In 1990 I completed an MA in Biomedical Media Development, and focused my career on developing educational media for higher education (a junior college and a university) and for the software industry. I want to marry that expertise to gender and sexuality studies within the discipline of Jewish Studies.

I want to support Jews who have been hurt by the bigotry and/or ignorance of other Jews, and by our tradition that sometimes appears to be speaking in a single, condemnatory voice. I want to offer this support by making Jews aware of interpretive traditions that are tolerant of human diversity, ambiguity and change. Specifically, my work is to collect rabbinic arguments that recognize and support diversity (especially of gender ambiguity) within post-Biblical Jewish communities, and to marshal the logic of those arguments toward acceptance of modern diversities, including (but not limited to) gender variation and sexual preference.

In my future career as a professor in the academy and as a teacher in the community, I want to provide opportunities to explore these findings via traditional Jewish text study, the college classroom, the spiritual retreat, and through educational media (including but not limited to the Internet). In addition to media, I hope to present these ideas at academic conferences and through scholarly and popular publication, and through participation as a teacher, chevra mate, and spiritual counselor.

In the news

• “Bombs, bias, tolerance greet award-winner in Israel”, The J., 7/2/2007
• “Pushing the boundaries: Transgender convert wins Haas Koshland award”, The J., 3/17/2006