Thorns in the Vineyard: Criminals, Snitches, and Jewish Views on the Law

Are Jews allowed to talk to cops? Is halakha more “thin blue line” or “ACAB”? What happens at the intersection between intra-communal Jewish law and enforcement, and the secular—or goyish—carceral state? Dive into these questions, as alive now as they’ve ever been, as we ground ourselves in a two-thousand-year-old rabbinic tale of siege and sacrifice to figure out whether pigs are kosher or treyf when it comes to the police. Through this unsettling story of trust, betrayal, and defilement, we’ll ask what happens when purity and power touch—and what our ancestors’ shudder might still be trying to tell us about justice, loyalty, and law today.

Rabbi Xava De Cordova is a disabled, Sefardi, Mizraxi trans woman and co-host of the world's first Queer Talmud podcast, "Xai, how are you?". She got her start as a teacher by creating Beit Midrash Behind Bars, an organization that facilitated Jewish learning opportunities for incarcerated people in Washington State.

Binya Kóatz is a Sefardi / Ashki / Moroccan / Argentinean / Ukranian / French trans Jewish torah-lover, who has taught jewish text for a decade, and currently organizes jewish community on Ohlone Land in Oakland, California.

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