My queer artistic response to “פרו ורבו” , the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply. Reinterpreted in a very a Fruity perspective.
I started working on this comic thanks to Orlando Meir-Brix for the incredible three part class on Family, Reproduction, and Belonging through Hillel this winter. I was inspired by the discussions I had with classmates, images that appeared to me from the texts we were reading, my gender affirming surgeries these past 4 months, and my dreams of a more colorful, flamboyant, kind, and delightful future.
Being fruity, acting like a fruit, or having fruity tendencies are all ways to express that someone is a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Sometimes used as a slur now the fruitiness is being reclaimed and celebrated as part of our delicious and funny linguistic history.
I had the idea of interpreting the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply to go beyond raising or creating children. What if it could mean creating a welcoming world where people can feel empowered to come out of the closet and live as their true selves. What if being fruitful was being so fruity that more fruits grow in the fertile ground of representation and resources? What if there were ways that trans kids could become trans adults without trauma? To find love and grow into one’s gender and sexuality without shame and guilt shrouding self expression? To feel protected and safe wearing whatever clothing and hairstyles that feel aligned with one’s personal style and gender expression when walking (or rolling) on our shared streets?
Repro Shabbat that takes place every year on Parshat Mishpatim. This year it is on Valentine’s day. While creating this piece I thought about what if reproductive freedom could go beyond the freedom to have control over the creation of a new life? What if it was also about the ability to transition, move beyond cisheteronormativitity, to create a life of freedom and queer love, mutual aid, community support, dance parties, HRT and artwork? What if choosing to be childfree, and reparent oneself through a second puberty was an act of being fruitful? Could we multiply through seeing and recognizing the beauty and uniqueness in each other? In the subway, in Shul, and in the streets.
When drawing this scene I was thinking a lot about the small patterns and choreography I notice of the city swirling around me as I make my way through the world in my wheelchair. I noticed so many more things that I did not see before in my first seven years in Berlin. This new perspective has also given me the ability to sketch easier as I am almost always sitting and able to pull a pen from my fanny pack. The setting of the U Bahn station and the various people who pass through is a place I find endlessly inspiring and overwhelming. The flowers at the shop are closer to my face, the pretzels smell stronger, the Proselytisers with their pamphlets are even more unavoidable. It is no longer possible for me to be a silent participant in the underground traffic of the city. I ring my pink bell on my chair to clear crowds, and In order to access most trains I have to announce myself to the driver by waving or making extreme eye contact. Then they have to get me the ramp as I tell them what stop is my end destination. Frequently I have had to ask for help from strangers around me when the driver forgets to let me off at the stop. I have made so many more connections with strangers and had to make fast decisions about who is a safe person to ask for help from. This has led me to noticing and feeling so grateful for all the people who see me and my rainbowtastic wheelchair and share a smile with me. It makes me feel hopeful for what can be possible in the future. Maybe someday soon there will be a channukiah in the window and a mezuzah on an underground flower shop where the gay agenda is offered for free outside. For now, I can dream!
References
- Bismarckstr—>Pissmarckstr. https://bisa.bbk.ac.uk/event/bismarck-antisemitism-and-the-tragedy-of-german-jewry/
- Be Fruitful and Multiply
https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/129183.1?lang=bi
- Parshat Mishpatim
https://www.jewishtimes.com/parshat-mishpatim-the-torah-of-reproductive-freedom/
Fruits drawn (find them all! )
-Banana, watermelon, blueberries, orange, pomegranete, peach, apple
-Repro Shabbat
https://www.jewsforabortionaccess.org/repro-shabbat-2026
-Bershit Rabbah 100 ( Midrash on Genesis)
A society and a family are like a pile of stones. If you remove one stone, the pile will collapse. If you add a stone to it, it will stand
Mycelium Memory 