Last week, Lynn Schusterman, chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, wrote an op-ed, “Embrace LGBT Jews as vital members of the community“, calling on Jewish organizations to enact non-discrimination hiring policies that specifically mention sexual orientation, and called on funders to make their support contingent on the adoption and practice of such policies.
Adopting formal non-discrimination policies — and ensuring their implementation — will help us achieve two goals: 1, they will indicate to LGBT individuals that the Jewish community is committed to full LGBT inclusion; and 2, they will guarantee that our institutions are walking the talk when it comes to being welcoming and diverse.
This week, Nathan Diament, director of the Institute for Public Affairs of the Orthodox Union, wrote a response, “Don’t exclude in the name of inclusion“, arguing that the religious values of Orthodox organizations require them to practice discriminatory hiring based on sexual orientation. Therefore, Schusterman’s suggestion, if fully enacted, would result in a severe reduction of funding to Orthodox institutions.
The pro Israel organization Stand With Us is at the center of a controversy around the participation of Zionists at the US Social Forum. Briefly: A workshop was approved on LGBTQI struggles in the Middle East. Palestine solidarity activists and Arab queers pressed the Social Forum’s National Planning Committee to cancel the workshop.
Yesterday, the Social Forum released a statement confirming that they have cancelled the previously approved workshop:
“…we are grateful for the letters and e-mails from our fellow social justice activists regarding a workshop being put on by the organization Stand With Us. The goals and practices of this organization violate our principles. Far from its claim to represent LGBTQI communities in the Middle East, its purpose is to defend and justify Israeli aparheid. Jewish, Palestine solidarity and queer organizations have witnessed and experienced Stand With Us disrupting events and discussion on Palestinian rights and then claiming censorship when stopped. Their presenter has claimed to speak for the “queer Middle East” when in reality he speaks only for Israel. When asked to include other voices of queers from the region, he has refused.”
[Couldn't find this online - so no link.]
I’m fine with this outcome. I could see a progressive Zionist presentation on Israel finding it’s way to the program, especially if done together with other voices, so as to educate people and ‘problematize’ the often simplistic dismissal of any and all Zionists.
[Zionists! Zionism! Zionists! Zionism! That got the blood flowing, didn't it! It's like verbal aerobics for activists.]
It’s also nice to see that the Social Forum leaders took time to explore the situation carefully. They researched the group, talked to people, and even tried to work with the proposer of the event to include Arab queers. For this reasoned stance, they passed through a few days of shrill verbiage from folks who don’t understand why Forum leaders weren’t faster on the draw.
Just look at what Helem, Al-Qaws, ASWAT, and Palestinian Queers for BDShad to say:
SAY NO TO PINKWASHING AT THE USSF!
We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US Social Forum’s decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as a platform to pinkwash Israel’s crimes in the region.
Whoa. Thanks USSF for being thoughtful about this.
And: The way that supporters of Israel use tolerance of gays and lesbians in some parts of Israel as a way to repulse criticism of how Arabs and Palestinians are treated is disgusting. Does San-Francisco excuse the war in Iraq? Pathetic.
IN OTHER NEWS
A commenter on my previous Social Forum post points out that one of Emily H.’s works is featured on the cover of the Palestine folks booklet. That’s great! A big cheery Detroit hello to any Social Forum folks reading these posts. The weather is fine, the lines are moving, and the downtown area at least looks fantastic. Big ups to everyone that helped put this together.
I can only imagine the pitch meeting: “What if the Swedish Chef was a Zionist?” “But the Swedish Chef is kind of a psycho, totally unaware of the havoc he’s wreaking on everyone around him while he’s trying to make his meal.” “Exactly! It’s perfect!”
I’ll admit, after watching the first one I stumbled across (“Jew Bread“), I turned to my office-mate and asked if she tell whether this was anti-Semitic or Zionist. After watching a few more, I think the answer is clearly “both.”
It’s like a train wreck… Each clip I watch repulses me in new and different ways, but I can’t look away…
So the the question is… who’s funding/making/distributing these?
On June 1st, queer Jewish spirituality outfit Nehirim and NUJLS (the National Union of Jewish LGBTIQQ Students) announced that they were going to merge, becoming one outfit–eventually named Nehirim, with a new Director of Student Programming and Student Programming Advisory Board created to help carry out NUJLS’ mission.
There are some obvious pros to all this queer Jewish convergence: one larger org is able to do more and have a stronger voice than a number of smaller orgs, there are ways to streamline administrative costs and hassles, and it’s much more effective from a fundraising point of view to not have a number of organizations with similar missions competing for dollars–you’ll note that the Schusterman Family Foundation makes an appearance on both press releases, for example. Of course, there are a lot of ways to merge clumsily and at the expense of important parts of an org’s mission–let’s hope no major errors are made on that front–and hopefully there’ll be enough space for each of the visionaries involved to continue to tear it up at the appropriate level. Only time will tell.
I’ve been sitting on this copy of Siddur Sha’ar Zahav, kindly sent to me for review by Congregation Sha’ar Zahav months ago. With my apologies for the tardiness of the review, here it is.
As a Reform gay shul, we should expect a siddur that does not shy away from playing with the liturgy and rushes straight in to right perceived liturgical wrongs. Reform siddurim are adept at this and, if Siddur B’chol L’vavcha is anything to go by, so are siddurim created by LGBTXYZETC (LGBTQIQ, according to this siddur) communities. That’s exactly the kind of eclectic siddur we get here.
As with any thoughtfully constructed congregational siddur, SSZ is full of references to the history of the synagogue, unique minhagim and character. In terms of liturgical structure, it follows recent Reform liturgies such as Mishkan T’filah quite closely, while delving further into the gender politics of the liturgy than mainstream Reform siddurim do. At the same time, some of their theological gender posturing falls short, perhaps defeating the purpose of the liturgists. And as for the size and ease of use of the siddur, it is the largest, most unwieldy siddur I have ever seen.
Let’s deal with the physical nature of SSZ first. Like I said, it’s gigantic. I’ve heard older congregants complain till kingdom come about the size of Gates of Prayer or MT. I can’t imagine what they would say about this tome. It’s large enough to prevent me from using it. Praying the Amidah with this thing might send you to a chiropractor. As you can see in the image below, it is thicker than its Manhattan gay siddur counterpart (a Friday night volume anyway) by far and even noticeably thicker than the not-so-inconsiderably girthy GOP and Plaut Torah commentary. More »
Last night I went to the JCC for a book launch event. Fresh from the printers, Keep Your Wives Away From Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires is a new anthology by and about Orthodox queer women (including those on the transgender spectrum who were raised as women or now identify as women).
A half dozen authors read excerpts from their contributions to the book (or related publications), to a sold-out room. (Ok, ok, it wasn’t sold-out, because it was a free event. But there were chairs set up for maybe 50 people, and there were easily 150 there last night.) We heard stories of struggle and triumph, sadness and humour.
I was especially happy to hear another chapter from Leah Lax; she was an Artist-in-Residence at the NHC Summer Institute in 2007 and brought an entire room to tears with her story of births and abortion struggles as a still-closeted, married to a man, frummie.
What can I say? I was persuaded enough by those few excerpts to pick up a copy of the book for myself. If you’re interested in the intersection of orthodoxy and sexuality, check it out.
Last weekend, the first Limmud Chicago took place on the wooded campus of Oakton Community College in suburban Des Plaines. I’m on the ‘Steering Wheel’ (there are no committees in Limmud) so I’m biased, but thought I’d provide a report.
From 8am to 11pm, nearly 400 participants gorged on 80 sessions ranging from Hasidut to Queer Torah and from Text to Crafts. Check out the program here.
My most memorable sessions were led by Arthur Waskow’s Can Jewish Festivals Save the World, Shai Held’s sessions, Menachem Cohen’s How Not to Study Torah, Aaron Frankel’s Songs of Yehuda Halevi, Marc Belgrad’s Getting to God, and Mark Rothschild’s fascinating Prophets and Profits. I would have had more were I not ‘on duty’ in the prime mid-day hours. I heard raves about Asher Lopatin’s session on the Quran’s portrayal of the Akedah, the obligatory drum circle, Ruthie Gelfarb’s Introduction to Mussar, and many more.
The conference drew participants from Metro Chicago, Toronto, Colorado, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and someplace called New York. There was a good mix of age ranges and backgrounds. Upon entry, everyone, whether presenter or participant, was assigned a volunteer role. And a considerable amount of leftover food was donated to the Night Ministry, serving homeless youth.
By now we’re all familiar with the Limmud concept, and this was, if I may say so, a very ‘limmud-y’ first Limmud in the Midwest. And if it can happen Chicago… it can happen anywhere.
It was a fantastic day and a smashing success. If you want to participate next year, check out the website.
Longtime Jewschool readers may recall that we’ve heard from Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance of America before. He really seems to like railing against the homosexuals. Obsessing about the gays, really.
Earlier this week, Levin, on behalf of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, issued a “media advisory.” I saw it on the Christian Newswire.
When Americans are suffering economically and millions need jobs, it’s shocking that the Administration is focused on its ultra-liberal militantly homosexualist agenda forcing the highlighting of homosexuals and homosexuality on an unwilling military. This is the equivalent of the spiritual rape of our military to satisfy the most extreme and selfish cadre of President Obama’s kooky coalition. We agree with Eileen Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness that this will hurt the cohesiveness of the military, cause many to leave the army, and dramatically lower the number of recruits, perhaps leading to the reinstatement of a compulsory draft.
Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.
We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough.
And, because Levin is all about living in the 21st Century, the press release was accompanied by a video of him delivering the statement:
Their praying in August 2000 to prevent natural disasters, allegedly the result of God’s anger over homosexuality, had nothing to do with the tsunami in Asia, Katrina, or the earthquake in Haiti. Seriously. And, if earthquakes are related, how come there aren’t more natural disasters in countries that allow openly LGB folks to serve in their militaries?
While the Christian Newswire condones Levin’s speeches (they link to another of his on the US government’s need to close abortion clinics), I’m sure none of you will be surprised to read that I condemn it. If, like me, you’d like to know who these “1,000 rabbis” are who are warning that homosexuality in the military will lead to natural disasters, and if, like me, you want to make sure the Rabbinical Alliance of America knows that they do not actually speak for all Americans, you can contact them at 718-469-6999. Go ahead, make a call.
Tobaron Waxman is the winner of The Jewish Museum’s first-ever Audience Award, selected from nearly sixty international artists. Votes were gathered from visitors to the exhibition in person and online, between September 13, 2009 and January 11, 2010. Waxman was selected for his provocative installation Opshernish, 2000/2009. The piece examines the construction of gender in Judaism by recreating and condensing a multi-part performance installation.
The following are the artist’s own words as shared with Jewschool’s editors: More »
We’ve reported on transgender Jewish news before. I don’t think it’s a surprise to any of you Jewschool readers that we’re all in favour of queer and transgender equality around here. And today’s news is just another step in the right direction.
Amanda Simpson, who, in addition to being a highly skilled rocket scientist (seriously) with over 30 years of experience in the aerospace and defence industry, is both transgender and Jewish, was just appointed by POTUS Obama to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security as a senior technical advisor.
Yasher koach to her. I hope others in the transgender community continue to have their work and accomplishments recognised, instead of only being seen (too often in a negative light) for their gender.
Last week, a discussion was organized at Yeshiva University in NYC called “Being Gay In The Orthodox World: A Conversation with Members of the YU Community.” The event, which took place on December 22, was sponsored by the YU Tolerance Club and the Wurzweiler School of Social Work. It was an open event; people from the YU and Stern communities were invited to attend, as were members of the Jewish communities at large. (I received several invitations to go but was unable to make it.) Many of you found out about it on twitter; our most popular tweet, which more of you clicked through than any other, was a link to The Curious Jew‘s transcript of the panel discussion, which Chana posted within a couple hours of the event’s conclusion. This transcript has been as close to hearing about it as those of us who weren’t there could get, since Rabbi Yosef Blau said in his opening remarks:
What we WILL be doing is addressing the pain and the conflict that is caused by someone being gay in the Orthodox world. Our four panelists, one present student and three alumni of Yeshiva, will be speaking about their own lives and experiences. I would ask you not to take pictures of them and not to record to respect privacy. Recordings have an unfortunate tendency to enable someone to take out a snippet and then use it for various and sundry purposes.
Each speaker then went through his own personal story of being gay in the Orthodox world. Dr. Pelcovitz, a psychologist on faculty at YU, presented a psychological/Orthodox perspective; he made sure to emphasise that there is a difference between “feeling” and “doing” gay, and said that “nobody has the right to judge a feeling,” regardless of halakhic understanding. Questions were then taken from the audience of 800 people, and the event ended more or less on time.
But, of course, it didn’t actually end there. More »
Nicholas Kristof, venerable New York Times columnist and African enthusiast, writes on his blog about the religious oppression of women. He takes such a political stance it is almost painful. He explains:
My own take is that religion has often been part of the problem, but that it also can be part of the solution. … In short, I don’t think there’s any glib answer to the question, but there is no question that religions can be a force for justice and equality that they are now not.
Say what you will about Jewish youth groups, but I met more interesting people through my involvement in USY than I have through any other activity I’ve ever been involved in. Among the very interesting people I have come to know over the years is Mimi Arbeit.
Mimi believes that sexuality education can be a vehicle for positive social change. Mimi also believes that sex ed shouldn’t end when we graduate from school. What’s more, she believes this can and should happen within a Jewish context.
Most importantly, Mimi has turned her dreams into action. Using the Unitarian Universalist book Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Young Adults, Ages 18-35 as a jumping off-point, Mimi is launching a 14-session course discussing sexuality in our lives and society with progressive Jews in our 20s and 30s at Moishe/Kavod House in Brookline, MA.
She’s holding an introduction and information session on Sunday, November 22, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Moishe/ Kavod House: 165 Winthrop St., Apt B., Brookline, MA
Here’s what she has to say:
The sex ed class will be 14 sessions and begins in January. But don’t worry – the Intro Session will also include plenty of discussion about sexuality!
(Come early if you can to say hi to the Kavodnicks at the skillshare and to enjoy snacks and chill out with ME)
Come to the Intro Session to learn about:
The curriculum we will use in the topics we will cover
he values, assumptions and goals of our class
The processes we will use to build a safe space and foster communal commitment and personal growth
The resources we will use to make the class relevant to our community’s explicit dedication to Judaism and social justice
If you would like to come to an Intro Session but cannot come on 11/22, please e-mail me ASAP.
To learn more about this project, check out my blog, and e-mail me with any questions, concerns, ideas or envisioning!
Tell your friends! Bring your friends! Spread the word!
Here’s to sex, health and conversation.
With love and excitement,
Mimi
And if that isn’t enough to make you write it into your calendar in pen, I want to add that Mimi assures me “the curriculum is explicitly queer-friendly, and my reason for doing this work is explicitly pro-queer.” She’s working very hard to create an environment where we can all talk about sex and sexuality, Jewish values and ethics regardless of what kind of sex we’re having (or, in many of our cases, what kind of sex we’re not having despite best efforts).
Despite my undergraduate degree in English, I can’t say that I have much of an understanding of or enthusiasm for poetry. However, I do get excited about interesting Jewish cultural events, particularly those happening outside of New York (or, I suppose, Israel). So I was pretty excited to stumble upon this video of an event held in Seattle towards the beginning of October.
The event was called “And God Said, Come On Inside: An Evening of Queerly Spiritual Spoke Word & Storytelling,” put on by TumbleMe Productions.
The event organizers described the evening thus:
“And God Said, Come on Inside” will cast light (and shadow) on the complicated terrain of spirituality and religion for Queers, Perverts, Sinners, and Rebels of all Varieties. Featuring 13 performers in an intimate venue, the show promises to be prayerful, dirty, uplifting, hard-hitting, and (ir)reverent. Come prepared to be moved by spoken word, shifted by song, haunted by image, and reflected by moving mirrors.
While I might not get charged up by performance poetry, I can certainly get behind “prayerful, dirty, uplifting, hard-hitting, and (ir)reverent.” Anyone out there in Jewschool-land attend one of the performances and care to report back? Or better yet, who knows of upcoming off-beat performances out there in the wide world of Jewish culture? Share and enjoy.
When I was younger, I was half convinced that all gay people were Jewish. Certainly, the only images of gay people I saw in the media were characters in the plays of William Finn, Tony Kushner, and Paul Rudnick. (That I considered Broadway plays to be “the media” is likely a unique feature of having been a gay, Jewish, middle-class kid.) I’ve remained a fan of all three writers ever since, so I was delighted to see that Rudnick had a new memoir out last month.
I Shudder is a collection of autobiographical essays very much in the David Sedaris mold, although Rudnick’s New Jersey Jewish relatives, New York theatrical exploits and Hollywood headaches provide quite a different framework for his humor. It’s to his credit that stories about his great-aunt Lil are every bit as entertaining as his account of visiting a real-life nunnery for inspiration while writing Sister Act. His only missteps come in the segments that give the book its title. Peppered throughout the book are “Excerpt[s] from the Most Deeply Intimate and Personal Diary of One Elyot Vionnet.” Rudnick certainly can write in character — his “If You Ask Me” column in Premiere magazine, written as middle-aged housewife Libby Gelman-Waxner was hysterical — but Elyot’s complaints about the insufferable people one encounters in life don’t measure up. These essays’ weakness is only made more visible by their inclusion in an otherwise fabulous collection.
Rudnick isn’t the only gay Jewish funny man with a new collection of autobiographical essays. Eddie Sarfaty, a stand-up comedian who’s probably best known to those who summer in Provincetown (where he’s had a regular gig for many seasons) has produced Mental: Funny in the Head. I’ll say up front that it’s unfair to Sarfaty to compare his book to Rudnick’s — but they came out within months of each other, and I read them back to back, so what can you do? On the other hand, I have a soft spot for Sarfaty because he performed a stand-up show as one of Keshet’s very early fundraisers, back before anyone had ever heard of us.
My feelings on Mental are much more mixed. When it’s at its best, such as when Sarfaty writes about his relationships with older relatives, it’s both funny and touching. (His publisher has posted Second-Guessing Grandma, the first essay in the book, for free on-line.) But too much of the book doesn’t measure up to its best parts, and I found myself impatient for chapters on the comedian’s sex life to end so I could get to the good bits about his European vacation with his parents. The nice part of a book like this is that you can skip past chapters you don’t like without worrying that you won’t be able to follow what comes next. The essays aren’t presented chronologically, and when events from previous essays are mentioned, they’re explained as though the reader is encountering them for the first time. I loved roughly half of the essays, but could have done without the other half. (My favorites: “My Tale of Two Cities,” about the aforementioned European trip; “Can I Tell You Something?” detailing the comedian’s experience teaching a stand-up class for amateurs; and “The Eton Club,” a tribute to a certain kind of gay culture that died off with AIDS.)
Both Rudnick and Sarfaty profess their own distance from Jewish religion, but both books are infused with Yiddishkeit, from the focus on Jewish family dynamics to the meditations on how Hillel’s teachings might inform the way we partake in online cruising sites. Neither book is likely to inspire readers to find any great insights into Jewish culture, but I suspect most Jewschool readers will find many moments in each that provoke a knowing smirk of familiarity.
This is a guest post by Joanna Ware, a queer Jewish community organizer, activist, and rabble rouser at Keshet, a Boston-based non-profit building community locally and creating change nationally, working for the full inclusion of GLBT Jews in Jewish communities.
This year, my Simchat Torah preparations are a little bit out of the ordinary. I’m rushing to squeeze in one more load of laundry, wash a last round of dishes, and pack myself a liquid-less lunch, because tomorrow afternoon I’m taking off for DC.
In addition to Simchat Torah, this Sunday, October 11th, is the National Equality March, in Washington, DC. Representing Keshet, I will be marching and celebrating with a broad-based Jewish coalition dedicated to advancing full equality for all GLBT Americans. Every person in our contingent will have a story, a reason they’re dedicating their Sunday afternoon to this March — some markedly Jewish, some less so — but we’ll be together marching as Jews, on Simchat Torah.
During Simchat Torah, we are commanded to come together in celebration of Torah; in celebration of our laws. On Simchat Torah we weave and dance our way through singing, joyful communities, and each one of us, of all genders and sexualities, are offered an opportunity to both carry the Torah scrolls and to pass them on to another.
For me, as a queer Jewish feminist, the laws contained therein are fraught with complication. Our text teaches that Simchat Torah is an occasion when women are welcomed to carry the Torah even in some observant communities – a noteworthy difference between this day and the rest. But what of the genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and trans people within our communities? Can Simchat Torah be their day as well, or is it a day reserved for those of us who fit comfortably within traditional definitions of “man” and “woman”? These aren’t easy questions to face, for those of us for whom dignity and justice are everyday battles. The text in those scrolls both welcomes us, celebrates our efforts to live ethical Jewish lives, and also is too often used to remind us of our place – at the sidelines, or worse.
And yet, if there is anything Judaism allows us, it is space to wrestle with our traditions, teaching, and text; space to challenge and engage when the first answer feels troubling, secure in the knowledge that to question in this way is fundamentally Jewish.
So on Saturday night, the DC JCC will be filled with song, dance, community, joy, and contention. As I carry the Torah during our Queer Simchat Torah celebration, I will carry both its infinite wisdom and our points of contention. And on Sunday, as I march, it will be in both celebration and contention. My steps will be Jewish, not simply because I am a Jew, but because I know that to demand justice and dignity for every person is a Jewish act. Because it is a Jewish act to balance the contradiction of our country’s avowed dedication to equality and justice, and the reality that within our borders there are far too many who are denied dignity, respect, and legitimacy. Because it is a Jewish act to draw courage from our convictions in our work for justice. And because, on Simchat Torah, we are to become the feet of Torah — and so I march for justice.
Join us this weekend, if it is in keeping with your Simchat Torah observance:
Queer Simchat Torah celebration: Oct 10th, 6:30 pm at the DC JCC (16th & Q St NW)
March meet-up: Oct 11th, 10:30am at the DC JCC
Guestpost by “anonymous,” who is Jewish, and Skyler, who was raised Christian. Both writers are post-transition FTMs. Anonymous first asked to write a guest post a couple weeks ago, before Skylar’s article was forwarded to me. I thought they ran well, and show parallel thoughts and struggles across religions. – TWJ
Skyler: Last weekend was the annual Gender Odyssey Conference here in Seattle. One of the workshops I attended was called Homo No Mo’, presented by Peterson Toscano. Fantastic. He talked and acted out his experience with change therapy and the ex-gay movement, and opened up a discussion. (You can own the full play and a form of the discussion by buying his DVD.) This weekend he also performed Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible which I unfortunately missed. You can see his trailer for that here:
Anonymous: Years ago, I participated in online communities for transsexual Jews. We would talk about when to switch the gendered Hebrew words in prayer to reflect our true gender identities, how to deal with mechitzahs while transitioning, how to fulfill the first mitzvah, of being fruitful and multiplying, and generally support one another. It was a place to find support, when most of us could not find it in our home communities, especially not in our shuls or Jewish communities. We discussed the merits of programs like JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) and the appeal of diving fully into the frum world so we could make those binary gender models work for us.
I’m really happy they decided to include this in the programming this year. Church was a big part of my life growing up, but it isn’t currently. In joining facebook I’ve found a lot of friends from my past, from school and church. I quickly realized, looking back on my life, that once I got to be a teenager and was involved in the church youth group I had to give up all of my school friends because they weren’t part of the pentecostal/evangelical church. I really regret that. There were so many cool people at school that I isolated myself from. Now that I’m gay and trans, 99% of my church friends will have nothing to do with me, tell me they don’t agree with my lifestyle and disapprove of me, or completely ignore me. It’s sad, really. I’m still me. I’m just presenting myself to the world how I’ve always felt on the inside. I’m just being true to who I am…and am more happy and well adjusted than I’ve ever been before.
Judaism was a big part of my life growing up, and still is, though in different ways. When I was younger, I went to religious school, a community high school program, and a Jewish youth group. Being closeted about having transitioned from female to male, I cut ties to my Jewish communities. I felt isolated at synagogue, and stopped going. I no longer felt I had anything in common with the few friends I had maintained from youth group. The social networking world is a nightmare for me; a few people have tracked me down on facebook and have friended me, often asking me incredibly personal questions up front (“You’ve received a friend request from Someone, with the message: ‘Hey, heard that you were a dude now. Did you ask the surgeon to circumcise your surgical dick? lol’”). I don’t know if it’s our religious upbringing that leads to the distance, but when friends from high school find me on facebook, there usually isn’t the same degree of awkwardness.
This brings me to my thoughts about religion. Religion is truly a device to separate people. Peterson did say something that made me soften my almost militant atheism. He said that he had tried being atheist but failed because he kept finding himself praying under his breath. He said that his brain was just wired to have some sort of god in there. I suppose that sort of idea isn’t harmful to others but it’s those that take religion to the point of forcing and injecting their beliefs into society at large that need to be stopped. It’s just dangerous.
I’ve had rabbis and relatives argue that religion and piety trump identity. If only I were more frum, more observant, I would have been happy living my life as a female, having babies, and keeping a home for my husband. I don’t know if it was their constant bombardment over several years, or my own internalised trans-phobia, but I gave pause to their suggestions. I then realised that I was being true to who I am, and would be happier being male in the world. I spent a lot of time studying Genesis, and midrash, becoming comfortable with the notion that we all are created in God’s image; God, and Judaism, could still be in my life if I transitioned genders.
There were two obviously gay teenage boys in my church youth group. One ended up committing suicide the other I haven’t been able to locate on facebook to find out if he’s happy and true to himself now. My boyfriend from church back then has been struggling his whole life with being gay. I knew he was struggling back then and I occasionally see him now; once, a couple years ago with a girl on his arm. He’s trying so hard to be a good christian, and works in an industry that he’s voiced to me that he cannot be openly gay in. Back in our youth group days, I remember my parents and the church youth leaders telling him to try and get me to dress and act more like a young lady. That’s a whole other story for another time.
When I was younger, I played with gender. I was never a “girly girl,” but I’m sure my parents wouldn’t have guessed I was a boy either. I took cues from two elementary school classmates. One, A, was very androgynous, had an androgynous name, and was fascinated by my Judaism. (I was the only Jew in my class, and one of a handful at the school.) We would spend recess on the jungle gym, then I would teach A Hebrew. R was a girly boy, who had a fantastically individualised style; I would now compare him to Ricky on My So-Called Life. Instead of wearing a backpack like the rest of us kids, R had a briefcase, in which he would carry his homework, lunch, and a doll. R was the friend I would spend lunches with, lying on the field, looking up at the sky, discussing how we might fit into the world. One of the ways I tried to fit in was by getting involved in my synagogue, taking on “boy” roles like leading services and giving d’var torahs.
Anyway. That brings me to this trailer for a new documentary called This is What Love In Action Looks Like, about a teen who wrote on MySpace in 2005 about his parents sending him to an ex-gay centre that offered “freedom from Christianity”:
For resources and support, check out Beyond Ex-Gay, an “online community and resource for those of us who have survived ex-gay experiences.”
I’ve often wondered about going to a yeshiva, living their as one of the guys, continuing to hide. Knowing that I have that choice is empowering. Knowing that some people don’t have that same choice is unbearable.
Jewschool: Progressive Jews and Judaism. It says so in the tile bar. Sounds simple, right? But, how do we build a rich and self-consciously progressive Judaism and Jewish community?
For me, a small set of contemporary Jewish thinkers have been instrumental in providing the food for thought I needed to begin to sketch out my own vision for what that could look like. People like Art Green, Jonathan and Daniel Boyarin, Judith Plaskow, Art Waskow, Rachel Adler, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz and many others. I’m a pretty voracious reader, but I got the bulk of my progressive Jewish education in one fell swoop when I decided to facilitate a progressive Jewish reading group in DC.
Some friends back at school had put together a student forum in Radical Jewish Thought. Since I’d graduated and moved away, I could not take the class, so I thought, “why not just run it out my living room?” That experience turned out to be a powerful catalyst. It solidified a young progressive community in DC, opened my mind about the possibilities (and challenges) of progressive Jews and Judaism, and ultimately encouraged me to pursue graduate studies in religion. Different versions of that course have since been run by Jews United for Justice in DC and Moishe House Boston: The Kavod Jewish Social Justice House , and now, this little student forum is about to hit the big time.
This fall AJWS and Avodah are coordinating a version of the Radical Jewish Thought course/reading group in NYC. It’s really a pretty incredible syllabus of articles by some really thoughtful people writing on Judaism and Jewish identity in relation to progressive/radical politics. It is also going to be a great opportunity to meet in small local groups for really stimulating conversation. I’ve been consulting with AJWS on this, and I’m really excited by the possibility of small groups of folks all over the city working together to think through the possibilities of living a meaningful and socially engaged Jewish life.
The AJWS syllabus tends more towards questions of Jew (identity and politics) than Judaism (God, Halacha, revelation). But, if it’s a success, I could see them offering a second version that highlights those questions (or of course, you can take this course back to its DIY roots and put together your own reading group. I bet lots of Jewschool folks would be happy to post suggestions for that list in the comments).
If you are in the New York, you should definitely check this out. Official info with registration instructions after the jump.
Last night I went to the 
My most memorable sessions were led by Arthur Waskow’s Can Jewish Festivals Save the World, Shai Held’s sessions, Menachem Cohen’s How Not to Study Torah, Aaron Frankel’s Songs of Yehuda Halevi, Marc Belgrad’s Getting to God, and Mark Rothschild’s fascinating Prophets and Profits. I would have had more were I not ‘on duty’ in the prime mid-day hours. I heard raves about Asher Lopatin’s session on the Quran’s portrayal of the Akedah, the obligatory drum circle, Ruthie Gelfarb’s Introduction to Mussar, and many more.
The event, which took place on December 22, was sponsored by the 
Rudnick isn’t the only gay Jewish funny man with a new collection of autobiographical essays. 
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