Welcome to the Queer Mikveh Project, a documentary film and project asking why mikveh, a Jewish ritual of water immersion, is not more accessible to queer and trans people. The project aims to reframe who gets to do mikveh and how, document queer mikveh projects that currently exist and create more opportunities for engaging in this powerful ritual.
This Hanukkah, I pray to also learn from those who remind us that the impossible is possible bazman hazeh, in this, our time.
How can we broading the Channukah story and learn about other ways to respond to oppression besides the violent resistance of the Maccabees?
As we light the Channukah candles this year, may we celebrate our own liberation and reflect on how we wield our power as Jews.
Feeling, and feeling openly, and showing that feeling are political acts.
Our calendar starts our holiday season with Tisha B’av, a day dedicated to sadness and mourning and ends our season with the height of happiness, Simchat Torah. The vast majority of the time, our task is to exist somewhere in between those two ends of the cord.
We must move beyond our day to day traditions to find more piety. Perhaps we may use Sukkot as a launching point to become more involved, standing with those who seek sanctuary on a daily basis.
Sukkot raises the questions of how to cultivate joy in times of tragedy, where we derive safety and security, what it means to have enough in our daily lives, and how to share what we have with others as a critical expression of our own humanity.
This political moment requires acting in solidarity — having other people’s backs and enabling people to have ours. As Jews, we need practice in both.
Here are two beautiful, justice-oriented pieces about the Shofar and the Unetaneh Tokef prayer.
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