‘Am’ (Yisrael) Comin’ Out! I want the World To Know, Got to Let it Show (Parashat Be’Ha’alotecha)

Download this resource »

June 13, 2008 | By Karen Perolman

Topic(s): Coming Out

Media Type(s): Torah Commentary

Textual Source: Numbers

Torah Portion: Beha'alotcha

This resource is part of the Torah Queeries collection.

In this Torah portion, the author likens the Israelites struggle with freedom to that of LGBT people's coming out experience. Like the Israelites, when we finally extricate ourselves from the closet, it can be easy to look back in and wonder what life would have been like if we had never left those walls of safety. The closet, like the past, has a strange pull. We can’t ignore our current desert, the wilderness of reality, and the never-ending task of coming-out, transitioning, and transforming.

Back to resources