Click here to check out recent articles about Keshet's work, our press statements, and key articles about LGBTQ+ Jews.
At most Jewish day schools, naming honors tend to be attached to grand spaces — auditoriums, prayer spaces, gymnasiums and the like. But at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a pluralistic day school in suburban Philadelphia, Patrick Rock’s name will forever be associated with what might seem to be a rather ordinary space: a bathroom.
View the original at JTA: The Global Jewish News Source
This Purim, I’m reminded of the power of coming out and speaking out, despite the consequences.
View the original at ZEEK
I disagree with the idea that we need Jewish organizations to open the door to us.
We need to open our own doors.
On February 26, Keshet, the San Francisco nonprofit that works for the full equality and inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life, their friends, families, and allies, invites the community to attend Gender Shmear, Keshet's annual Purim celebration.
View the original at The Bay Area Reporter
12 years ago, I was invited to the Jewish federations' national Young Leadership Division (YLD) conference to participate in a session called "Alternative Faces of Judaism." I was representing Keshet, the LGBT Jewish inclusion organization I lead, and I opened my remarks with what I thought was a witty observation: "I did my best to find an alternative face to put on before leaving my hotel room this morning."
View the original at HuffPost Religion
Idit Klein, Executive Director of Keshet, was honored as one of 18 leaders in the Jewish community at at Chai in the Hub on Saturday, January 31.
View the original at Bay Windows
“Turn and turn it, for everything is within it,” is a Talmudic saying that is ever-true about the annual crop of social justice-themed haggadot, supplements, and inserts for your Pesach seder. (See our picks from 2014 too.) This year’s newcomers include JFREJ’s #BlackLivesMatter haggadah, one for a socially responsible cocoa, Bend the Arc’s 50th anniversary of Selma, and another about the Palestinian Nakba.
View the original at JewSchool
Brook Wilensky-Lanford interviews Rabbi Becky Silverstein: the transgender rabbi on religious rituals, gender fluidity, and the language of LGBTQ inclusion.
View the original at Guernica
The Bay Area's LGBT Jewish community will honor three outstanding leaders for their contributions to the community at the inaugural Glimmer gala this weekend.
View the original at The Bay Area Reporter
The New England area offers many progressive Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other groups of various denominations who are dedicated to inclusion of LGBTQ people, as well as those that are explicitly run by and for LGBTQ folks and allies.
View the original at The Rainbow Times
LGBT Jews in the San Francisco Bay Area have a new addition to their leadership ranks with Rebecca Cariati, who recently stepped into the role as regional director of Keshet.
View the original at The Bay Area Reporter
When I was growing up, as a little girl in the Orthodox Jewish community, I would stare longingly over the mechitza (the dividing wall between men and women in the synagogue), feeling betrayed by God for giving me a body that didn't feel congruent with my soul. I never imagined that one day I would feel right in my body, accepted in my community, and able to walk freely in the world as a Jewish man.
View the original at ReformJudaism.org
Despite boasting large Jewish and LGBTQ populations, the Bay Area has so far failed to produce many out-and-proud leaders who successfully straddle both communities. This is a shame, as each community would benefit from the integration of the other into its leadership and professional base.
View the original at The Bay Area Reporter
Ayala Katz will speak Sept. 3 at Boston temple.
View the original at The Jewish Advocate
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Institute for Welcoming Resources, Keshet, COLAGE and Family Equity Council released a curriculum designed to help Jewish congregations support and embrace LGBT members of their families.
View the original at Between the Lines News
Keshet, a national grassroots organization that works for the full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Jews in Jewish life, has been awarded $250,000 by the Jim Joseph Foundation.
View the original at E Jewish Philanthropy
This week I had a chance to chat with Sonny Oram, founder of Qwear,a fashion blog that celebrates the styles of queer women and trans and non-binary individuals. Sonny is a co-chair of this year’s Keshet Cabaret, which takes place Saturday, Feb. 28, at Club Café in Boston.
View the original at JewishBoston.com
A Shabbaton, an extended Shabbat retreat weekend, offers a time for reflection and rejuvenation. At a recent Shabbaton for 70 LGBTQ and ally teens, supported by UJA-Federation of New York, the Shabbat event provided an additional meaningful experience: the chance to feel truly comfortable and accepted.
View the original at UJA Federation New York
Titled “Community Conversation on LGBTQ Engagement,” the daylong conference, held on June 20, drew over 180 participants, including representatives from 71 different organizations.
View the original at The Jewish Week
In honor of Pride month, I asked several other people who know Jewish LGBT literature (including some who wrote books I’d included in my blog post) to name three essential books that Tablet readers should know about.
View the original at Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life
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