At SAJ, we call ourselves a Judaism that Stands for All. Ever since SAJ introduced America’s first bat mitzvah in 1922, we have been reconstructing Judaism, wrestling with God, questioning tradition and expanding its boundaries to ensure that Torah remains relevant, engaging, and welcoming to all. With that intention, we have actively transformed the culture at SAJ to be not only welcoming (which it always was) but actively celebrating LGBTQIA+ Jewish identity/identities. Some examples include: Every 13 year old is called to the Torah as a B*Mitzvah to make space for our queer youth and those who are still not sure what their gender is or will be. We encourage pronouns on nametags and always honor the pronouns of our members. We changed our liturgy for calling individuals to the Torah to a gender neutral version to ensure we are not misgendering anyone accidentally. We encourage our LGBTQIA+ teens to explore the overlaps between their queer and Jewish identities including at their B*Mitzvah or through our active teen program. We celebrate queer lifecycles, not only traditional ones like baby namings, aufrufs, etc but also other important milestone moments like coming out, changing one's name, etc. We mark significant moments in the calendar, celebrating Pride but also marking Trans Day of Remembrance and Trans day of Visibility. We incorporate liturgy written by and in regards to LGBTQIA+ people including a Prayer for Equal Rights for the LGBTQ community written by our rabbi. We have curated our children's and adult libraries to ensure for representation of LGBTQIA folks. We are increasingly employing on staff LGBTQ folx- something we celebrate. To get to this point was an active choice and it took intention and work. We have invested in training of our board and membership to understand LGBTQ identities and actively support LGBTQIA members of our community, most especially our queer youth. SAJ participated in the Keshet Shivyon program and did a full review of areas of our congregation and made changes so we could grow in our radical welcome. We are continually learning and growing to make SAJ a safe, welcoming, celebratory space in which folks can explore and grow in their understanding and practice of Judaism.

We do not have an affinity group because our queer members have said they do not feel they need the space. If they did, we would support them 100%!