January 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day – January 27

• Learn more about the experiences of gay men under the Nazi regime.
• Select materials to share in your class.
• Explore the first-person accounts and artifacts of people from the Holocaust.

February

Black History Month

• Share resources from Keshet and from our partners at Jews of Color Initiative, Be’chol Lashon, Jews in all Hues, and other similar organizations.
• Plan a Black History Month event in your community.

Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, & Inclusion Month (JDAIM)

• Plan an event or training with a speaker from RespectAbility’s Disability Training and Speakers Bureau.
• Learn about disability justice and do an internal audit of your organization’s accessibility.

Tu Bishvat

• Explore our Tu Bishvat and MLK, Jr. Day resource collection.
• Create your own Tu Bishvat Seder, with LGBTQ+ elements.

Aromantic Awareness Week

March

Bisexual Health Awareness Month

Women’s History Month

• Use Jewish Women’s Archive to plan a lesson or activity with your students.
• Celebrate the women of our LGBTQ+ Jewish Heroes poster series, including Kate Bornstein, Rabbi Sandra Lawson, and Lesléa Newman.
• Plan an event or raise money in support of Jews for Abortion Access, by NCJW.
• Find ways to be more inclusive for transgender and gender-expansive women.

Purim

• Check out Keshet’s Purim resources!
• Celebrate Purim as a Jewish coming out day! Incorporate this theme into your Purim parties and festivals.
• Read the Megillah along with the Female, Trans, and Non-Binary clergy featured in the “Unmasked” video.
• Read The Purim Superhero to your young children.
• Check out your Hamantaschen Zodiac sign.

Trans Day of Visibility – March 31

• Check out Keshet’s TDOV resources.
• Hang up “Trans Jews Belong Here” signs around your synagogue or school.
• Learn the ways you can minimize harm against trans people.
• Study the texts that describe gender fluidity in the Torah.
• Get involved with or monetarily support the Trans Halakha Project.
• Read Joy Ladin’s book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading GOd and Torah from a Transgender Perspective.

April

Passover

• Host an LGBTQ+ themed Seder.
• Check out last year’s Passover resources.
• Put an orange on your seder plate.
• Count the Omer with a queer lens.
• Take action and advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ and Jewish people.

Asexuality Day – April 6

Nonbinary Parents Day – 3rd Sunday of April

Yom HaShoah

Lesbian Visibility Day – April 26

May

Jewish American Heritage Month

International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia, & Biphobia – May 17

Harvey Milk Day – May 22

• Host a screening of the feature film Milk (2008) or the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
• Listen to this recording (with captions) of Harvey Milk’s famous 1978 “You Cannot Live on Hope Alone” speech and discuss how it may have been received in the 1970s and how it applies to our current climate
• Host a PJ Library program by reading Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag

Pan Awareness Day – May 24

Shavuot

June

Pride Month

• Check out Keshet’s Pride resources.

Juneteenth – June 19

Anniversary of the legalization of Gay Marriage – June 26

Stonewall Riots Anniversary – June 28

July

Disability Pride Month

Nonbinary People’s Day – July 14

International Drag Day – July 16

August

Tisha B’Av

Tu B’av

September

Suicide Prevention Week/Month

• Highlight the Trevor Project Hotline and Trans Lifeline resources.

Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur

• Check out our LGBTQ+ Rosh Hashanah resources here.

Sukkot 

• Check out our Sukkot resources here.

Bisexual Awareness Week

• Learn about the Jewish bisexual “Mother of Pride” Brenda Howard.
• Learn about what bisexuality is and means.
• Uplift the struggles and challenges that bisexual individuals face in society, such as biphobia and bi erasure.
• Learn how you can be an ally to the bi community.
• Read a bisexual Jew’s exploration of biphobia and antisemitism.
• Watch a video from the CLGS Jewish Queeries Series

October

Simchat Torah

• Support all community members’ celebration of Torah: explore the Nonbinary Hebrew Project for examples of gender-inclusive liturgy and blessings for being called to the Torah.

LGBTQ+ History Month

• Learn more through Keshet’s LGBTQ+ Heroes Series.
• Read about Ushpizin/ata, our LGBTQ Jewish ancestors, a resource created by Dr. Noam Sienna with Keshet.
• Research and tell the stories of important LGBTQ+ Jewish leaders (you can even start with this article from Hey Alma).
• Visit the online collections of the GLBT Historical Society and LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
• Explore the National Park Service’s LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History

Bullying Prevention Month

• Host programs in Jewish day schools and religious schools about bullying prevention.
• Read and share this article: Internal Bullying Within the Jewish Community Needs to Stop.

National Coming Out Day – October 11

• Host a coming-out ritual at your synagogue (e.g., A Coming Out Ritual by Jay Michaelson).
• Utilize Ritualwell’s Coming Out Resources.
• Explore Keshet’s At The Gates of Coming Out, a guide with reflections, tools, and ideas for young people who are considering coming out at work or in their communities.
• Finding Keshet for the first time? Just came out? Finally bringing together your Jewish and LGBTQ+ selves? Mazal Tov and Welcome! You Are A Blessing.

International Pronoun Day – 3rd Wednesday of October

• Host a community education program on what pronouns are and why they’re important.
• Purchase pronoun pins! Or, follow this quick guide to making your own.
• Add your pronouns to your email signature, Zoom account, and/or LinkedIn profile.
• Start to share pronouns at the beginning of meetings.

Intersex Awareness Day – October 26

• Read a rabbinic interpretation of Parashat Tazria and Parashat Metzora By Rabbi Elliot Kukla and Rabbi Reuben Zellman, discussing how Jewish tradition provides us with both the resources and the mandate to begin to transform our culture to better reflect the diversity of real bodies.
• Teach a workshop on gender diversity in Jewish sacred texts using this lesson plan.
• Learn about intersex identities from the Intersex Society of North America.
• Share InterACT’s #IntersexAwarenessDay graphics by downloading their social media toolkit and posting online.

Ace Week

• Learn about asexuality from the Asexual Visibility and Education Network Visibility.
• Learn about aromanticism from the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (AUREA).
• Read this article from Hey Alma: Notes from an Asexual Jew.

November

Trans Awareness Month / Trans Awareness Week – November 13-19

• Teach about trans Jewish heroes (e.g., Kate Bornstein, Koach Baruch Frazier).
• Check out GLAAD’s guide to Transgender Awareness Week.
• Learn SVARA’s piece Go Out and See, about how halakha can be transformative and empowering from a trans perspective.
• Explore TransTorah’s resources, including A Blessing for Transitioning Genders by Rabbi Eli Kukla, A Pre-Surgery (or any other transition) Mikveh Ritual by Max K. Strassfeld and Andrew Ramer, and Poems for a Gender Transition Ritual by Professor Joy Ladin.

Election Day

• Use Keshet’s Prayer for Voting.

Intersex Day of Remembrance – November 8

Sigd

Trans Day of Remembrance & Resilience – November 20

• • Explore resources to honor TDOR.
  • Utilize Keshet’s resource, A Jewish Guide for Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance.
  • Print Keshet’s TDOR stickers for yahrzeit candles.

December

World AIDS Day – December 1

• Provide free HIV testing at your organization or shul.
• Watch a film that discusses the experiences of folks affected by HIV/AIDS (e.g., How to Survive a Plague, Paris is Burning, And The Band Played On).
• Learn about CBST’s Talk to Me About HIV program.

Human Rights Day – December 10

• Hold a session or host a speaker about LGBTQ+ rights nationally and/or globally.
• Sign up to get involved with Keshet’s work for LGBTQ+ rights.

Hanukkah

• Check out Keshet’s Hanukkah resources.

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Keshet envisions a world in which all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families can live with full equality, justice, and dignity.  Stay connected by joining our email list and following us on social media.

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