Gender Identity

Read Eliana Rubin's powerful essay on self discovery, originally published in the CCAR Winter 2025 Journal.

True feminist liberation requires dismantling all systems of oppression, including those that police gender identity and expression.

Attacks on trans athletes harm all of us. Learn what your community can do to avoid this harm.

This primer includes an introduction to pronouns; guidance on how to use, share, and remember them; and tips for how to create space for other people to share them too.

This guide provides ways to respond when someone comes out to you as transgender.

Downloadable all-gender restroom signs.

Print this sign to make it clear that your congregation, institution, or home is a place where trans Jews belong.

An example of a transgender inclusive locker room/bathroom policy from the Asheville Jewish Community Center.

No one should be excluded from sports. Hear from a trans Jewish athlete.

Learn from Rabbi Mike Moskowitz about why discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community is an affront to life — and life's Source.

"In the hardest of times, there is still love." A letter to trans teens from a father of a trans teen

As educators for LGBTQ+ equality and belonging, we hear a lot about allyship. We want to share some core definitions and tools with you to support your work in actively strengthening and building LGBTQ+ affirming communities where every individual can be seen and valued.

In this resource you will find a guide on how to choose an LGBTQ film for a community screening, educational program, or discussion group. We have also included a short list of films that feature a variety of LGBTQ lives and perspectives that Keshet staff recommend.

This printable resource offers helpful information and crisis support options for LGBTQ+ teenagers and their allies.

Hear from Jacob and Mimi about their journeys and their family’s advocacy for transgender and non-binary rights. Hosting this online discussion is the brilliant and witty S. Bear Bergman.

By creating forms and data collection tools that are inclusive, you can go a long way towards building a community of belonging.

Trans Day of Visibility is a time to celebrate the trans people in our communities. For our TDOV panel, get to know some of the Keshet family. We’ll share our experiences, the importance of visibility and joy, and our hopes for the future.

Many Jews light a yahrzeit candle in memory of those we have lost. In partnership with Cong. Beit Simchat Torah, Keshet is offering this printable sticker to help us mark Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This resource is intended to make this ritual inclusive for all kinds of families- with a gender-neutral traditional version, as well as new blessings for queer chosen families and for queer youth.

Bringing together various aspects of Purim celebrations and tradition, this webinar will explore the ways in which Jewish organizations can avoid the pitfalls of Purim and create a truly celebratory and liberating Purim celebration.

Share these Trans Remembrance Shabbat prayers and poems with your community.

A personal reflection of a transgender person going to a mikveh.

Joy Ladin writes about realizing she is transgender and her coming out process.

Prayer in English by Rabbi Reuben Zellman on the occasion of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

A sermon for Transgender Day of Remembrance.

A 24 item list of privileges held by cisgender (non-trans) people.

A template and discussion on how to hold a queer affirming wedding ritual.

A text to be used for Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This piece from 2009 describes the origin of Transgender Day of Remembrance and how it can be observed in Jewish communities.

This downloadable guide contains readings, personal stories, quotes, and concrete action steps to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance.

A complete Pride Shabbat service.

A reflection on the Al Cheyt high holiday prayer which focuses on the sins of transphobia and homophobia.

A press release regarding the dedication of a gender neutral bathroom at a day school.

A guide of LGBTQ+ books organized by age.

Xava de Cordova on Tisha B'Av and the myriad faces of tragedy: grief, brokenness, laughter, and transformation.

A prayer for families who are about to have a baby, or who have just given birth.

This document, provided by the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston, works to provide a framework for inclusion of transgender and gender nonconforming Jews in traditional Jewish death and burial practices.

This lesson plan looks at issues of gender in our sacred texts.

A lesson plan to deconstruct the societal expectations around gender.

A sermon which highlights both the threatening and liberating possibilities of blurring lines and identities.

A source sheet for examples of Gender fluidity in Jewish sacred texts.

These suggestions, penned by Keshet and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, are aimed at making congregations more inclusive for transgender and gender expansive individuals.

Keshet National Education and Training Manager Dubbs Weinblatt defines the word "sex."

A lesson plan that allows participants to explore the many facets of their identity.

A Torah Queery exploring the prohbition around "blemished" bodies and the medical pathologization of LGBTQ identity.

Essay by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, a cis and straight ally dedicated to trans liberation. Though written in 2006 the message rings true today.

This Torah Queery focuses on the matriarchs, with a special emphasis on Rebecca.

A program you can implement to discuss prohibitions against "cross dressing" in the style of a Beit Midrash/House of Study.

This Torah Queery focuses on the census and how it calls upon us to stand up and be counted.

A Torah Queery that highlights gender diversity in Jewish sacred text.

A Torah Queery that explores the reasons Joseph is shunned by his family and connects it to the LGBTQ experience.

This Torah Queery interprets the Covenant between God and the Hebrews through a Queer Lens.

A letter that a Director of Education at a religious school sent out to his community, coming out as transgender, written in way for young children to understand.

This Torah Queery highlights the conneciton between the High Holidays and the experiences of Queer people.

This Torah Queery makes a connection between Aaron as Moses' advoate and the role of cisgender allies in supporting transgender and non-binary people.

This workshop outline provides a framework for introducing conversations on transgender identity.

A reflection on the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac and the ways in which transgender Jews can find strength and a reflection of their experience.

This Torah Queery challenges the outdated belief that babies are born either only male and female who will grow up to identify as cisgender.

In this d’var Torah, Professor Joy Ladin tells the story of Parashat Yitro as a love story between God and the people of Israel.

An essay on being transgender in Jewish contexts that starts with recognizing gender diversity found in the Talmud.

This lesson plans helps participants understand societal privileges they may or may not hold due to their identities.

A text study to explore different ideas around gender diversity in Jewish thought and tradition.

This Torah Queery makes a connection between Jacob's wrestling with the angel to the ways the author wrestles in their own life.

This Torah Queery draws connections between the author's experiences as a transgender woman with the life of Jacob.

A personal reflection on being a transgender person at synagogue.

Queer neo-Kabbalistics teach us that through the contemplation of the gender/erotic possibilities of the sefirot during the Omer