RJ Blog

by Rabbi Robin Nafshi Serving as the rabbi in the small community of Concord, NH, I receive so many emails and calls from people exploring Judaism, those who are nominally Jewish or estranged from Judaism, and more. For each email and call there is a story – usually compelling in some way – and an excited or anxious person who owns the story. A few weeks ago, such an email came my way, with the subject line, “Reestablishing.” The writer began, “I am very interested in rediscovering my Jewish faith. My dad was Jewish and my mom was Protestant. I was [...]

Earlier this week the Human Rights Campaign, a frequent coalition partner of the Religious Action Center, released its first ever Jewish Organization Equality Index. Based on the model that HRC has used for years to evaluate corporations, the JOEI seeks to illustrate how well various Jewish communities have sought to welcome and integrate LGBT members. The JOEI surveyed over 200 Jewish organizations and contains a wealth of information and ideas on how the Jewish community can best work toward justice and live the values of equality that we espouse. In the document’s introduction HRC president Chad Griffin says the JOEI [...]

by Rabbi Peter Rigler As a rabbi, I believe that we need to recognize the sanctity in same sex marriages and monogamous relationships in the strongest possible way. The key issue in the sanctity of a relationship is a commitment to exclusivity and to elevating the relationship to a state of kedusha, holiness. When two individuals arrive at that point in their relationship when they have felt the bonds of love, they deserve a place under the chuppah in the presence of a rabbi and in the presence of community to celebrate that love. The joy they share will, we [...]

The Jewish community tends to think of October as the month to recuperate from the High Holy Days, but October is also the National Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health and mental health coverage are critical issues for millions of Americans, but there are a number of overlooked issues including the serious mental health concerns confronting the LGBT community. These issues may be frequently neglected in mental health discussions because of the risk of suggesting that queerness is, in itself, a mental illness or necessarily leads to mental illness. Most famously, the American Psychiatric Association listed “homosexuality” as a mental [...]

This fall, Minnesotans will have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment that would ask: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage in Minnesota?” If this amendment succeeds, Minnesota would join the 30 states that have constitutional bans on marriage equality, effectively writing discrimination into its state constitution.

by Bracha Yael In 2011, URJ awarded an Incubator Grant to our temple, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) to develop and implement its BCC Live, a live stream and social media program to widen community connections. Founded in Los Angeles in 1972, BCC is the first known lesbian and gay synagogue in the world, and the first gay and lesbian religious institution—Jewish, Christian, or other—recognized by a mainstream religious movement. Initially, our use of technology grew out of Bikkur Cholim (to visit or extend aid to the sick). Starting in the early 2000s, we offered members who were unable to attend [...]

by Andrew B. Simmons The URJ’s Incubator Grant enabled Temple Sholom to enter Chicago’s Gay Pride parade for the first time in June 2011. We are the first mainstream synagogue in Chicago to have ever done so, and we will do so again this year. But the grant was just the “incubator” that enabled an incredibly supportive temple to take its social Justice practice to the next level. Let me explain. For 20 years, my partner Mitchell and I have belonged to Temple Sholom as a family. As far as this temple is concerned, there has never been a distinction [...]

When my partner and I were adopting our first child, the adoption agency required that all families it worked with take a class. The class was about becoming a multi-racial family. At one session, the presenter, an adoptive parent herself, prepared us for some of the questions we would be asked, often by perfect strangers. As two white men planning on adopting an African-American child, we knew we were in for it. We have gotten just about every sort of reaction. At my pulpit, one congregant actually asked if we were going to raise our son as a Jew. Did [...]

For the first time, an openly gay organization was allowed to participate in New York City’s Israel Day parade, which was held on Sunday. This is the culmination of a fight that began in 1993, when Congregation Beth Simchat Torah – an LGBT synagogue – registered for, and then was kicked out of, the march. Beginning in 1999, the congregation was allowed to participate, as long as it didn’t use the word “gay” on any of its banners. This inclusion has resulted in a renewed chorus of accusations of “pinkwashing.” Groups like “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” claim that Israel and [...]

In response to the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards’ approval of guidelines for performing same-sex marriages, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:

by Rabbi Stephanie Kolin There’s a story told about East End Temple in New York City, the congregation in which I grew up. For 16 years, Rabbi Deborah Hirsch was my rabbi and rabbi to many families like mine. One day, a young boy I used to babysit, Matt, was walking with his mom; they were also members of East End Temple. They stopped for a moment on an NYC sidewalk to speak to a certain man. When the man walked away, she said to her son: “Matt, do you know who that was? That was the rabbi from Town [...]

By Eli Cooper NFTY-Northern is made up of 11 active, very distinct and different, temple youth groups (TYGs). Each and every one has its own quirks and individualities. The TYGs all have their own triumphs and struggles. They all have different events that go on throughout the year, whether it be cooking and distributing Thanksgiving meals for hundreds of less fortunate families in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area or attending a sleep out to promote awareness of teen homelessness. What makes our TYG’s different aren’t the events that we hold or even the people that are in them.  It’s our synagogues [...]

Like all parents, I have many hopes and dreams for my children. On one level, I just hope I don’t screw them up too much. But above all, I dream: each will grow into the best of who he or she is meant to be and fulfill his or her life’s unique purpose. Each will experience success, know failure, and be a better human being as a result of both. Each will be rooted in and wrestle with their faith, and be stronger for both. I hope they will be truth-tellers, justice-seekers, and good neighbors. I dream they will be [...]

On May 20, 2012 – only 10 days from now! – I will be marrying E., the Jewish woman I love. (I call her E. here because as a therapist, she maintains strict boundaries between her professional and private life.) We will stand under the flowing, stunning, yellow, orange, red, and turquoise chuppah that she designed and painted on silk (a painstakingly challenging design process for a beginner, but that’s another blog post). We will drink from a sparkling, cobalt blue wine goblet that says in Hebrew, “Ani leh-dodee veh-dodee lee,” “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” [...]