Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the LGBTQS Synagogue in New York City announced a new initiative today entitled Strength Through Community. The project is centered around a video campaign but is focused on three principles:

1. To offer a specifically Jewish message that is positive, sincere, and LGBTQ affirming.
2. To present many individual video messages as part of an entire community reaching out, and that the value of a series presented by a community is that its strength, diversity, and very existence can provide a meaningful amount of comfort and guidance.
3. To use the best knowledge of Prevention experts to guide messaging and ensure that all attempts are made to have a true and positive impact on the individuals who will see these videos.

The first video, by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has gone up and CBST expects to roll out videos from community members on a regular basis over the next month at least.

More information is at http://cbst.org/Community/Strength-Through-Community

If you’re not new to the LGBTQ Jewish events and retreats in New York, then you’ve probably met Justin Rosen and his partner Avi Smolen. Justin is one of those guys who couldn’t help but devote his life to Judaism.

So what wonderful news it was when these two announced that they were getting married. And, as a good Jewish couple, they were doing it young so they can undoubtedly start a family. Pure speculation. But the point is, if you’re looking for model Jewish families, this is one that if they were straight more of the Jewish world would celebrate.

Even more exciting was that their announcement was carried in The New Jersey Jewish Standard. One of the fun things about being a young LGBTQ Jew is that a lot of what we do gets to be the first or among the first of its kind.  In this case, the first announcement of a same-sex couple in that paper.

Long story short, some Orthodox leaders objected, the paper said it would no longer publish such announcements of same-sex couples, and then they reconsidered and said they would continue to publish same-sex marriage announcements.

There is plenty of coverage but I think the initial response, even though it has since been retracted, is worth looking at:

A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused.

The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.

I’ll simply say this, is it not astounding that anyone, even for a moment, in this day and age, in this area, could think that the way to draw the community together is to exclude part of it?

JTA has good coverage, with a video of the couple:

Jewish organizations from around the world today released a joint pledge in response to five suicides committed by young LGBT people in the past three weeks that have been highly publicized recently. The pledge was created by Keshet, a national organization with a focus on creating more inclusive Jewish communities through education and programming about and/or for LGBT Jews and our issues.

Do Not Stand Idly By: A Jewish Community Pledge to Save Lives

As members of a tradition that sees each person as created in the divine image, we respond with anguish and outrage at the spate of suicides brought on by homophobic bullying and intolerance.

We hereby commit to ending homophobic bullying or harassment of any kind in our synagogues, schools, organizations, and communities. As a signatory, I pledge to speak out when I witness anyone being demeaned for their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. I commit myself to do whatever I can to ensure that each and every person in my community is treated with dignity and respect.

Campaign launched by Keshet [www.keshetonline.org] in partnership with (as of 10.5.10):
The Adventure Rabbi Program
Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado
The Anshe Emet Synagogue, Chicago, IL
Bay Area Masorti
Beth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles, CA
The Bronfman Youth Fellowships (BYFI)
California Faith for Equality
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)
Cleveland Jewish LGBTQ2A Inclusion Project
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston
Congregation Am Tikva, Boston, MA
Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta, GA
Congregation Beth Ahavah, Philadelphia, PA
Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn, NY
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York, NY
Congregation Beth El, Berkeley, California
Congregation Beth El Binah, Dallas, TX
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, New York, NY
Congregation Kol Ami, West Hollywood, CA
Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, CA
Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco, CA
The Dobkin Family Foundation
Gay and Lesbian Yeshiva Day School Alumni Association (GLYDSA)
Gay and Lesbian Outreach and Engagement Program (GLOE)/Washington DC Jewish Community Center
Hebrew College
He’bro
Hazon
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Institute for Judaism & Sexual Orientation, Hebrew Union College-JIR
InterfaithFamily.com
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
JALSA - The Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action
Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance
JESNA - The Jewish Education Service of North America
JewishBoston.com
Jewish Communal Leadership Program, University of Michigan
The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington
Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group, London, UK
Jewish Gay Network of Michigan
Jewish Milestones
The Jewish Multiracial Network
Jewish Organizing Initiative
Jewish Outreach Institute
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Jewish Transitions
Jews United for Justice
Joshua Venture Group
Judaism Your Way, Denver, CO
Jumpstart
Just Congregations of the Union for Reform Judaism
JQ International
JQYouth
Kehilat Hadar, New York, NY
Kehilla Community Synagogue, Piedmont, CA
Kehilla School
Kolenu, Seattle’s Young Adult GLBTQ Group
LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation, San Francisco, CA
Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation
Ma’yan
Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh
Mechon Hadar
Moishe House Boston: Kavod Jewish Social Justice House
The Morningstar Foundation
The Natan Fund
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue, Jamaica Plain, MA
Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality
New Jersey’s Lesbian & Gay Havurah
North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY)
Orthodykes NY Progressive Jewish Alliance
Rabbinical Assembly Rabbinical School of Hebrew College
The Rainbow Center, Atlanta, GA
RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School Network
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Repair the World
ROI Community
Romemu
Ruth Allen
Ziegler Foundation
The Samuel Bronfman Foundation
Shalom Amigos, Mexico
ShefaNetwork: The Conservative/Masorti Movement Dreaming from Within
Storahtelling
SVARA
TBS Keshet, Temple Beth Shalom, Needham, MA
Trembling Before G-d Outreach Project
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)
University of Washington Hillel
UpStart Bay Area
A Wider Bridge
Women of Reform Judaism
Zeek Media, Inc.
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies

CBST has launched a new Social Justice Blog on their site, and in the past two weeks, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has posted as many blog posts about current issues. The latest, posted today, is about the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” and Rabbi Kleinbaum is calling for support for the project. The call to the whole Jewish community is based both in Jewish history, and in the experience of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Jews in New York.

Now, the same debate rages in our Jewish communities as we grapple with the questions of how much religious tolerance is too much tolerance. How close is too close for an Islamic Cultural Center to be to Ground Zero? The answer to both these questions: no such thing. Religious freedom is one of the founding values of this country and it is central to the vibrancy of Jewish communities. Jews have been kept out of neighborhoods, clubs, universities, political organizations, entire countries even! How can we turn around and do the same to our Islamic neighbors? How dare we even consider putting a limit on religious freedom? When the Anti-Defamation League betrayed their mission of ending bigotry and extremism by opposing religious freedom, I felt the misguided pain of their trauma.

Read the full post from Rabbi Kleinbaum about Islamophobia and the “Ground Zero Mosque” on CBST’s Social Justice Blog.

What do you think?

Here’s a quick list from our friends over at JQYouth of media coverage of LGBTQ Jewish Orthodox issues last week:

Forward:
http://www.forward.com/articles/129696/

Jewish Week
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/controversy_over_therapy_’curing’_homosexuals

Jewish Star:
http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/out-of-the-closet-rabbis-offer-new-approach-to-keep-gays-in-orthodox%C2%A0fold/

Jewish Chronicle:
http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/36302/american-rabbis-call-gay-acceptance

Haaretz:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/u-s-orthodox-rabbis-urge-community-to-accept-gays-and-lesbians-1.304661?localLinksEnabled=false

Ynet
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3926452,00.html

Failed Messiah.com
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2010/07/alleged-abuse-at-orthodoxfounded-cure-the-gays-program-123.html?cid=6a00d83451b71f69e20133f28d1b33970b

This was just made public. Read the press release for details:

Media Contacts:
Gregg Drinkwater, Executive Director, Jewish Mosaic, 303-691-3562
Idit Klein, Executive Director, Keshet, 617-524-9227

New organization will advance movement for GLBT inclusive Jewish community

(Boston, MA; Denver, CO) In a move that will create America’s largest organization working for a more open, accessible, and inclusive Jewish community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Jews and their family, friends, and allies, Keshet and Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity have agreed to merge.

Keshet, headquartered in Boston, is a leader in education, training, and grassroots organizing for GLBT inclusion in the Jewish community. Keshet is also well known for its groundbreaking documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School, called a “terrific teaching tool” by Variety Magazine. Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, a managed project of Jewish Funds for Justice, is a leader in Jewish institutional change, community-based research, and resources on GLBT Jews. The Denver- and San Francisco-based Jewish Mosaic recently released Torah Queeries:Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible (NYU Press, 2009), an innovative examination of Biblical texts described as a “must for the Jewish bookshelf” in the Jerusalem Post.

Both organizations have repeatedly been recognized as among the “most creative and effective Jewish organizations” in North America by Slingshot: A Resource for Jewish Innovation. The two organizations have worked closely together and are currently partnering with Nehirim, another GLBT Jewish nonprofit, on a major national convening of Jewish GLBT leaders.

Over the past year, Keshet and Jewish Mosaic had been in discussions about how they could be more effective and have the greatest impact in the Jewish community. “Our organizations share a vision of a Jewish community that lives up to its highest values, and with our complementary skills and methodologies, together we can get there,” noted Idit Klein, Executive Director of Keshet. “By joining forces, we become a stronger voice for inclusive communities than we could ever be working alone,” said Gregg Drinkwater, Executive Director of Jewish Mosaic.

The combined organization will retain the name Keshet pending a comprehensive strategic review to enhance the impact of its integrated research, education,organizing, and advocacy efforts. Klein will be the Executive Director; Drinkwater will become Deputy Director and oversee the new Research and Publications Department. The headquarters of the organization will be in Boston, with an additional office in Denver and a staff presence in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The combined organization also will retain Keshet’s corporate identity and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The Chair of the Board of Directors will be current Keshet board chair Stuart S. Kurlander. Dr. David Shneer, who co-founded Jewish Mosaic with Dr. Caryn Aviv in 2003, will be Vice Chair of the Board. Over the next few months, the organizations will further integrate their lay leadership and elect additional Board members. “Bringing these two important and strong organizations together will significantly advance the movement for GLBT inclusion in the Jewish community,” said Kurlander.

The new Keshet will put Jewish values and learning in service of the transformation of the entire Jewish community. “To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., the destiny and freedom of all Jews is bound up in the destiny and freedom of GLBT Jews; the dignity of one is the dignity of all,” said Jewish Mosaic Advisory Board Chair Shawn Landres, who will also be joining the Keshet Board.

“We are proud to support the merger of Keshet and Jewish Mosaic,” said Lisa Eisen, National Director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “By joining forces, these two leading Jewish LGBT organizations will create a more effective and efficient structure, enabling them to continue expanding their reach and impact. We see in the new Keshet a force capable of sparking a unified Jewish LGBT movement and fostering a more welcoming, diverse and inclusive Jewish community.”

Support for the merger has been provided through grants from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and The Natan Fund. Dr. Michela M. Perrone of MMP Associates provided strategic consulting.

This just in from our friends at Nehirim:

As we promised in our June newsletter, we have some exciting news to share with you:  Nehirim and NUJLS, the National Union of Jewish LGBT Students, are merging!  NUJLS will become a project of Nehirim beginning today, and Sasha T. Goldberg will be getting a promotion to Nehirim’s “Associate Director and Director of Student Programs.”  This merger is a reflection of our longtime collaboration with NUJLS (Sasha is currently its board president, and NUJLS has been a cosponsor of the Queer Shabbaton New York since its inception), Nehirim’s longtime student programming, and our commitment to providing programming and community to LGBT Jews (plus partners and allies) throughout the country.

This is exciting news, and a sign of more collaboration and coordination to come in the LGBT Jewish world.  Below is the official press release announcing the merger, and a copy of the letter Sasha is sending today to the NUJLS mailing list.  I look forward to seeing many of you at Nehirim East this weekend, and to working with the NUJLS student programming advisory board and NUJLS student leadership.  Mazal tov to all of us!

– Jay Michaelson, Executive Director, Nehirim

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nehirim and NUJLS, Two of the Largest National LGBT Jewish Organizations, To Merge

Move unites largest provider of national programming for LGBT Jewish community with vibrant student organization

(New York), (NY), (June 1, 2010) —  Two of the largest organizations serving the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Jewish community have today merged into one.  Nehirim, which runs retreats and other programs for GLBT Jews, and NUJLS, the National Union of Jewish LGBTIQQ Students, will combine operations effective June 1.  Nehirim is the largest national provider of community programming for GLBT Jews, and NUJLS was one of the first national GLBT Jewish organizations, founded in 1997.

“This is a natural combination of two strong organizations,” said Jay Michaelson, the executive director of Nehirim who was recently recognized on the ‘Forward 50’ list of the fifty most influential Jewish leaders in America.  “NUJLS is the leader in programming for GLBT Jewish students, and Nehirim is the leader in programming for GLBT Jews in general.”

As a result of the merger, Sasha T. Goldberg, Nehirim’s Assistant Director since 2007 and the current Board President of NUJLS, will become Nehirim’s Associate Director and Director of Student Programming.  A new “Student Programming Advisory Board” will be created, with representatives from NUJLS’s former board of directors and student activists.  Nehirim will run the popular NUJLS student conference, together with student leaders.

Said Goldberg, “Building on the strength and history of NUJLS and the incredible NUJLS students, I am greatly looking forward to growing the student programming at Nehirim to provide a national, cohesive, and vibrant hub of Jewish life for each Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Jewish student.”

For the first year of the merger, the NUJLS name will be retained, but as “NUJLS, a project of Nehirim.”  The organizations will combine their programmatic, leadership, administrative, and financial operations.

David Levy, a NUJLS board member, said “This merger enables NUJLS to better fulfill its mission, and to develop the next generation of Jewish LGBT student leaders.  We are excited to be part of Nehirim!”

Founded in 2003, Nehirim is a pluralistic, independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and is supported by the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston, and the Jewish Community Foundation of San Francisco, as well as a network of individual supporters. For more information, please visit our website www.nehirim.org.

For questions or excerpt and interview requests, please contact:

Marlene Rachelle, Communications Manager

(917) 968-4595

marlene@nehirim.org

www.nehirim.org

June 1, 2010

Dear Students, Friends, and Colleagues—

I’m writing to you with some very exciting news.  Nehirim and NUJLS, the National Union of Jewish LGBT Students, are merging! This merger is a reflection of Nehirim’s longtime collaboration with NUJLS, and our shared commitment to providing programming and community to LGBT Jews (plus partners and allies) throughout the country.  I am writing this letter to share my joy and excitement with you, as well as to share a little bit about my vision—and to ask for yours in return.

This month I celebrate my third year of working as the Assistant Director of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality–and there is a lot to celebrate. I am proud to say that the past three years at Nehirim have been packed with innovation and growth; we have had a 200% expansion on programming and reach since 2007, and today we expand again by merging with NUJLS, the National Organization for LGBTQQI Jewish Students. This also marks an expansion for me, personally: I will step into the position of the Associate Director at Nehirim, and also into the position of Director of Student Programming.

As many of you already know, this merger and my new position at Nehirim arrive after having spent the past eleven months serving as the NUJLS Board President while Vanessa “Vinny” Prell continued her last year as the Executive Director. This has been a privilege and a pleasure both personally and professionally—having come out at fourteen and founded the first GSA at my own high school, LGBT student issues have always been near and dear to my heart—and having the opportunity to provide professional leadership and commitment to an organization for which I care deeply has proved rewarding and inspiring. Both personally and professionally, I am honored to serve as the Director of Student Programming in this new merger.

It is my ultimate vision that the Nehirim-NUJLS merger will continue in this theme of expansion: Building on the strength and history of NUJLS and the incredible NUJLS students, I am greatly looking forward to growing the student programming at Nehirim to provide a national, cohesive, and vibrant hub of Jewish life for each Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Jewish student.

Can I count on your help in this vision? I hope that you will be excited to help foster the opportunity for the next generation of LGBT Jewish students to be engaged leaders with a rich, proud history of Jewish and LGBT lives and identities. Perhaps it’s been a while since you have been involved with Nehirim or NUJLS, perhaps you are hearing about Nehirim or NUJLS for the first time, or perhaps you have been a regular to both organizations—either way, I invite you to re-engage and share your vision with me, as well. In the coming weeks and months, I hope to speak with many of you about your ideas and about how you might like to be involved with LGBT Jewish Students and LGBT Jewish Student programming.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the many inspired and inspiring LGBT Jewish Students who have already been involved with NUJLS, many of whom I have been fortunate enough to meet–and who will continue to provide the centermost heart and vision of Jewish LGBT Student life. To the students, particularly: I look forward to more! Thank you also to Vinny, who is both a colleague and a trusted friend, for her years of hard work and for building a beautiful foundation. Last but not least, thank you also to the Board for all of your thoughtful consideration in these many months of transition.

Happy Pride Month to each you—I look forward to connecting and working together as we usher in a new decade of LGBT Jewish Student life.

All my very best,

Sasha T. Goldberg

Associate Director of Nehirim, Director of Student Programming

Last week, a retired guidance counselor at a Jewish community day school told me about her seventh grade student who wanted to kill himself because he was gay. This didn’t happen years ago in a small town. This happened last year in a major metropolitan area with a liberal Jewish community.

What would it take for this gay student and so many other gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer Jews to feel proud and affirmed instead of isolated and ashamed?

This Shabbat, May 22, marks the first annual Harvey Milk Day.

Imagine Jewish communities across the country honoring the memory of this extraordinary activist, a gay Jew who knew how to transform despair into hope. Imagine rabbis dedicating their divrei Torah this week to Harvey Milk’s message of pride in identity. Imagine that seventh grade student walking into his classroom and seeing a poster of Harvey Milk on the wall along with the usual posters of Jerusalem and Jewish baseball players. The poster would present Harvey as an American Jewish hero and provide biographical information about his life.By this time next year, posters of Harvey Milk will, in fact, be on the walls of day school and Hebrew school classrooms around the country.

Keshet has partnered with our friends at Jewish Mosaic to produce a series of educational posters about famous GLBT Jews - of yesterday and today - who have transformed our world. Over the next several months, we’ll be sharing more about our GLBT Jewish poster series and how you can bring these posters to your community. If you or someone you know wants to be part of this project, we’re looking for some savvy researchers to help out over the summer.

May Harvey Milk’s memory be for a blessing, and may we continue heeding Harvey’s call that “All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.” Ken yehi ratzon. So may it be for us.

B’shalom,

Idit Klein
Executive Director, Keshet

A Few Great Ways to Honor Harvey Milk
A big thanks to our friends at The LGBT Alliance at The Jewish Community Federation and California Faith for Equality for this great compilation of ways to honor Harvey Milk and keep his vision alive.

• Read a brief history of Harvey Milk’s life
• See the text of Harvey Milk’s famous speech on hope
• Use a inspiring quotes from Harvey Milk to in a drash
• Say a prayer for Harvey Milk Day
• Learn the history of the Harvey Milk Day Bill
• Harvey Milk Day of Action is taking place nationally. Check out what is going on in your area.
• Explore educational and media based resources to help discuss hope, tikkun olam & diversity including this wonderful two minute animated version of Harvey’s famous “You Gotta Give Them Hope Speech.”
• If you haven’t yet seen the incredible documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, now is a perfect time. You can purchase the film or watch it online.

The LGBT Religious Archives Network (LGBT-RAN) honors Shaun Jacob Halper with the 2009-10 LGBTReligious History Award. Halper’s paper, “Fashioning Gay Jewish Identity in Interwar Prague: The Case of Jií Langer (1894-1944),” was selected by the review jury to receive the award.

Halper is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at University of California Berkeley doing pioneering work in Jewish gay and lesbian history. His paper takes up the long-neglected life and work of a gay Hasid in interwar Prague, Jií Langer, who wrote on the problem of Judaism and homosexuality and articulated, as Shaun has argued, what may be one of the earliest cultural articulations of homosexual-Jewish consciousness and identity in the historical record.

The award will be presented to Halper at LGBT-RAN’s annual dinner on Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. You can read the full announcement about Halper and the LGBT Religious History Award here.

Halper’s paper was selected by the jury from among eight papers submitted in this fifth year of the LGBT Religious History Award.  Click here for info about past honorees and guidelines for submissions for the 2010-11 Award.