LGBTQ Rights
Shemot: The Burning Bush in my Backyard
Despite his reservations, [Moses] is able to see that God’s presence illuminates even the most unassuming, seemingly dark and thorny places. May we, with all our insecurities, do the same.
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Tisha B’Av: Making Reparations after Churban
It is not enough to mourn. Mourning must be accompanied by actions that end the harm being done.
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Pride Month: Resisting Anti-Trans Pharaohs
In a time when modern day Pharaohs are seeking to peddle fear, to oppress, and to erase transgender people, we can take our direction from our brave matriarchs.
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Our Mishkan — Who Is In and Who is Barred Entry?
Our basic freedoms are under attack. The authoritarian extremists pushing these laws are saying that only they qualify to be in the Mishkan.
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What “Women’s Rights” Should Mean
I would like to see us reclaim what women’s rights can mean – and note that our tradition supports our demand to be seen as fully human, however we identify.
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Lift Your Head
The haftarah in the guise of Naaman says that one need not be defined by tzara’at – or, we add, any aspect of ourselves by which others define us, as though we are unidimensional.
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Resisting Unjust Edicts in Our Time
When leaders choose discrimination and censorship, when they care more about excess for some rather than access for all, Achashverosh is still among us.
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Turning Our To’evot Inside Out: Queering the Torah’s Commandment on Gendered Clothing
Our belief that there is a divinely inspired, ethically enacted pathway for living embedded in a sacred text we reread every year for contemporary relevance makes the entirety of the Jewish project rather queer from its very inception. It is and has always been our greatest strength.
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Purim Reminds Us Rights Shouldn’t Be Tied to the Whims of Rulers
A D’var Torah for Purim by Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael As a Queer and Trans Jew, Purim has long held a special place in my heart as a holiday that envisions a world in which oppression can be turned upside down, in which coming out can be liberatory and world-changing, and miracles come to life through...
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When One Line Makes All the Difference
Yet to this day it taught me a most valuable lesson: the power of representation. The power of one line in a teaching, sermon, saying of a teacher, or political statement. Because it might seem minor to so many, yet you never know who is going to be the nine-year-old who might find themselves in it.
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