Shabbat Shalom.
During the past month, I have had the opportunity to see my identity as an LGBT Jew through a remarkable number of lenses. I first spent two weeks in Israel, where I walked in the Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade and met with numerous LGBT Leaders, political, social and religious. I came back here to the last few days of the LGBT Film Festival, that included a documentary on the history of gay pride in Tel Aviv. Then there was the amazing Pride Shabbat here at Sha’ar Zahav, and our own Pride celebration here in San Francisco. After that, I had the opportunity to participate in a remarkable three day conference in Berkeley with national and international LGBT Jewish leaders and several others from Sha’ar Zahav, including Rabbi Angel. So, for many weeks, it has felt as if I have been a gay Jew, 24/7. It is against that backdrop that I approached this week’s double parasha, Mattoth and Masey. We are at the end of the Book of numbers and our people have reached the border of the Promised Land. There is much to struggle with in these chapters, but tonight I want to focus specifically on some of the less challenging verses.
The Parasha Masey begins with a large section of text devoted to recounting the list of the specific places that constituted the journey through the wilderness. The section begins: These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron.
In all 42 separate locations are recounted. Mostly, with the dry construction typified by the following:
• They set out from Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.
• They set out from the Wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Hazeroth.
• They set out from Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah.
In just a few places, a bit of detail is provided. Rephidim is the place where the people did not have water to drink. Mount Hor is where Aaron died.
Why is it important that we know the 42 places where the Israelites set up camp? Or that there were 42 places? Perhaps it helps us understand the journey our people were on. The Torah doesn’t tell us exactly how long it took the Israelites to get from one place to another, but one can imagine that with 42 destinations in 40 years, they were spending almost as much time traveling from one place to another as they were settled down in their encampments.
And second, we can imagine that significant things happened in each of these locations. Children were born, people got married. And people died, as the generation that left Egypt diminished in numbers. So each of these places is a burial ground, a sacred place that needs to be remembered.
Perhaps most important, we can infer that 42 times they had to move and each time, the group moved together. Imagine what it takes to hold a group of Jews together for 40 years. Wasn’t there some faction that had a better idea, a different path to take? We are told that this was a group that included more than 600,000 adult males. Estimating women and children, we are likely talking about a group in excess of 2 million people. It is said that upwards of a half million people attended Woodstock, so this would be a group at least four times as large as that. And whether or not we have confidence in the Biblical estimates, let’s just say that this was a big group. And without Jimi Hendrix to entertain them.
This recounting of the journey the Israelites took reminded me of the times at various Sha’ar Zahav advances and other meetings that we have drawn the timeline of our congregation, from our founding in 1977 until the present day. What would be the markers that you would note on such a timeline? The first service, which we commemorate tonight, the first time we held classes for children, the installation of each of our our rabbis, our move into Danvers Street and then into this building, the memorial for Harvey Milk, the tragedy of the many memorials for members and friends lost to HIV/AIDS. The memorial for Phyllis Mintzer. And a host of celebrations might fill the timeline: Purim parties, b’nei mitzvah, kiddushin and welcoming of members into the covenant. And more recently, our annual transgender Shabbat, our 30th anniversary party a few years ago, our participation in the San Francisco Organizing Project. And of course, our new Siddur.
At the Berkeley convening, we took some time to create a timeline of the broader LGBT Jewish movement, from Stonewall to the present. It was fascinating to see Sha’ar Zahav as just one thread woven into this broader tapestry of events: other LGBT shuls being founded across the country, new community organizations being developed, the ordination of gay, lesbian, and now transgendered rabbis. Harvey Milk, and AIDS, also made it onto this timeline. And a few Israeli events made it in to the timeline as well. The founding of the Agudah in 1975, and of Jerusalem open House in 1992. And Dana International winning the 1998 Eurovision Song contest. In fact it was interesting to see Stonewall and Dana International as these two galvanizing moments of gay pride, continents apart, underlining the key role that trans and gender queer individuals have had in advancing the LGBT cause both at home and abroad.
At the convening in Berkeley, we began to imagine if the remarkable gathering of synagogues, organizations, spiritual groups, and social justice leaders could be transformed into a movement. We are a group known for our diversity across many dimensions; we have much in common, but also serious differences of opinion. Is there a vision broad enough to hold all of us together?
And for some of us, one question at the forefront of our minds , is Will this movement be big enough and strong enough to include and hold the 40% of the worlds LGBT Jews that live in Israel? As someone who has spent much of the past year looking for ways to build bridges between the U.S. and Israeli LGBT Communities, I hope the answer is yes.
There is so much that we can learn from one another, so many ways that we can grow together and make each other stronger.
Let me share with you a bit of what I learned and experienced on my most recent trip to Israel, as I worked to advance the work of A Wider Bridge.
First, I got a sense of the size of the LGBT community in ways I had not experienced before on my previous trips. Here is some perspective. Last year we were excited to get a contingent of about 700 Jews marching together in the San Francisco Pride parade. In Tel Aviv, estimates put the number of folks walking in the parade at about 40,000, with of course most of them Jewish. By the time we got to the beach, there were about 100,000 people out celebrating. By any measure, that is a lot of Jews celebrating Pride.
Second, I got a sense of the diversity of the community in ways I had not experienced before. I met with two of the leading transgender activists in Tel Aviv. Nora Grinberg told me about the progress the trans community has in made in Israel, but also stressed ongoing issues such as access to appropriate medical care, and the fact that Israel still requires evidence of gender reassignment surgery before they will change the gender on your ID card or passport. And I had a fascinating conversation with a young trans activist named Shuki Alexander, who began his conversation with me by saying, “You need to know that I am not a Zionist.” I assured him that I knew more than a few folks in San Francisco who shared his point of view. Shuki was one of the organizers of a demonstration that preceded the parade, where about 400 people gathered to insist of the need for the LGBT community to align in solidarity with other progressive and radical movements.
Third I had the opportunity to meet some of the leaders of Israel’s growing gay political class. I met with Nitzan Horowitz, the one out gay member of the Knesset, who is looking to build a new liberal coalition in Israel, dedicated to human rights, civil liberties and freedom for all of Israel’s citizens. On June 1, MK Horowitz invited many of the leaders of Israel’s LGBT organizations to the Knesset for a historic session on gay pride, where they were invited to share their concerns and their stories with leading members of the Israeli parliament. And in Tel Aviv, the gay community is stronger than in most cities of the U.S. The new LGBT center is funded by the municipality, and I had the opportunity to meet with the two out gay members of the Tel Aviv City council, Yaniv Waizman and Yoav Goldring.
On this trip I deepened and strengthened my relationship with the leaders of the LGBT orthodox groups in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I marched with their contingent in the Pride Parade. This was the first year the LGBT orthodox groups walked as an organized group in the parade. K’hilalah Datit Ga’ah the banner proclaimed. Proud Religious Community. The group had a car with a sound system on top, with the song Mashiach playing. All in all, this was a remarkable religious presence in an otherwise very secular event. And I attended their first ever Pride Shabbat services, held at the LGBT center in Tel Aviv. I felt truly honored to be part of this history making moment. A few nights later I had dinner with the leaders of Israeli Gay Youth. They brought with them to dinner an 18 year old Orthodox young man, Yosef. Yosef told me the story of his coming out, to himself, to his mother, to his community. He told me about the debate in his family about whether he should try the conversion therapy, and the ultimate decision that he would not. And he told me what a difference it had made in his life to be able to attend a support group with other gay orthodox young people. And about attending a recent Shabbaton put on by the LGBT orthodox community. A place where he could truly feel that both his gay identity and his Jewish identity could be freely expressed. I’ll mention that Yosef, having just turned 18, was about to head off to join one of the fighting brigades of the Israeli Defense forces.
I am convinced that when the timeline for the next decade is recorded for LGBT Jews, some of the most significant moments will relate to the progress and growth of the LGBT movement within Orthodox Judaism, both in Israel and in the United States. And to this end, I will mention that A Wider Bridge will be bringing four of the Israeli LGBT orthodox leaders to the U.S. in November. One of their stops will be San Francisco, so mark your calendar for the weekend of November 5 thru 7.
And last, I learned something about determination in the face of tragedy. I told this story on Pride Shabbat, but I think it bears repeating. I met with Ayala Katz. She is now the Chair of Tehilla, the Israeli organization for parents of LGBT children. And she is the mother of Nir Katz, one of the two people murdered in the shooting at Bar Noa, when a masked gunman entered a meeting of a Tel Aviv LGBT youth group and began firing. Ayala is only recently an activist. This is a part of what she said to me. : I loved my son…I accepted him… I welcomed his friends into my home…And I thought that was enough…But when he was murdered I realized it was not nearly enough. So now I want to help other parents, and make Israel a better place for all the children who are like my son.
To my mind, the people I met,the trans activists, the out politicians, the gay orthodox, the parents, these are all stories of courage… And it is their work that enables Israel to be, while far from perfect, one of the better places in the world to be LGBT.
One last note: At the end of this month the Gay Pride March will take place in Jerusalem. The march was moved from its usual June date so that it would be close to the one year anniversary of the shooting at the Bar Noa in Tel Aviv.
And the march will have a new route this year, ending at the Knesset. A few weeks ago the Jerusalem police refused to give permission for this new route, insisting that the march follow the same path down King David street that it had in prior years. But just a few days ago, we learned that the police have relented, and approved the route to the Knesset. My friend Yonatan Gher, Jerusalem Open House Executive Director said, "The parade route to the Knesset, on the anniversary of the murder, is the proper route to symbolize what the parade is demanding – full equal rights for the gay community in Israel.
He added "On this day, the message that will be sent from Jerusalem to Israel and the world will be a message of accepting the other, of celebrating the human diversity that makes up this unique city, the capital city that is holy to all of us.
And Ayala Katz will be marching. She said "The message sent today to all of Israel's citizens is that threats of violence are not rewarded. The parade on the eve of the murder's anniversary is granted full legitimacy today, and we, as parents, will march for the benefit and the future of our children,"
And I hope that in spirit, all of us here, and all of the members of this burgeoning LGBT Jewish movement, will be marching with them. We as LGBT Jews are in so many ways still wandering in the wilderness. Yet I hope, like our ancestors of old, as we struggle to find our way toward the Promised Land, that we can find a way to wander together.
Ken y’hi ratzon
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