Category
Judaism
Community
Before there was \”Ellen,\” Chastity Bono, Rock Hudson\’s death from AIDS, or AIDS itself, there was Beth Chayim Chadashim. The year was 1972, and most lesbians and gay men were deep in the closet. For four gay Jews who showed up for a rap session at Metropolitan Community Church in LosAngeles, there was no other place to seek spiritual solace. But, as welcoming as Rev. Troy Perry was, MCC was still a Christian place of worship. Many gay and lesbian Jews felt deeply alienated from thesynagogues in which they had grown up, but there were no shuls where they felt comfortable to be who they were and love who they loved.
The Divorce Force
Gangs of masked, Yiddish-speaking thugs in Brooklyn have been abducting Orthodox Jewish men and beating them savagely to force them into granting their wives a religious divorce,or get, according to several men who say they were victims of such assaults.The beatings allegedly were ordered by an Orthodox rabbinical court.\n
Torah Portion
Context is everything. Certainly, this must besaid concerning the curious opening of this week\’s Torah portion. Forthe portion opens with a command that has been issued many timesbefore: the command to observe the seventh day as a day of rest.
Schmoozing, Study and Shabbat
When Rabbi Gordon Bernat-Kunin founded an informal group dedicated to bringing together young Jewish adults to celebrate Shabbat, he named it Makor, meaning \”source.\”
Torah Portion
Deeply ingrained ideas die hard. This week\’s parasha,however, helps to ring the death knell for one such idea. Many of us have been trained to believe that the Torah\’s commandments can be broken down into two basic categories.
Climbing Our Mountain
As I, at 16, traveled through Israel for the firsttime, my Jewish nerve endings were hypersensitive. Every stone, face,taste, smell, breeze, star, touch, glimpse — everything — moved me.
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