On June 19, LGBTQ Jewish nonprofit JQ International brought music, poetry, prayer and meaningful conversations to its Shabbat service, welcoming more than 100 participants on Zoom and Facebook live as part of Pride month.
Ahead of the event, Pride Shabbat kits were delivered just before sundown to 120 homes. The kits included a rainbow sprinkled challah courtesy of Challah Hub, grape juice, rainbow Shabbat candles, JQ swag, a copy of Adam Eli’s “The New Queer Conscience” and JQ’s OneTable Shabbat service booklet.
Coinciding with Juneteenth, JQ welcomed 15 speakers from various Jewish, racial and LGBTQ backgrounds to share their thoughts during the Shabbat service on the current climate.
“What a blessing and an honor and a privilege to be together on this most special evening,” Arya Marvazy, managing director at JQ told attendees. “An evening that resembles the most powerful intersections of our Jewish traditions, our queer and ally identities and our communal responsibility to create a more racially just and equitable world for all.”
Marvazy also spoke about the importance of Black LGBTQ lives and the work Jewish allies must do to uplift their voices and ensure they are heard and protected. He also celebrated the recent Supreme Court decision to protect LGBTQ employees’ health care rights in the workplace.
North Hollywood couple Shana and Beck Gee-Cohen lit the candles, led the group in the Shehecheyanu prayer and also shared their personal story of transition.
“We are not strangers to transitioning,” Shana said. “I once had a Catholic girlfriend who is now my Jewish husband.”
“It’s a lot of transition,” Beck added.
“And through that, we’ve learned a lot about having grace for yourself and especially deep empathy for all the folks around you who touch you and are able to support you along the way,” Shana said.
Joshua Avishur, a transmasculine Orthodox Jew, parent of four and lay leader for JQ’s L.A. Orthodox group, led the group in Kiddush. “JQ has been particularly instrumental in helping me and a few of my other LGBTQ Orthodox friends build a community that really did not exist before,” he said. “We are not necessarily allowed in many of the Orthodox spaces around here, we are not accepted. Then there’s JQ, and not only are we accepted and loved for exactly who we are, we are embraced and encouraged to continue to build this community.”
Hedyeh Rezaie, a queer Iranian activist and social worker, was part of the first Persian Pride fellowship cohort. She echoed Avishur’s praise for JQ, saying, “I never had the opportunity to be around queer Iranian people …. I never knew they existed. For the first time, I was able to walk into a room and feel loved for all of me. Between having panels and the Pride march as Iranians, having retreats … supporting those individuals who are not out … it was one of the best experiences of my life.”
Activist, writer, photographer and queer Afro-Jew Jordan Daniels, who lives in San Diego, spoke about finding pride in who he is by living at the intersection of fluidity and ambiguity.
“Whenever I went [to synagogue], there was always a question of, ‘How can I exist?’ ” he said. “My mom would say, ‘My son is Black and Jewish’ and they would ask if that is possible …. My body, my Blackness and my Jewishness, I continued to be othered. My queerness — which is one of my favorite parts about me as a human being — is also a sign of otherness. It wasn’t until university where I experienced that my otherness was my power.”
He also spoke about the difference between working as an ally vs. an accomplice and broke up the Zoom conference into separate mini meetings so that participants could discuss how to be stronger allies and accomplices in fighting injustice.
Adam Weinstein, who lives in Los Angeles, said during his mini meeting, “I’m thinking of ways I can volunteer my time. I’m a computer science programmer and so [I’m] trying to find organizations that help students who don’t have access to those resources,” he said. “For me, it’s really meaningful when I make connections with others and hopefully act in such a way that I’m benefiting others whether it’s LGBT or Black lives.”
Activist and artist Yoni Kollin used their time at the event to share a poem called “Together We Stand.” The poem addressed the coronavirus pandemic, freedom for all, tikkun olam, the LGBTQ struggle, the Black struggle and the call to action that Jews must do more to protect those in their community who don’t have a big platform.
“Teach your kids, your peers, your friends that kindness matters,” Kollin said. “If we want to change the world, we have to come together because when our own citizens are in trouble, we need to be there for them.”
Other speakers included trans activist and founder of the California Transgender Workplace Program Michaela Ivri Mendelsohn, Iranian drag queen The Empress, independent film producer Max Landwirth, JQ Executive Director Asher Gellis and JQ co-chair, and Executive Director of the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center, Neil Spears.
“We are not necessarily allowed in many of the Orthodox spaces around here, we are not accepted. Then there’s JQ, and not only are we accepted and loved for exactly who we are, we are embraced and encouraged to continue to build this community.” —Joshua Avishur
Tuning in from New York, Adam Eli, “Queer Conscience” author and founder of Voices4, shared his thoughts on fighting for intersectional rights during the pandemic.
“This is a queer issue,” he said. “Black people experience police brutality at a higher rate and trans women experience police brutality at a higher rate and Black trans women experience police brutality at a higher rate.” He also spoke of how Black Jews and/or Jews of Color impact the LGBTQ community, noting, “As queer people and as Jewish people we know what it’s like to be persecuted. Hate does not discriminate …. It leaves Jews and especially queer Jews in complete and total obligation to show up to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Watch the full Shabbat service on Youtube:
