Beth Chayim Chadashim Welcomes Rabbi Jillian Cameron

On June 29, Rabbi Jillian Cameron arrived in Los Angeles to take up her new position as rabbi at Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) — the world’s first lesbian and gay synagogue. After eight years as an East Coast rabbi in varying positions in Virginia and Massachusetts, Cameron is looking forward to the next phase of her career.

“I had that once-in-a-lifetime feeling that it was the right place for me. It’s somewhere I would join if I were just looking to join a synagogue,” she told the Journal. “It happened quickly but when you know it feels right, you take that leap of faith.” 

Cameron succeeds Rabbi Lisa Edwards, a lesbian activist for over two decades, and the synagogue’s rabbi from 1994 until 2019. Rabbi Alyson Solomon served as BCC’s interim rabbi from July 2019.

Cameron said she was looking for a role “where I could have an impact and be myself, to use the different skills I’d learned and learn and grow even more.” Among her strengths, she said, is being able to listen.

“Rabbis like to talk a lot and I can do my fair share,” she said. “But being able to take that step back and leave space for other people and lift up other voices is very important. You [may] think that being a rabbi means [having] the compendium of dates and texts and that is important, but you’re not going to be able to use that amazing compendium of knowledge unless you can communicate and reach people — share Judaism in ways that people can hear it and take it in.”

She added that one of her core Jewish principles is the idea that all humanity is made in the image of God (b’tzelem Elohim). “As a person in the world, as a queer person, as someone who is trying to create a world where every single human, no matter who they are, where they come from and how they see themselves can be treated with that sense of spark of the divine, it’s important for me to see through that lens, help people, the greater world and our country to see people through that spark.”

Cameron also identified the Lurianic concept of “tzimtzum” (contraction) as a guide to justice for people whose voices are repressed or silenced. “Part of our action needs to be taking that step back and uplifting the voices of Jews of color and other people of color,” she said. “We need to see the privilege we’re in and provide the space to raise up other voices …. It’s our responsibility to address these things.”

 “The community I’ve been part of has always been supportive of the multiple identities that I have — Jewish and queer. But in some spaces, you [still] have to choose between one of those identities. I feel passionate about creating space for people to celebrate all the parts of their identity.” — Rabbi Jillian Cameron 

The New Jersey native is a self-proclaimed history nerd, which, she said, centers on the more mundane moments. “I’m not a fan of dates and battles, although the big moments are important to understand,” she said. Instead, she thinks about people’s everyday lives. “What was it like not just on the one day we remember in history. What was it like the day before or the week after that? I’m a lover of sociology and human nature.” 

The lens of how larger narratives affect individuals also holds true for her perspective about Judaism. “Judaism is a religion of history, of memory and of stories,” she explained. “That works well with learning about people’s mundane lives, the personal memories we weave into our larger story. People who started ordinary and became extraordinary, or people who came before us and helped us get to the place we were. Because Judaism is about remembering and honoring the past of where we came from, it excites me to learn about the mundane Jewish history as much as the big moments.”

Cameron said she was honored to help shape BCC’s future, including working with and providing safe space for the growing population of trans people seeking an inclusive synagogue community. 

“People from all over the world and country who haven’t found that safe LGBTQ/Jewish space, they can be part of our community online,” she said. 

In Salem, Mass., Cameron co-created Jew(ish) Tribe for Pride, a Jewish space for those who wanted to march in the local Pride Parade. In Boston, she welcomed interfaith families and in Los Angeles, she aims to continue the work of creating similar spaces of acceptance for others. 

“The community I’ve been part of has always been supportive of the multiple identities that I have — Jewish and queer,” she said. “But in some spaces, you [still] have to choose between one of those identities.” She added she was grateful to have found spaces “where my identities are celebrated and uplifted. I don’t feel like you have to push one down when the other is raised up. I feel passionate about creating space for people to celebrate all the parts of their identity. There’s space in Judaism for everyone who wants to be connected.” 

 She admitted that one of her immediate challenges is getting to know the community when in-person gathering is a health risk. However, she said her theme for 2020 has been “look for and cherish the silver linings because they exist even in a really difficult world.” 

And she’s finding those silver linings. On Zoom, people have their names at the bottom of their images, which can help form relationships, she said. Because she can’t meet congregants for coffee, Cameron intends to drive through neighborhoods where BCC members live, greeting people at a respectable distance with masks on. The other bonus? Driving around is a great way to get to know her new city. 

Working on behalf of the less fortunate toward justice and equality “are a responsibility of our call to justice as Jews,” Cameron said, noting BCC’s history of justice work toward marriage equality among other issues. “As the 3-day-old rabbi (at the time of this interview), one of the priorities I have is to talk with the leaders of the community and our plan for involvement … not if we’re going to be involved in these things but how.”