February 2, 2021

For four years, I began each day holding my breath and dreading what the news would bring. The previous president assailed our country’s humanity, from jeopardizing the safety of trans kids within days of taking office to separating immigrant children from their parents. Since noon on January 20, I have been breathing a bit more easily — both as the CEO of Keshet, a national organization that works for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, and as a U.S. citizen. The fleet of executive orders that President Biden signed that day started to reverse the damage and suffering that the previous administration inflicted on millions of people, including many of us in the LGBTQ community.

I know that the work of repair — and the journey toward progress — has barely begun. As Biden declared in his inaugural speech, he and Vice President Harris must tackle the pandemic, systemic racism and white supremacy, poverty, economic uncertainty and climate change. Along with these urgent priorities, I hope the Biden-Harris administration will make good on another pledge: passing the Equality Act and, at long last, mandating federal protection from discrimination for LGBTQ people. And I look to Jewish communities nationwide to join Keshet and our partners in this campaign.

Despite cultural and political progress for LGBTQ equality, it remains critical that we pass this federal legislation. Although the recent Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County and certain interpretations of the fourteenth amendment support some civil rights protections for LGBTQ people, we need the Equality Act to make these rights clear and unequivocal and to ensure that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be misused as a license for discrimination under the guise of religious liberty. Without the Equality Act, LGBTQ people will still face the threats of harassment and bias in employment, education, housing, public spaces and government services in more than half the states in the nation.

David W., a 25-year-old gay Jewish man now living in Boston, told me, “I experienced the pain of discrimination at my first corporate job. What happened to me would have been illegal in a state like Massachusetts, but it wasn’t where I lived then. The Equality Act is about protecting LGBTQ people in Mississippi as much as in Massachusetts. We’re one big mobile nation, and LGBTQ people shouldn’t worry if we’re protected in a place we move to, travel through or visit.”

This sweeping Act, extending to all states, would amend existing civil rights law to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Numerous polls have shown that 70% of Americans — including a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents — support a bill like the Equality Act. Yet, for decades, we have been unable to make these basic protections federal law. With Biden’s stated commitment to passing the Equality Act, we hope this legislative session will deliver on a long-awaited promise.

The voices of pro-equality faith groups, including the Jewish community, will be critical in this fight. Historically, many religious groups have played a powerful role in opposing LGBTQ rights.

The voices of pro-equality faith groups, including the Jewish community, will be critical in this fight.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation of New York, joins us in this call to Jewish communities: “As Jews, we are called to pursue justice, to treat our neighbors as ourselves. It is therefore incumbent upon us to stand publicly for LGBTQ rights. I champion, as a rabbi, the public recognition that my LGBTQ neighbors are created in the divine image no less than I am, and that their rights and dignity, manifest through laws both national and heavenly, are as inalienable as my own.” Simply put, the Equality Act is central to justice, equality and human dignity, which are not only fundamental American ideals but also core Jewish values.

We know that legal change is far from the only change we need to achieve LGBTQ equality, but we also know that legislative progress propels social and cultural advancements. Many trans and non-binary people, in particular, experience pervasive and persistent social discrimination that is reinforced by legal inequality.

The Equality Act alone will not transform our society, but it will be a major step in the right direction. After four years of fighting to preserve our hard-won civil rights, we thankfully can now get back to the work of advancing our rights in partnership with our elected officials.

More than four years ago, on the morning of November 9, 2016, my day began with a text from the mother of a trans teen who was terrified about what the future held for her child. “What can I do to protect my son? What can I do so he knows that his life has value and that he deserves to live in safety and dignity?”

Today, I say to her and to every American who believes in human dignity: demand that the Equality Act become law and help build a more just nation.

Idit Klein is the CEO of Keshet, a national organization working for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life.

Ever since Jews read about the new Jeni’s “Everything Bagel” ice cream flavor last week, we’ve been debating whether to attack it with our spoons or with our newfound space lasers. The news spread due to clever marketing — or maybe it was a schmear campaign — so I knew had to get the scoop lickety-split.

The Jeni’s website describes the pint as “Cream cheese ice cream with everything bagel gravel,” prompting me to wonder whether someone on their marketing team had just reached into a bucket of nouns. Picturing gravel in ice cream evokes a crying toddler who accidentally dropped their scoop on a rocky road. The “gravel” is actually from sweet rice flour mixed in with the garlic, onions, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc. — but I just picture breaking my teeth on rocks.

Maybe a judge needs to bring down the g(r)avel before someone adds chrain-bow sprinkles. There are so many reasons to des(s)ert this flavor. Topping the list: although savory and sweet flavors combine well, just thinking about the incongruity of adding onions and garlic and seeds to sweet ice cream makes my brain freeze. It’s like getting your ice cream sandwich on rye.

Jeni’s new ice cream flavor is why we have Facebook groups with names like “Doing this to bagels is incredibly offensive to my people.” I’ve kvetched about bagel-related matters here before, so no surprise that my initial reaction is to put this ice cream in the doghouse, wearing a cone of shame. I’m not likely to waffle on this, but I admire Jeni’s for the dairying gamble; it wasn’t a sher-bet.

The ice cream has prompted me to wonder what other Jewish-adjacent flavors might pop up in odd places. A search revealed something called “falafel pops,” which I was relieved to learn were not popsicles containing fried garbanzo balls — no need to defrost! –– but you can never be sure. A friend also told me about the fawaffle, which is falafel batter cooked in a waffle iron, and I would 100% devour that.

Maybe these economic times call for innovation. I suppose we could accept that this might be the start of a trend, then get ahead of it by brainstorming the next hot (or cold) mashup of Jewish savory flavors with unexpected desserts. Maybe schmaltz-malts? Shakshuka shakes?

Maybe these economic times call for innovation.

Here are some other products we might see soon. Influencers, work up your appetites and — if not your gravel — your grit.

Future products inspired by everything bagel ice cream:

Gefilte Frozen Yogurt

The first dessert to follow suit will be that other sweet treat in a cone. Would the gefilte fish be broken up into pieces throughout the yogurt or itself dispensed from a soft-serve machine? Could it have a catchy name, akin to “fro-yo?” Potentially “woe yo” or “hit a new low-yo” or “I could have had ice cream; now I feel like a schmo-yo.”

Chopped-Liver Macarons

Instead of a layer of chocolate ganache or pistachio filling, these sweet cookies would be filled with your bubbe’s favorite chopped liver. Chopped liver could appear in other desserts too, such as cocoa-dusted liver truffles. And remember those trendy black-bean brownies from a few years back? Although “brisket brownies” has alliteration, replace the black beans with chopped liver for a smoother protein. “You’ll never guess the secret ingredient,” you can tell friends. Or the chopped liver itself could just ask, “What am I…”

Pickled-Herring Meringue Pie

The meringue on a traditional pie looks a bit like ocean waves. Why not have pickled herrings swimming around among them? (Don’t answer that.)

Kasha Varnishkes Cupcakes

Get more fiber from your cupcakes, now full of healthy buckwheat groats and sautéed onions. Frost cupcakes as usual, but add a little bowtie pasta noodle on top. Adorbs.

Flanken’ Donuts

If all these products go well, we could open a chain to challenge the donut competition with some trendin’ tendon. Dunkin’ Donuts? Meet Flanken’ Donuts. We’d specialize in frosted fleishig — glazed or iced donuts, but they’re filled with stew. Is it too much to do to a poor donut? To our stomachs? I could think of cruller ideas.

Look, progress can’t be stopped. If there’s a market for everything bagel ice cream, that’s the way the gravel crumbles. I just hope they’ll adjust the ingredients for Passover, maybe with little bits of broken matzah instead. A month ago, I couldn’t have pictured it. Now, it might not seem so farfe(l)tched after all.

Deborah (Debs) Gardner is a public health professional, writer and semi-snarky Jew living in Seattle, WA. Our “pundemic correspondent,” she is a multi-time winner of Pundamonium Seattle, a local pun slam.