Celebrating LGBTQ pride in our Jewish communities | Voices of Faith
Rabbis tend to have insanely busy weeks. This past week, my work was dedicated to celebrating our LGBTQ family and friends. It has been a rough time for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning and/or queer community. They have been under a relentless series of attacks. A number of folks have shared their rising anxiety levels with me this spring.
My work as an ally is to lift up their voices and to celebrate their contributions. As a spiritual leader, it’s to see every person as created in the image of the divine and to love thy neighbor as ourselves.
Last Monday was the Memorial Day Parade in Hudson, and I marched with the newish group, “Pride in Hudson” for the second year in a row. What struck me again this year is that our group, with our pride banner, our pride flags and signs, is wonderfully and warmly received. Tears rolled down my cheeks as countless groups of bystanders gave us standing ovation after standing ovation. The sign I carried at the parade stated simply: “Love thy neighbor.” The ovations represented this love.
I was speaking recently to one of my candidates for converting to Judaism. They are transgender and they grew up in Hudson several years ago. They were impressed with this show of public support, because when they were young, they didn’t receive any type of public support. They were thrilled that young people today are facing a new reality.
On Wednesday, I met this same person at the Jewish community’s mikvah, or immersion pool, where they completed their conversion process. (As I mentioned in my column last year, before the pandemic, I had one or two conversion students a year. In the first year of the pandemic, I had five students preparing to convert to Judaism. In the second year, that grew to a dozen students. The majority of these students identify as LGBTQ. Some are university students, some are adults. They know Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism will welcome them with open arms, without questioning their identities or their decisions. This trend of conversion candidates continued for a third year as my group of students continues to grow.)
Recently, Temple Beth Shalom hosted its Second Annual Pride Shabbat, where members of the community read poetry, shared stories and offered their reflections about the intersection of Jewish life and LGBTQ life today.
In our recent Torah readings, it mentioned how Moses lifts up the head of every Israelite as they are each counted. Today, we lift up the heads of each new member as they now count to be numbered among us. We are stronger because of their presence. We are more diverse because of their presence. We journey together, building community as we go.
The text toward the conclusion of last week’s Torah portion is the “Priestly Blessing.” I offer it to each of us now:
May the Eternal bless and protect you.
May the Eternal’s countenance shine upon you and bestow kindness upon you.
May the Eternal’s countenance be lifted toward you and grant you peace.
Rabbi Michael Ross is the rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson and the senior Jewish educator at Kent State Hillel. He also teaches in the Jewish Studies department at Kent State.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Celebrating LGBTQ pride in our Jewish communities | Voices of Faith
