Written by Robin Wagner
This Shabbat, on June 14 at 10 am, we will be holding a Pride Liberation Shabbat and we hope all will attend. The Torah portion is Beha’alotcha—Numbers 8:1-12:16—which recounts the story of people who requested a second chance to offer the Passover sacrifice. In essence, that’s what we are going to do on our Pride and Liberation Shabbat: we will have a second shot at Passover. Only, this time our “seder plate” will be full of symbols that bring some of the rich and important history of LGBTQ liberation to life.
What will be on our seder plate?
Exotic Fruit. Queer people have demonstrated our strength in part by seizing words that have been used to disparage us and making them our own words of strength and pride. We embrace the “fruit” as a symbol that we are made in Ha’shem’s image: and that we are sweet and tart and unusual and creative and so many realities at once.
A Pink Triangle: just the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing, they forced homosexuals to wear a pink triangle. The pink triangle today is a badge of honor, resistance and identity. Similarly, the black triangle designated Nazi prisoners who were “asocial”—people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti people, and others. After WWII, lesbians claimed the black triangle as a symbol of defiance against repression. I have worn a black triangle earing in my right ear since 1995 for this reason.
Bricks and Stones: New York City, June 28, 1969. The Stonewall Inn Riot was the birth of the modern queer rights movement. Police came to the Stonewall Inn, a gathering place for gay men, lesbians, and transgender people, to break up the gathering and arrest employees for selling alcohol without a license. But instead of running in fear, the crowd held their ground, hurled bottles and debris at the police, and refused to take the harassment any longer. Bricks and stones can be both weapons and building blocks. We took these weapons and with them built a movement for liberation and pride.
Join us and celebrate the liberation of queer people and Pride month!
Pride Shabbat will take place on Saturday, June 14th at 10:30 AM, please join us earlier for an in-person meditation led by Anita Rubin-Meiller at 10:00 AM-10:20 AM for a pre-service meditation at the Jewish Community Center of Ann Arbor. Light Kiddish to follow.
To join on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81318454149?pwd=UrfpVW2G0mRg40KdpGLZb09QhGpqmG.1
Meeting ID: 813 1845 4149
Passcode: 397483
Volunteers Needed for Set-Up for Pride Shabbat Saturday Service. Please email me at aarctiara@gmail.com if you would like to volunteer.
