Limmud NY 2016

A Charedi Rabbi’s eulogy, Jacob wrestling the angels, Yiddish tropes (cantillations), and the Kaddish (prayer for the deceased) are just a few of the Jewish elements in the important Pulitzer-prize winning play Angels in America. Why did Tony Kushner render Jewishness so central to a play focused on the lives of gay men during the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS in the 1980s? This session will explore these key Jewish elements of the play and the way in which they provide a window into its key themes.

SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity travels across the rural Deep South (Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas) to train local teachers, mental health providers, juvenile justice professionals, and social workers in LGBTQ suicide prevention. Learn some of their strategies for working in hostile environments and techniques for creating safety in challenging spaces while experiencing some of their most popular games, techniques, and reflection activities.

A panel of Orthodox parents will discuss the challenges of having an LGBTQ child in the religious community. How does an Orthodox parent come out to their rabbi? Should they tell their friends? If so, when is the right time? What if the child wants to fulfill the dream of Torah AND Chuppah? Parents will tell their stories and present some strategies they have used to help them cope with their own challenges, as well as help their children live as an LGBTQ person in their Orthodox community.

President Bartlet's takedown of Dr. Jenna Jacobs is one of the most-quoted speeches when arguing with the anti-LGBT Religious Right. Though it's a magical bit of oratory, it's an incorrect interpretation of the Torah texts, the word "to'evah," and a great example of bad translation. We'll get back to the original texts, incorporate some early Christian theology, and more to learn why the Religious Right's argument is flawed - and how to combat it.