Tag: Jewish

It’s Who We Are: Celebrating 20 years of the Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria

From the Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria:

JLGV groupDear All,

Most exciting news!!!! Our documentary is going to be shown at the Melb
Queer Film Festival on Sunday 23 March at 4pm. Please pass on to all your friends.Sun 23 Mar 4:00 PM
ACMI Cinema 1


IT’S WHO WE ARE: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF THE JEWISH LESBIAN GROUP OF VICTORIA
David Muir & Kate Lefoe
The Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria (JLGV) had its beginnings in 1992, when words like ‘lesbian’ and ‘Jew’ were still whispered, and it wasn’t always safe for the women to be open about who they were. Three Jewish lesbian friends organised a workshop for Jewish lesbians which attracted a phenomenal turnout, filling the room with warmth, laughter, and tears of recognition and relief. The JLGV had been born!
This warm-hearted documentary charts the birth of the JLGV and its continued activities in providing a social and support network, as well as acting as a powerful lobby group initiating significant change in Jewish, feminist and LGBTI communities around Australia.

Media Release: Aleph Melbourne welcomes stance from Jewish community leadership against intolerance of homosexuality

MEDIA RELEASE
February 14 2014

ALEPH MELBOURNE APPLAUDS THE JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF VICTORIA FOR ITS STAND AGAINST INTOLERANCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

Aleph Melbourne welcomes the recent statement from David Marlow, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, where he unreservedly stands up to intolerance of homosexuality:

“Homophobia, lack of acceptance and intolerance of homosexuality causes serious stress, anxiety and serious mental health issues and are not acceptable. All people should be welcomed and respected as valuable members of society and the community.”

Aleph Melbourne co-convenor Michael Barnett said “Whilst the JCCV has been increasingly passionate over the last 12 months in standing up to homophobia, and in stating that being gay is ok, this is the first time the JCCV has actually made a claim that any intolerance of homosexuality is unacceptable.”

Barnett added “Hearing these words from a representative of the JCCV shows they understand that members of the Jewish community have been hurt by intolerance of their sexual orientation, due to factors like inflexible religious attitudes and a lack of education.”

Aleph Melbourne calls on the JCCV to raise the issue of intolerance of homosexuality with its member organisations, especially those who continue to promote intolerance of homosexuality, and help build a safe, inclusive and affirming environment, that not only accepts but visibly celebrates all people as valued and equal members of the community, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

For further comment contact:
Michael Barnett / 0417-595-541 / michael@aleph.org.au

Jewish Museum of Australia: Midsumma Festival 2014 – When voices meet visions: an exploration of queer Jewish identity

Media Release
Jewish Museum of Australia

Midsumma Festival 2014 – When voices meet visions: an exploration of queer Jewish identity

“A community is too heavy to carry alone” – Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:10
This quote is featured in the current temporary exhibition Voices & Visions, now showing at the Jewish Museum.

The Jewish Museum of Australia is proud to be taking part in another year of the Midsumma Festival. This year’s event, When voices meet visions: an exploration of queer Jewish identity, uses the current Voices & Visions temporary exhibition, as the launchpad for a discussion about what it is to be gay and Jewish.

The exhibition features a series of posters designed by some of America’s most prominent graphic designers, who have responded to quotes by Jewish luminaries throughout history – ranging from Martin Buber to Susan Sontag to Maimonides. In the same vein, the panel will respond to the quotes featured in the exhibition, and relate them to their personal experiences.

Chairing the event will be Museum Director & CEO Rebecca Forgasz, and the panellists include psychologist Debbie Zaks, teacher Sandra Schneiderman and artist Sam Schoenbaum.

Rebecca Forgasz says:
“In Judaism we are encouraged to ask questions and find multiple interpretations of traditional texts, the premise being that these texts have infinite depth and eternal relevance. At this event we are asking the panellists to make their own meanings from the texts offered up in the Voices & Visions exhibition. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore queer culture in a Jewish context.”

Rebecca Forgasz is available for further comment and interviews.

For media enquiries please contact Elise Hearst on 8534 3612 or e.hearst@jewishmuseum.com.au

When voices meet visions: an exploration of queer Jewish identity
Thursday 30 January at 6.30pm
Jewish Museum of Australia
26 Alma Rd
St Kilda 3182
www.jewishmuseum.com.au

AJN Letters: Defending Orthodox rabbinical opposition to same-sex marriage

15 November 2013
The Australian Jewish News Melbourne edition

Letters to the editor should be no more than 250 words and may be edited for length and content. Only letters sent to letters@jewishnews.net.au will be considered for publication. Please supply an address and daytime phone number for verification.

Orthodox rabbis are being victimised

THE fuss over gay marriage has now crept into the Jewish community and is causing pain and misery to all involved.  Among the victims in all this controversy are our Orthodox rabbinical authorities’ rabbis who are being touted as the villains of the drama.

Those that are reading this letter might be aghast that I am of that opinion.  Well, let’s look at it this way – our rabbis did not write the Torah, they are only interpreting it the best way they can or know, and they represent most of the Jewish community.

But they are being pilloried from pillar to post.  They cannot accept a union between a man and another man, it’s simply not allowed as homosexual relations in the Bible are forbidden.  Sexual relations between a woman and another woman are not frowned upon but still a marriage between two females does not meet the normal criteria of a normal nuclear family, meaning a man and a woman.

If homosexual within the Jewish community want their relationships legitimised, they should not demand it from the Orthodox Jewish authorities and the rabbis should not be forced to justify their position time and time again, as they are not the authors, only the custodians of the Torah and they have every right to stand by the moral codes that they have lived by and studied all their lives.

We cannot change thousands of years of Jewish tradition just to suit modernity.

No one is saying we need to discriminate against gays or lesbians, but we also need to take into account that the onus of the debate should not be brought down upon our Orthodox rabbis who have a historical duty as teachers of our tradition to uphold the laws set down by God on Mount Sinai, and we accept nothing less of them.

They are becoming the innocent victims in all this controversy as all they are doing is defending our heritage.

SUSAN WEINER
Vaucluse, NSW

A very Queer 2013 Limmud Fest (Nov 22-24)

The following three sessions, two by Gavi Ansara and one by Jonathan Barnett with Steven Holzman, offer a diverse range of Queer content at the 2013 Limmud Fest in Rutherford Park, Victoria, Nov 22-24.  View the current program here.

LGBTI Jews: living Torah lives in our communities
and Creating meaningful rituals to mark the life cycle events specific to LGBTI Jews within a halachic framework – Gavi Ansara

Gávi Ansara received the 2002 Keshet Leadership of the Year Award for founding an Orthodox gender and sexuality outreach project and more recently received the 2012 American Psychological Association Transgender Research Award. He is completing his PhD in Psychology while working at a senior level in national LGBTI health policy.

Jewish, gay and observant; impossible! – Jonathan Barnett with Steven Holzman

Jonathan is president and founder of Keshet Australia, Inc. Jonathan is on the boards of Temple Beth Israel and Progressive Judaism Victoria. He is active in the Progressive Trust and is a former treasurer and member of Keshet USA, former President of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Massachusetts and former technical director of the Friends of Israel Firefighters.

MR: Response to Orthodox Rabbis opposition to same-sex marriage

Aleph Melbourne Media Release
Response to Orthodox Rabbis opposition to same-sex marriage

October 30 2013

Today the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, the Rabbinical Council of NSW and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria issued a joint statement reiterating their previous opposition to same-sex marriage.  This was done in response to legislation passed in the Australian Capital Territory last week allowing same-sex marriage to be performed in the territory.

Aleph Melbourne expresses strong opposition to religious leaders interfering in matters of civil law.  Further we request Orthodox Jewish Rabbis stop hindering the efforts to break down legal discrimination faced by couples excluded from marriage on the grounds of gender.

Co-convenor Michael Barnett said: “Whilst Orthodox Rabbis have responsibility to uphold their religious laws, they should be reminded that these responsibilities do not extend into civil law”.

Barnett added “Australia is a secular country that grants its citizens the right to both freedom of religion and freedom from religion.  There is no room in our society for Orthodox Jewish rabbis to impose their uncompromising values on the rest of Australian society.  If they don’t want a same-sex marriage, then they don’t have to have one, as rewarding as they can be”.

Religious leaders can rest assured that there is no legislation in force that will require them to solemnise any marriage against their will, including same-sex marriages, and there is no intention for such legislation to be passed.

Aleph Melbourne continues to praise the Australian Progressive and Conservative Jewish communities’ leadership for their strong and continued support of marriage equality at the federal level.

Enquiries:
Michael Barnett / 0417-595-541

ENDS.

Sharley McLean – In Remembrance | Peter Tatchell Foundation

 

Sharley McLean – In Remembrance

Sharley McLeanposted by Peter Tatchell … on Mon, 28/10/2013 – 12:42

Feminist, lesbian and survivor of Nazi fascism

London, UK – 28 October 2013

Sharley McLean – Feminist, lesbian and survivor of Nazi fascism – died on 26 October 2013, aged 90.

“Born in Germany in 1923, both Sharley’s parents and many of her extended family died in the Holocaust. Her father was a socialist and her mother was Jewish. She fled to Britain as a teenage refugee from Nazi Germany in 1939, in one of the last transports of children allowed to leave Germany before the Nazis closed the borders. Her gay uncle, Kurt Bach, a left-wing activist, was arrested by the Gestapo in a gay bar in Berlin in 1937, and died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp,” recalls Peter Tatchell, Director of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

“Sharley was a wonderful woman and campaigner. I was honoured to know her and, in the 1980s, to help publicise her remarkable personal story. She participated in my early campaigns to document and publicise the experiences of LGBT Holocaust survivors – and later to commemorate them and the service personnel who died fighting Nazi fascism.

“Until the mid-1980s, it was forbidden to lay a pink triangle wreath at the Cenotaph in remembrance of the LGBT victims of fascism and of LGBT service personnel who fought to defeat Nazism. The wreaths we laid were swiftly removed. She helped me and others overturn the wreath ban.

“Prior to the late 1990s, the Royal British Legion refused to acknowledge that LGBT people has served and died in the armed forces. It would not allow a LGBT war veterans contingent to march in the official Remembrance Day parade. Sharley worked with us to challenge this exclusion.

“She joined and spoke at our V-E (Victory in Europe) Day commemorations at the Cenotaph in the 1980s and, a decade later, at the Queer Remembrance Day vigils at the Cenotaph, organised by the LGBT campaign group OutRage! The last one she spoke at was on 2 November 1997.

“Sharley was a long-time activist in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, and was a volunteer with the Terrence Higgins Trust in the 1980s. She was a passionate supporter of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association.

“She will be long remembered with admiration and appreciation,” said Mr Tatchell.

Further information:

Peter Tatchell
Director, Peter Tatchell Foundation
Email: Peter@PeterTatchellFoundation.org
Web: www.petertatchellfoundation.org

Heaven Bent

Heaven Bent coverHeaven Bent : Australian lesbian,gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex experiences of faith, religion and spirituality.

Edited by Luke Gahan and Tiffany Jones, with a foreword by Senator Louise Pratt,

Published September 2013, Clouds of Magellan, Melbourne.

paperback RRP: $29.95 | ISBN: 978-0-9874037-4-2 | 334 pp.

Listed below are the five contributors who have a Jewish connection.

David Rosenberg

Born in Jerusalem, David and his family moved to Australia when he was 3 months old. He grew up in a Jewish Orthodox community in Sydney and currently lives in close to his family in the prominent Jewish neighbourhood of Bondi Junction. When his community discovered his same-sex attraction, Rosenberg was sent to New Jersey USA to attend a Jewish ex-gay program known as ‘JONAH’ – Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality. Today, David and his husband Elcid are both active members of the Sydney Gay Jewish group ‘Dayenu’ and attend a Masorti congregation that welcomes all people no matter what their background or status. Rosenberg has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of New South Wales and is currently undertaking a postgraduate degree in law. In January 2013 David and his partner officially became husbands, in a Jewish ceremony conducted by their Rabbi.

Ellen Kessler

Ellen migrated to Australia from the United States in 1989 on ‘Strong Humanitarian Grounds’ on the basis of her same sex relationship. Ellen has spent her life writing, and when her spiritual beliefs became more self-evident in 2007 she began connecting the two. Although she does not invest much conviction in the dogma of Judaism, it is undeniable that her Jewish faith, and in turn the mysticism of the Kabbalah, has helped her to develop personally and spiritually. Ellen now lives in Brunswick Victoria and works as a community development officer in the western suburbs.

Sally Goldner

Sally Goldner has been an active participant in Melbourne’s queer community for the last fifteen years. This includes ongoing involvement with TransGender Victoria, Radio 3CR’s “Out of the Pan,” Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, and Bisexual Alliance Victoria. Previous involvement includes PolyVic, Zoe Belle Gender Centre, BENT TV and Seahorse Club of Victoria. She is the focus of an autobiographical documentary “Sally’s Story” and was noted in The Age’s Top 100 most creative and influential people in Melbourne in 2011. She is also a spoken word performer and stand-up comedian. Brought into the world via two Jewish parents, Sally describes herself as ‘technically Jewish.’ An incredibly diverse range of religious and spiritual experiences has enriched her life. As a teenager, Sally attended the all-boys Brighton Anglican Grammar School in Melbourne and while at university Sally joined the Australian Union of Jewish Students on a tour of Israel and became deeply fascinated by the Bahá’í Faith. Sally has given an address at the Metropolitan Community Church in Melbourne and has a connection to Wiccan and Pagan Spirituality.

Kevin Ekendahl

Kevin Ekendahl is the Liberal Party candidate for the federal seat of Melbourne Ports. Often known as the “Bagel Belt” of Melbourne, the electorate sees the conservative Jewish communities living next door to a growing LGBTI community. The clash between religion and the secular is central to the spiritual journey of Kevin – a Jewish man who was baptised Catholic at age seven. Kevin’s maternal grandparents left the Franco religious dictatorship of Spain to seek freedom in Australia. His grandparents struggle for secular government and freedom of choice had an incredible impact on Kevin’s spiritual and political journey. Ekendahl has an incredible sense of spirituality and while at high school he was a member of ‘The Solidarity of Our Lady’ – a group run by the more religious students. Kevin’s family afforded him the choice to choose his own path in life – a value that he desires to share with the people of Melbourne Ports.

David L Shmerler

Dr David L Shmerler PhD is the Director of Psychological Services and the outgoing Director of the pre-doctoral Internship Training program at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr Shmerler also maintains a private clinical practice in Manhattan where he specializes in work with the LGBT community. Additionally, Dr Shmerler has substantial experience working with HIV+ individuals, through both his past affiliation with clinical research programs and current provision of training to the Kings County psychology trainees. As part of the didactic seminar series on cross-cultural treatment issues, Dr Shmerler provides annual training on clinical work with LGBT individuals. Dr Shmerler is an out gay, Jewish man and is engaged to be married to Dr Eric Rodriguez, his co-author and long-term partner of over twelve years.

Why Jews should join the fight for gay rights in Russia | Haaretz

Why Jews should join the fight for gay rights in Russia | Haaretz.

Bent TV – Queer Young Thing: Religion and Queer Youth (Sep 2 2013)

Queer Young Thing

Monday September 02, 2013
Host: Dylan Adler

Topic: Religion and Queer Youth

Guests (Youth): Anthony, Sunny, Kassy
Guests (Elders): Matt Glover (MGA Counselling Services), Michael Barnett (Aleph Melbourne), Andrew Wheatland (The Spirit Lounge – Joy 94.9)

Segment One: Dylan introduces his youth guests, who discuss their individual experiences of religion, what it means to them, and issues and confrontations they have encountered in following their beliefs.

Segment Two: We watch a movie by Marco Fink from Minus18, Religion and Queer Youth

Segment Three: Our youth guests are joined by a group of elders, who assist in exploring further the panels combined experiences and questions of religion and its meaning to them, and the GLBTI community.

(YouTube: “QYT: Queer Young Thing – Religion, 02SEP13”)