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The Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender
Identity at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion is the first and only institute of its kind in the
Jewish world. The Institute was founded in 2000 to educate
HUC-JIR students on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
issues; to help them challenge and eliminate homophobia
and heterosexism; and to learn tools to transform the
communities they encounter into ones that are inclusive
and welcoming of queer Jews. Over time, this mission
of education and the creation of welcoming spaces has
expanded to the larger community outside the walls of
our four campuses in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles,
and New York. The Institute offers consultation to individual
professionals, synagogues, and organizations as well as
seminars and workshops at HUC-JIR and at local, national,
and international conferences. We also maintain the Jeff
Herman Resource Center, the largest online collection of
information and resources at the intersection of Judaism,
sexual orientation, and gender identity.
We have many diverse constituents. For LGBTQI Jews and
their families, friends, and allies, we are a comforting symbol
of pride and hope in a mainstream organization that has a
history with lesbian and gay Jews that is mixed with both
periods of darkness – like expelling seminary students who
were gay – and of light – championing the nascent birth
of the first gay and lesbian synagogue in the world that was
accepted into the Union for Reform Judaism (then Union
of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1974. We try to
provide comfort by creating spaces where LGBTQI Jews
can be fully embraced for who they are, not merely tolerated
in whatever space in which they wish to participate, whether
it be a gay synagogue or a mainstream synagogue. By
increasing an environment’s ability to embrace one specific
“
othered” group, everyone in that space who has some type
of difference will benefit.
To make this a reality, the Institute is pioneering the
Welcoming Synagogues Project to develop an LGBT
Welcoming Movement across Jewish denominations that
will support congregations and communal organizations
to actively become welcoming to LGBTQI people. The
Welcoming Synagogues Project began in 2007 with dialogue,
research, and exploration of what was happening on the
ground in synagogues across the United States and Canada.
It included face to face interviews with rabbis and congre-
gants, as well as a survey of every synagogue in the U.S. and
Canada across all Jewish denominations. The most recent
aspect of this work has been the piloting of a year-long cur-
riculum designed to take congregations through a structured
reflection, education, and action process to develop a plan
and to become more LGBT welcoming and inclusive.
Our work is challenging. We are the gadfly afflicting the
comfortable institutions that say, “We welcome everyone.
What more do you want from us?” The earlier period of
active progress on LGBTQI issues in the Jewish community
has moved into a more complex stage. Overall, there are
more liberal spaces and many people and communities who
are engaging in creative and exciting work to embrace
inclusion. At the same time, a malaise of well-intentioned
complacency has descended. What many think of as
“
inclusion” of LGBTQI Jews is really a lesser “tolerance.”
Come, be present, but don’t demand too much, stick out
too much, or expect us to equally value your causes. There
is still much afflicting to do, and the Institute for Judaism,
Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity is here to do it.
Art has many jobs and serves many purposes and I believe
that two of them include Dunne’s exhortation to comfort the
afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. There is a unique power
in the visual, auditory, and tactile mediums of art. Art says:
“
Look at this! Think about this! Do something about this!”
Sexuality has the same power, which is why queer sexuality,
a double portion of the brew, has always been so potent and
so threatening. Queer sexuality is a catalyst for creativity and
growth and has the ability to effect change. I am excited to
see how the artists in this show have captured and reflected
back the joys, the pain, the marginalization, the anger, the
exclusion, the hurt, the persecution, and the pride of LGBTQI
people and of the world. It is a sacred responsibility to both
administer a
toch’aha
(
constructive criticism) when needed,
afflicting those in power, and to simultaneously participate
in the healing of the world, comforting the afflicted. I am
honored with the privilege of sharing this responsibility
with these artists.
