Nov 2, 2016 | Events, Parent Events, Upcoming Events
This group is for Orthodox Jewish parents with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children seeking peer support. We will also discuss ways to help parents and families navigate in their communities and to become advocates for their children. This group meets by phone conference call at 6 PM PT/8 PM CT/ 9 PM ET on [more]
Oct 10, 2016 | Multimedia
Rabbis, religious leaders ask LGBT community for forgiveness In the traditional Jewish period for making peace with one's neighbor during the High Holy Days, a group of leading Modern Orthodox figures have released a video apologizing for other rabbis' statements against LGBT persons this past year. Kobi Nachshoni|Published: 09.10.16 , 13:56 Ynetnews (Below is an [more]
May 10, 2016 | Events, Upcoming Events
Eshel returns to the Lower East Side for its Second (we hope Annual) Downtown Manhattan Shabbaton. We'll be hosted by the Stanton Street Shul and Community Synagogue. The theme of the weekend is "Creating Welcoming Communities". Friday, June 3, 7:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv @ Stanton Street Shul 180 Stanton St. Friday, June 3, 8:30 PM [more]
Feb 29, 2016 | Featured Articles
by Pesia Soloveichik February 28, 2016 “What is it like to be a Soloveichik?” This question about my well-known rabbinic family name has accompanied me for much of my life. My grandfather was Ahron Soloveichik and my great-uncle was Joseph B. Soloveitchik. The questions about my identity became even more complex when, three years ago, [more]
Feb 19, 2016 | Eshel in the News, Featured Articles
The Gay Child in My Daughter’s First Grade Class by Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold It was a parenting moment that came much sooner than I thought it would. My six year-old looked over at me at the dinner table and told me that her teacher had said that a boy “can’t marry a boy, and [more]
Oct 20, 2015 | Eshel Out Loud
Nov. 1, 2015 Last month we launched the year's Merchav Batuach trainings at Queens College, with a meeting of Orthodox allies . The student-organizers were concerned: would those who signed up forget the commitment they had made? Would those who showed up stay for the entire three hours? The result: twenty students, campus leaders all, [more]
Oct 30, 2000 | East Coast Events, Events, Parent Events
A Retreat for Orthodox Parents of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Children ~ Friday, May 13 at 4 pm until Sunday, May 15 at 2 pm Berkshire Hills Retreat Center Parshat Kedoshim FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST SCHOLAR: Rabbi Chaim Rapoport Author of the respected work Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View The Eshel Parent [more]
Sep 29, 2025 | Eshel in the News
When I learned about Yom Kippur in day school, I was told of a magnificent judge in the vast heavens, passing verdicts on the other side of slowly closing gates. These verdicts determine the trajectory of our entire next year. Perhaps, if our prayers contain the requisite power, our kavanah will elevate them high enough [more]
Aug 29, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
As a closeted Orthodox kid, I internalized explicit and implicit messages about my identity that led me to self-censor various forms of expression, out of fear that doing so would expose that I was gay. Weekly, this fear would manifest at my family’s Shabbat table, a time and place usually filled with great food, bonding, [more]
Jul 28, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
It is not good for humanity to be alone. לֹא־טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ Loneliness is the first aspect of creation judged to be bad by God. Yet it is this deep sense of loneliness we are called to experience on Tisha B’av. אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָדָד - How lonely sits the city once great with people. [more]
Jun 30, 2025 | Eshel in the News
An LGBTQ+ Jewish group surveyed the community over the last two years and found they are experiencing alienation at incredibly high rates — but it didn't start with October 7th. By Alexandra Miller For LGBTQ+ Jews, annual Pride Month celebrations were once a treasured safe space — but not anymore. "I've never felt more excluded [more]
Jun 26, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
I was married three times, to the same person. Our first wedding was almost everything I could have hoped for - spiritual, communal, religious, and deeply meaningful. The only problem was that legally, it was meaningless. In 2004, Mara and I got married in front of 240 of our closest friends and family. It marked [more]
Jun 23, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
When I began working for Eshel in June one year ago, one of my first questions was “why are there no rainbows in our logo? Aren’t we proud?” I learned quickly that Eshel’s theory of change is not about just declaring our queer identity - it is about being part of our Jewish community, not [more]
Jun 9, 2025 | Eshel Out Loud
Since October 7, social media and real-life encounters changed my experience of the world as a Jew: for the first time, I am repeatedly encountering people who think I should feel ashamed to be Jewish. While this is a foreign experience for me as a Jew, it is utterly familiar to me as a lesbian. [more]
Jun 6, 2025 | Eshel in the News
By Joanne PalmerJune 5, 2025, 9:59 am Robin Siegel, left, talks to another parent at the retreat. (Stefanie Diamond) It’s a near-universal truth that parents want to protect their children. That overriding impulse can start even before a baby is born, and if anything, it often strengthens once children grow out of toddlerhood and dependence and [more]
Jun 6, 2025 | Eshel in the News
“One hopes that both sides in the Yeshiva University dispute can model how intra-Jewish disputes should be carried on,” Jonathan Sarna told JNS. Emily Goldberg Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the founding director of Eshel, whose mission is “to build LGBTQ+ inclusive Orthodox Jewish communities,” holds rabbinic ordination and an undergraduate degree from Yeshiva. He told [more]
May 21, 2025 | Eshel in the News
(RNS) — It feels even scarier in 2025, not knowing if I will be targeted for the mezuzah on my door or the pride flag I have hanging. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1600"] A Star of David pride flag during a Capital Pride Parade in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ted Eytan (CC BY 4.0))[/caption] By Ely [more]
