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Book Talk with Orit Avishai
June 8 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
This June, Join Eshel for a book talk followed by Q&A with author Orit Avishai! The Eshel Baltimore Chapter has been reading her book, Queer Judaism: LGBT Activism and the Remaking of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel, as part of a book club but this special event is open to everyone whether or not they have read the book. So sign up below, join us on Zoom, and learn more about queer judaism from this incredible author.
Orit Avishai is Professor of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Fordham University in New York. She has over two decades of experience studying Jewish Orthodoxy and her work has been published in academic journals and public facing venues. She is currently writing about the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance Lawsuit in the context of a large study of religious freedom controversies in the United States.
Book Synopsis: Until fairly recently, Orthodox people in Israel could not imagine embracing their LGBT sexual or gender identity and staying within the Orthodox fold. But within the span of about a decade and a half, Orthodox LGBT people have forged social circles and communities and become much more visible. This has been a remarkable shift in a relatively short time span. Queer Judaism offers the compelling story of how Jewish LGBT persons in Israel created an effective social movement.
Drawing on more than 120 interviews and extensive fieldwork, Queer Judaism illustrates how LGBT Jews accomplished this radical change. The book makes the case that it has taken multiple approaches to achieve recognition within the community, ranging from political activism, to more personal interactions with religious leaders and community members, to simply creating spaces to go about their everyday lives. Orthodox LGBT Jews have drawn from their lived experiences as well as Jewish traditions, symbols, and mythologies to build this movement, motivated to embrace their sexual identity not in spite of, but rather because of, their commitment to Jewish scripture, tradition, and way of life.
Though this is predominantly an Israeli story, it provides insights for American LGBT Jews and their communities.