Eshel Out Loud
News, Views, and Updates from the Eshel Community
Three Weddings, One Marriage
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]
The Rainbow of Belonging
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]
The True Meaning of Pride
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]
10 Years of Welcoming Shuls
For the past ten years, Eshel has been searching for shuls for LGBTQ+ Jews - individuals and families - who want to be part of a frum community. Since the founding of the Welcoming Shuls Project, I have spoken with almost 300 shuls and Rabbis. We work with large and small congregations, independent minyanim, and [more]