Eshel Out Loud
News, Views, and Updates from the Eshel Community
Bridging the Divides, Fostering Inclusivity: Panel Discussion with Miryam Kabakov
(This speech was given Miryam Kabakov, Executive Director of Eshel, at the panel discussion entitled " Bridging the Divides, Fostering Inclusivity: Rabbinic, Psychoanalytic and Academic Perspectives on Traditional Judaism and Contemporary Gender/Sex Identities," which was held at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York, November 11, 2019.) This Shabbat we read the Parsha where Avraham [more]
R. Steve Greenberg’s Speech at the We, Too, Are YU March
Calling Yeshiva University to Rise Up and Fulfill Its Own Aspirational Values I am Steve Greenberg, the founding director of Eshel, a support, education and advocacy organization for LGBTQ Orthodox Jews and their families. This march is historic. Eshel is proud to have helped Molly Meisels and her team at the nascent YU Pride Alliance [more]Contemporary Orthodox Rabbis Speak
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, in an article written in nearly twenty years ago, stated the challenge for rabbis in these words: “.... how can we deny a human being the expression of his physical and psychic being? If there’s a problem with the kettle, blame the manufacturer. Is it not cruel to condemn an individual from [more]
Rav Benny Lau “The Religious Community and Homosexuality”
I want to begin with a story from 26 years ago. It’s about 1993 and it was my first year as a rabbi in Kibbutz Sa’ad, in the Negev. We are a family of 4 children. I am the third and Amichai, my brother, is 8 years younger than me. I got a phone [more]
Shavuot and the Wellbeing of LGBTQ+ Youth
For ten days last month, we accompanied two of our British colleagues from Keshet UK to five US states as they shared a rather unusual story. Dalia Fleming and Benjamin Ellis won the trust of the Chief Rabbi of England, and he theirs, in opening up dialogue in the Orthodox community about LGBTQ+ members. They [more]Follow Eshel
