Jul 2, 2026 | Eshel in the News
[caption id="attachment_166196" align="aligncenter" width="2121"] motimeiri/iStock via Getty Images Plus[/caption] RNS) — “The kid is a feigele!” I can still hear my relative saying the derogatory phrase, used to refer to a gay man or boy, aiming his ugly remark at a young man at a bar mitzvah celebration. In Yiddish, “feigele” literally means a [more]
Jul 2, 2026 | Eshel in the News
By An Eshel Parent | June 25, 2026 It’s really scary to have your child come out to you as queer when you live in an Orthodox Jewish community. There are questions about what it means to be gay or transgender or any of the other LGBTQ terms, but what I’m addressing specifically is the [more]
Jun 29, 2026 | Eshel in the News
Only compassion can resist the political and cultural trends making our institutions less welcoming, writes an educator at Eshel. By SAUNDRA STERLING EPSTEIN For the past decade, I have been working, along with my colleagues at Eshel, to increase the acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in the Orthodox Jewish world. This is our organization’s mission: to [more]
May 5, 2026 | Eshel in the News
Imagine belonging to a faith that is fighting to keep you out—and refusing to leave. Some of you in our Mama Dragons community know this experience well. Some of you are still living it, loving your families and your traditions while also working, every day, to make change from within. That tension—the push and pull [more]
Apr 23, 2026 | Eshel in the News
By Andrew Guckes - April 21, 2026 [caption id="attachment_165607" align="alignleft" width="262"] Miryam Kabakov at an Eshel retreat last year. (Photo credit: Stefanie Diamond)[/caption] Since 2010, Eshel has helped strengthen inclusion for LGBTQ+ Jews within the Orthodox community. For 13 of those years, Eshel has hosted a retreat for Orthodox parents of LGBTQ+ Jews, giving them [more]
Apr 1, 2026 | Eshel in the News
(RNS) — The court sided with an evangelical Christian therapist who argued Colorado’s conversion therapy ban restricts her right to free speech. By Kathryn Post (RNS) — As LGBTQ-affirming faith communities across the United States prepared to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility on Tuesday (March 31), their plans were interrupted by news the Supreme Court had [more]
