Aug 27, 2013 | Eshel in the News
Out of the Closet, Into the Fire This March, history was quietly made in a Saturday morning Orthodox minyan (prayer quorum) at Brandeis University. Avi, a 22-year-old then-college junior from the Boston area, was called up to the Torah for an aliyah. While nothing was said outright, and he had been chosen for no particular reason, the unintentional [more]
Jul 3, 2013 | Eshel in the News
Shlomo Ashkinazy’s Reverence For Storytelling As the 1970s turned into the ‘80s, many Jews experienced a spiritual awakening that brought them closer to the pietistic ways of their grandparents and reinvigorated the Jewish identity. Steve Ashkinazy felt the call and went to Jerusalem for a year. He returned in 1983, Orthodox but with a difference. [more]
Jul 2, 2013 | Eshel in the News
Orthodox Union Statement on Today’s Supreme Court Rulings Today, the leadership of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of Americaissued the following statement: “In response to the decisions announced today by the United States Supreme Court with reference to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, we reiterate the historical position of the [more]
Jul 1, 2013 | Eshel in the News
For LGBT Orthodox Jews, Growth of Social Media Creates a Safe Space Online Websites, blogs, Facebook groups, and online support groups offer the chance to connect without the risk of ‘going public’ Growing up in an ultra-Orthodox family in Brooklyn in the 1970s, Moshe struggled with his homosexuality. “I went to yeshiva and there were [more]
May 2, 2013 | Eshel in the News
Gay and Orthodox: The Mother Road to Acceptance It’s Friday afternoon and I am driving from Chicago down to my friend Aviva’s house in Saint Louis with two of my eight children. The last time we drove this way, we were exploring Route 66, and I told the kids how, during the Dust Bowl in [more]
May 1, 2013 | Eshel in the News
Gay Jews Need More Than Tolerance I write in response to Stuart Kurlander’s Opinion piece, “Door Is Wide Open For Gay Jews To Be Leaders” (April 26). I am a 21-year-old observant gay Jew actively involved in my campus Hillel. I fear that articles like this one proclaiming that LGBT Jews “have arrived” serve as [more]
