Twice Blessed

The phrase "twice blessed" reappeared throughout the readings to describe a gay-Jewish identity. A subject in the Aviv article states that "As Jews, our tradition admonishes us to be a 'light unto nations' (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6). In other words, we have a oral responsibility, borne out of our history, to lead cultural change, pursue peace, and seek justice" (5). Therefore as gay-Jews, they have a religious imperative to advocate for gay rights (as do all Jews for that matter). At NYU, it's easy to forget how hostile many people still are to homosexuals. I think the developments that Aviv and Shneer talk about--Reform synagogues having gay rabbis and weddings, homesexuals being welcomed into non-gay-only temples, and gay synogogues opening their doors to liberal Jews--are all positive. Of course, this is because I see marriage and family as positive institutions that could do with some change from inside (breaking rigid gender roles, etc.) as opposed to institutions that should be absolutely demolished. This change should not be limited to one small subgroup. I think in order to lead the "cultural change" in the quote above, queer Jews should integrate into shuls. I do not mean that they should subvert their sexual identity in order to be accepted at non-gay-only shul, but that a synagogue and its Jewish community would benefit from a wide array of congregants.

After comparing the description of gay synogogues in the Aviv and Shneer piece to the one in the Shokeid piece, it seems like they have changed a lot in the past ten years. The CBST sounds like a really hard shul to keep together, especially since, according to Aviv, the AIDS crisis no longer serves as a unifying forces in the community. Most congregations are based on a broad ideology that its congregants either believe in or feel comfortable with. I don't know if there can (or should be) one set queer opinion on rules of kashrut or Shabbat or other textual interpretations. I think it makes more sense to reconstruct a current movement to include gays and lesbians or perhaps to have a gay-Orthodox or gay-Conservative shul.