WorldPride 2006 and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah Trip

From Rabbi Kleinbaum

2006-08-21T16:13:00.000+03:00

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah | 57 Bethune St, NY, NY 10014 | 212.929.9498

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Dear CBST Leadership and Membership:

On Sunday, our WorldPride contingent arrived safely back in New York after a truly meaningful week in Jerusalem for WorldPride. We are so grateful for the prayers and good wishes of the entire CBST community for a safe and successful WorldPride. We are proud and so moved to have been a part of the incredible work done by the staff, volunteers, and board of the Jerusalem Open House in organizing WorldPride and promoting tolerance and diversity. We were thrilled to be there to stand with other LGBT communities and communities of faith from around the world in declaring that Jerusalem is for everyone.

Blog entries, photos, and video from WorldPride can be seen on the CBST WorldPride trip blog at http://worldpridecbst.blogspot.com. You can also check out the press surrounding WorldPride at http://www.cbst.org/press.shtml. A recent article in the Gay City News about the closing of WorldPride can be read here: http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_533/withhopeworldpride.html.

B'virkat shalom,
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum

With Hope, World Pride Closes

2006-08-18T17:04:00.000+03:00

Gay City News
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Volume 5, Number 33 | August 17-23, 2006

World Pride

With Hope, World Pride Closes Lasting impact of Jerusalem event marred by war and divisions remains to be seen

Rabbis Sharon Kleinbaum and Ayelet Cohen of New York’s Congregation Beth Simchat Torah preside over the religious conclusion of World Pride Friday evening; Jacqueline Jonee performs cabaret standards the next day; and an apology for Germany’s historical crimes is offered up Saturday evening by the drag troupe Tigers on Speed at the nightclub Yellow Submarine. fotos by MICHAEL T. LUONGO
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BY MICHAEL T. LUONGO

There was already a palpable tension in the air on Thursday in Jerusalem as World Pride attendees awaited the day’s main event—the 6 p.m. Protest Against Hatred.

The gathering had originally been planned as a Gay Pride March through the streets of Jerusalem. But with war raging in Lebanon, the city government—which had continually worked to block World Pride from taking place in the first place—told planners that there was no way for local law enforcement to provide protection. The evening before the protest, Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of Jerusalem’s Open House, the group behind World Pride, told participants he “could not guarantee their safety” even though the event had been scaled back from a citywide march to a vigil.

Young people from Jerusalem and day-trippers from Tel Aviv, about an hour away, gathered early in the aptly named Liberty Bell Park, the Protest Against Hatred’s location. Police and soldiers, numbering up to 400 according to an off-the record comment from one soldier, lined the streets leading to the park. Soldiers on horseback waited virtually hidden on the edges of the park. Rabbi Ayelet Cohen of New York’s Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST), the world’s largest gay and lesbian synagogue, assured the 35 members of her congregation who came that they were “here for your protection” because of trouble expected from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious right.

Last year, during the city’s Gay Pride March, 18-year-old Adam Russo of Jerusalem was stabbed by a religious extremist and for a time was in critical condition.

This year, however, only a handful of the religious right came near the gay gathering. One old woman ran at the crowd screaming in Hebrew until she was taken away by a few female soldiers. Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Yehuda Levin, from New York, who had worked to stop World Pride from happening, was also on hand but refused to give this reporter his name. He was accompanied by Jerusalem City Councilwoman Mina Fenton, another leading opponent of the event. Fenton called World Pride “disgusting in war time,” when “our sons are giving their lives and blood is pouring in the north.” With the protest taking place a few days after the Jewish holiday of Tish’ah b’Av, which mourns the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in ancient times, Fenton warned that “God is going to take vengeance,” and that Jerusalem would “be destroyed again.”

But the naysayers stuck to the park’s edge, virtually unnoticed as dozens of attendees, atop a hillside, held a large pink banner, visible to the snarled traffic on the streets below, that read, “Jerusalem is for All.” The church steeples of Mt. Zion in Jerusalem’s Old City, lit gold by the late afternoon sun, pierced the brilliant sky over the heads of those hoisting the banner. LGBT synagogues and churches from around the world unfurled their own banners, as the rainbow flag and those of Israel and other nations flew behind.

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, CBST’s senior rabbi, commented, “I think this is going to be a statement that Jerusalem belongs to all of us,” adding, “We think our presence makes the city even more holy.”

Soon, however, several groups then began inserting themselves into the event, including the Tel Aviv based Queeruption, an LGBT group opposed to World Pride. At first, they raised a few small placards about the war in Lebanon and the occupation of Palestinian lands, until they were joined by other groups such as Red-Pink, a gay communist organization, animal rights activists, and others, many of whom clutched rainbow flags as well as anti-war posters. One intriguing sign declared that gays want to come out of the closet, not come home in coffins, a play on the Hebrew word “aron” which means both closet and coffin.

Eventually, the anti-war contingent numbered more than a hundred, preempting the event organized by World Pride by grabbing all the attention of the police and the media as they shouted slogans, many aimed at the government of Israel.

As a few World Pride leaders pleaded with them to be respectful of the event’s main purpose—to emphasize unity within the LGBT community and denounce bigotry—the rump faction wandered beyond the zone within the park created by agreement with the police. The scene became more chaotic and police rushed into the crowd and arrested up to four of the protesters, with witnesses disagreeing about the exact number apprehended. With their event disrupted, the peaceful contingent from Jerusalem’s Open House Contingent, numbering perhaps 500, left an hour earlier than planned, many of then heading to a party planned at a local dance club.

El-Ad, the Open House executive director, commenting on the muddying of the message’s event during a concert of local pop stars that evening, said, “There are many people here with many different messages. When activists are facing a situation as complex as the one we are facing, then the diversity of voices is both natural and wonderful. At the same time, World Pride and the specific events have specific messages.” He explained that the vigil aimed to address the “months of incitement [from] the forces of religion.”

Whatever disappointment there was over the outcome of the Protest Against Hatred had dissipated by the following evening, as Rabbis Kleinbaum and Cohen provided over the religious closing of World Pride the following evening. More than 200 attended the ceremony, held on the rooftop of the Hebrew Union College overlooking the Old City as the sun set over Jerusalem, where the rabbis mesmerized and soothed their audience with their words. Kleinbaum spoke indirectly of the war raging at Israel’s border, wishing peace “within this city, for all of its residents. For this country, for all of its citizens. Within this region, for all of its neighbors. And for all of the world.”

The fears that many had for coming to Israel in the midst of war were addressed by Cohen, who said that the peace and reward of Shabbat had been earned by everyone at World Pride for “stepping out into the unknown” and “traveling to a place where our families begged us not to go.” Then, more playfully, she observed that Jewish tradition treats Shabbat as a Queen to be greeted by her subjects, saying “what better song for all of us, we sing to the Queen of Shabbat.” David Berger, the CBST Cantor, then led the audience through the ceremony’s songs.

The following day proved decidedly more secular. Female impersonator and chanteuse Jacqueline Jonee, a member of New York’s Imperial Court, performed jazz and cabaret canons. Jonee’s offstage name is Mark Nieman and he too is a member of CBST. After his performance, he said that being in Israel for World Pride is “just such a connection in a complete way that is both gay and being Jewish,” and was honored to perform as part of the official programming.

The final event of World Pride took place Saturday evening at Yellow Submarine, where the Berlin-based drag troupe Tigers on Speed offered an apology to the crowd for their nation’s role in why modern Israel came to be founded in the first place and then performed a song by the German group Mia based on work by the exiled German Jewish poet Erich Fried. The number combined music of the Weimer Republic era, gave a nod to the horrors of Nazism, and ended with undertones of the Hebrew anthem Haga Nagilah. The group, made of drag queens and kings, scattered glitter over the crowd at the song’s end, calling for new miracles to come out of the Holy Land in as gay and glamorous a way as possible.

World Pride’s lasting impact remains to be seen. Within Israel, preoccupied with war, the event hardly registered on the radar, and globally this year’s event was dwarfed by the massive attention given World Pride Rome in 2000, when organizers faced down the political muscle of the Vatican in holding their event—which drew several hundred thousand attendees. Marco Geremia, a member of the Bologna-based group Queers for Peace—in Israel during the World Pride events but only to attend the simultaneous Queeruption conference in Tel Aviv—said that since 2000 events in Rome, “No group, even if not a gay group, could have an agenda or a discourse that did not mention homosexuality in some capacity. This was a total change from before.”

Massimo Mele, another member of the group, said “a world pride should be a world pride,” and that the Jerusalem event was “too much related to Israel, Israeli society.” Both had attended Rome’s World Pride as individuals before their own group was formed.

Geremia explained that Queers for Peace wanted to be a part of World Pride in Jerusalem but had chosen not to, feeling it did not address Palestinian issues deeply enough. One of his missions in Israel was to work with Rauda Morcos of the Palestinian lesbian group ASWAT, based in Haifa, which chose not to join World Pride, and to visit with other Palestinian activists on the opposite side of Jerusalem’s Barrier Wall.

The final count of how many attended World Pride in Jerusalem may never be known. Any given conference event drew only a few hundred people—the bulk of them being U.S., Canadian, and Israeli Jews. Still, evening events at bars, clubs, film houses, and galleries attracted thousands. Russo, the young man attacked last year, was with several of his friends at the drag extravaganza Holy Wigs, and he called the crowd “the face of young gay Jerusalem.”

Asked for his estimate on how many were drawn to Jerusalem, the Open House’s El-Ad said it was “some thousands, let’s leave it that” who attended through the week in some capacity. That could be true, but it also seems clear that the total fell well short of the 40,000 for which the events had been planned. This reporter encountered only a handful of people of Muslim affiliation at the event, none of them members of the clergy.

Brooklyn-born Russell Lord, who works for Kenes, the official tour company for World Pride and helped roughly 200 people travel to Israel for World Pride, speaking to the event’s lasting impact on Israel, said, “I don’t think it will create a gay district in Jerusalem,” unlike what has developed in Rome since 2000. Tel Aviv, known in Israel to be a far more gay-friendly city than Jerusalem, is bidding for the 2009 Euro Pride.

“That’s about celebration, fun, and about gay tourism, definitely about gay tourism,” Lord said of his new hometown, which celebrates its centennial in ’09.

But El-Ad offered a more upbeat assessment on World Pride’s impact on Jerusalem, saying it “has planted a seed.” Yet anyone who reads the Bible, the Torah, or the Koran knows that lots of things have happened over time in this holy, eternal city that have changed the world as we know it. The script on Jerusalem’s World Pride still waits to be written.

Jerusalem, August 10, 2006

2006-08-17T23:59:00.000+03:00

I'm writing from the rooftop terrace of the Dan Panorama, our hotel in Jerusalem. It overlooks the King David Hotel and in the distance are visible the ochre-brown walls of the Old City and the gleaming cupola of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount. It is strangely peaceful here, with a reassuring but unsettling calm. It’s somewhat eerie to think that, only 60 miles to the north, war is raging on the Lebanese border. And yet, as we have been repeatedly told, normal life goes on in spite of the war. Of course “normal” has a very different meaning in Israel, where even in peacetime the threat to one’s very existence is constant and palpable, than it does in parts of the world not embattled by implacable enemies. But wartime adds a new level of anxiety and dread. Scratch the surface of “normal” by talking to a taxi driver or shop clerk, and you soon realize that everyone here is troubled by the ongoing hostilities and loss of life, and about family and friends in the way of danger. They are sending care packages north and hosting refugees fleeing from the fighting in Lebanon. In fact, our hotel is full of families who fled south to safety, and the children running rambunctiously in the hallways and lobby are not just blowing off youthful steam – many of them have been traumatized by shelling and the chaotic anxiety of flight.

But as I said before, life here is normal – by the definition I have just given -- and World Pride is taking place, thought at a greatly reduced level. The best guess is that only about 200 - 300 attendees have come for World Pride (before the war broke out, the organizers of Jerusalem Open House were planning for several thousand), so we are a small but hardy group of stalwarts, and we are all glad to be here in spite of, and even because of, the crisis. We feel we have come to Israel at a time when we are needed, and the response we have gotten confirms that feeling. The Jerusalemites tell us that our presence is appreciated more than we can know.

World Pride is happening, but the big events -- the March, the rally, the beach party in Tel Aviv -- have been canceled. But the film festival, health conference, religious conference and welcome in Jerusalem City Hall are going on as planned, as are a couple of small scale parties in local clubs. Though the mood is much more subdued than originally planned, we are still managing to make the most of our time here. Indeed, our CBST itinerary has remained substantially intact, thanks to the painstaking planning of Rabbi Kleinbaum and Rabbi Cohen, with conferences, seminars, special tours and meetings that were planned well in advance.

Today we went on a field trip following the Separation Wall that Israel is building along the border between greater Jerusalem and the West Bank. Along the way, we got an earful from former CBST Executive Director Amos Gil about the complexities of the political, economic and territorial issues that frame the discourse regarding the Wall. The more you learn about the complexities of life here, the more layered and entangled the issues become. Jerusalem is a sprawling city of multiple neighborhoods, riven with conflict and competing claims, where every Jewish restaurant and public place seems to have an Arab security guard at the door to check your bag. Greater Jerusalem, carved out of formerly Jordanian territory following the 1967 war, has become an unwieldy entity as Jewish settlers set up more and more colonies in contested locations; and now it is being surrounded by the ugly and much hated but unfortunately necessary boundary Wall. Good fences do not make good neighbors in this part of the world; but if they can keep bad neighbors on one side of the fence from killing their neighbors on the other side, that seems to be the most one can hope for, at least for now.

Our other Israeli guides, Sharon Morgenstern and Renee Goutman, are very knowledgeable, and along the way, while pointing out the sights, have given us many insights into the issues, internal and external, facing the country. That in itself has made the trip worthwhile. Tomorrow we are going to be given an address by a leading Israeli policy analyst on the Lebanese situation, so I expect to come home primed with more facts and arguments about the current situation than I can comfortably grapple with.

And yet there has also been time for fun and relaxation. My hotel has a pleasant, though presently overcrowded, pool that a number of us have retired to in the late afternoon, following a long day of tour activities, when the hot Jerusalem sun goes down and cool brisk breezes sweep along the streets and terraces and make the olive trees and oleander shrubs tremble. Today we went to the Israel Museum, which has the Dead Sea Scrolls and a sine qua non collection of Judaica and Jewish art, as well as a fine sculpture garden and a small but important collection of 19th and 20th C. European art. It even has an 18th C. rococo dining room interior that used to belong to the Rothschild family. And I had a lovely time yesterday strolling along Emek Rafaaim (AKA the German Colony), a colorful bohemian neighborhood not far from the center of West Jerusalem.

And behind everything hangs the glowing tapestry of this city of golden stone and terraced hillsides dotted with olive trees. The uncanny beauty and tranquility of this place, illusory though it may be, seems to hang over it like the sukkat shalom (canopy of peace) we invoke every Shabbat. May it prove to be more than an illusion, speedily and in our days.

Daniel Jacobson

Safe return from Jerusalem

2006-08-14T17:58:00.000+03:00

We were roused early in the morning in our hotel -- at least the reduced group, including the rabbis, who were scheduled to return on Sunday -- had a quick breakfast and assembled in the bus at 7 am for the drive to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. There we went through the somewhat intrusive but highly efficient and organized security screenings prior to boarding our El Al flight to New York.

Where as our flight to Jerusalem was an overnight flight, the journey in the opposite direction has that peculiar characteristic when many time zones are involved going westward - the flight consumed about 11 hours but in terms of local times it was as if it took only a handful, as our 10:40 am takeoff in Ben Gurion was followed by a 3:20 pm. landing, same date, at JFK. The wonders of modern travel!

It was an extraordinary trip. Despite the need for many last minute changes and adjustments, and the much smaller international turnout due to the wartime situation that suddenly arose in Israel, it was a trip worth taking. Our little delegation from CBST turned out to be one of the largest delegations, and the Israeli's were profusely grateful for our attendance and participation. Indeed, everywhere we went people began speaking to us by thanking us so much for being there, for showing our support for the continued survival of Israel by not being deterred from coming.

I hope that CBST will be planning another Israel trip in the next year or so, and that many people will take advantage of the opportunity to visit this endlessly fascinating country. How much I would love a few more hours in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, a few days in Tel Aviv to become really well acquainted with that miraculous city built on sand dunes just 100 years ago, to visit again the fertile north of the country which was off-limits on this trip, to inhale the fragrance of the fresh air and experience the brilliance of the middle eastern sun...

Thanks to all who made this trip possible.

Art Leonard

Last Day in Jerusalem - August 12

2006-08-14T17:57:00.000+03:00

Our last day was full of options, so I can only describe the options I took. Some from our party elected to spend the morning attending Shabbat services at any one of several synagogues, including one intrepid soul who ventured to an orthodox synagogue in the Old City.

The alternative for many of us was a tour of the ramparts of the Old City wall, led by our intrepid guide, Renee Goutmann, which left the hotel about 9:45 a.m. as the ramparts are open to walkers beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays. This was a fascinating experience, climbing up to the top of the ramparts at the Jaffa Gate and then circumnavigating around more than half of the Old City until descending at Lion’s gate, at the northern edge of the Temple Mount. (Walking the wall along the Temple Mount is forbidden, so the tour ends there.)

From the ramparts, one can look into the Old City and see what cannot be seen on the ground: the inner courtyards of the residential neighborhoods, and a panoramic view of the various markets, churches and other interesting structures. One also gets a keener sense of the fact that even within the Old City there are hills and valleys, as Jerusalem is a city of hills and valleys. It was also quite an athletic workout, because the ramparts do not provide one smooth walk around, but in line with the hills and valleys ascend and descend, so there are lots of steps, some quite steep, both going upwards and downwards. We stopped from time to time at the more shaded spots, escaping from the intense sunlight for the instant cool breeze that seems to inhabit every shaded area, to hear from Renee and from Rabbi Kleinbaum about the significance of what we were seeing.

Renee related one story that many of us thought was legend, but she insisted was a Jerusalem fact. As we stood on the ramparts across the street (which was from 1948-1967 the border between Jordan and Israel) from the old French Hospital that stands north of the Old City, she told us that one elderly patient in the Hospital, then being used as a hospice, was sitting looking out the open window, and became startled at somebody entering her room suddenly, so startled that her false teeth flew out of her mouth and across the road. Since it was the border and there was no diplomatic relationship between Israel and Jordan, the United Nations had to be called to send somebody to reclaim her teeth.... Believe it or don’t!

Our walking tour of the Ramparts ended with a quick stroll through the Old City back to Jaffa Gate, then a quick march across the valley and up to the YMCA, which stands across from the King David Hotel, where we rejoined the rest of our group for a lunch in a private dining room.

The YMCA, we were told, was a main gathering place in the city from the 1920s onward, operated by Palestinian Christians, and one of the few restaurants in that area open on Saturdays since it is not kosher and not operated by Jews. We had a fine lunch there, then dividing up again, some to spend the afternoon napping or shopping, while a much reduced group - just six of us - rejoined Renee Goutmann for a walking tour of some of the Jerusalem neighborhoods that grew up outside the Old City walls beginning in the mid-19th century. We saw the windmill and neighborhood that was created by Sir Moses Montefiore, then climbed up to a newer part of the city where we saw several neighborhoods of old houses where yuppie gentrification appears amid longstanding ultra-orthodox communities. We ended a Ben Yehuda Mall at the offices of Jerusalem Open House.

At Open House we had three events in succession. First there was a conversation with Haneen, a JOH employee who is a Palestinian Christian from a village in the north of Israel, and who heads their outreach project to Palestinians. As she explained, this is a complicated task, involving mainly men who have sex with men, many of whom do not self-identify as gay. Haneen discussed the peculiar characteristics of Palestinian society and culture that make a modern gay male lifestyle seem incomprehensible, including the impossibility of single men renting apartments in West Jerusalem or the Palestinian villages in Israel, and thus the requirement of being closeted and even entering into marriages in order to live a life of at least minimal financial viability. One of the most cherished events sponsored by JOH is a bar dance night for Palestinian men, which is publicized entirely through the Arabic language part of the JOH website and word of mouth. Coming to this event is a daunting task for the men involved, since they live with extended family and need some excuse for going away in the evening, most of them will have to go through the various police checkpoints, and they are very fearful of being seen or questioned. Even so, she said, about 80 or so may turn up in any given month, although they have not had the event the last few months since none of the bars they had used in the past wanted to host it. Or course, it can’t be held in Palestinian East Jerusalem, where there are no suitable facilities and the men involved could not possibly be seen attending such an event, and in West Jerusalem the bars would rather not have a large attendance of Palestinians which would scare away the regular customers, so they are searching for new locations all of the time.

After meeting with Haneen, we meet with a group of JOH officers and volunteers to discuss the events of the past week. Rabbi Kleinbaum encouraged us to be direct in asking about life for gay people in Israel, as well as the views of JOH members about the current war and other political questions. A lively discussion ensued, with comments about the memorable events of the week. Most of the JOH members present were critical of the war, although they emphasized that their views were not necessarily typical of the views of Israelis generally. Some hopes were expressed that the UN resolution adopted yesterday might lead to the cessation of current hostilities soon.

From JOH we broke into groups to take taxis to HaMa’abada, a nightclub where Jacqueline Jonee (our own Jack Nieman, who had been rehearsing intensively all week) was to present a concert in drag. A quick dinner at the café attached to the nightclub was followed by the performance before a large and enthusiastic audience. Jacqueline’s glamorous appearance and flamboyant keyboard stylings were supported by two fine local musicians, a double bass player and a percussionist. The repertory ranged from pop and classical standards through caberet and ethnic songs, spiced by occasional humorous repartee by Jacqueline, including an account with musical illustrations of Liberace’s famous command performance at the Palladium and then-successful lawsuit against one of the London critics who insinuated that he was gay. (When Liberace passed away from AIDS, the newspaper successfully sued the estate to recover the damages from the prior case!)

And it was back to the hotel to pack... Our morning flight from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv means an early awakening for all of us to catch that 7 am bus to the airport.

Thus will end the CBST sojourn for World Pride 2006, a memorable event for all of us, whetting the appetite to return to Israel again for further exploration of this extraordinary place. Thanks to our rabbis and Renee Goutmann for planning such a wonderful week, and to the Jerusalem Open House for all the hard work of planning and then replanning, rearranging, and spontaneously adding and subtracting from a complex schedule to accommodate the unforeseen circumstances that made it such a challenging week.

Art Leonard

Kabbalat Shabbat - Friday Aug. 11

2006-08-11T22:52:00.000+03:00

Our Kabbalat Shabbat observance was held at Beit Shmuel/Mercaz Shimshon, an event space at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College (the U.S. Reform Movement’s seminary in Israel). This was truly a spectacular space. HUC’s campus is virtually next door to the King David Hotel, across the valley from the western walls of the Old City. This event space, on the 5th floor of the seminary building, has a clear view across the valley to the Old City, which is emphasized by the east wall of the space being a series of uninterrupted windows spanning from the north to the south face of the room, with balconies outside the windows for even clearer views. As the service was taking place, the sky was gradually darkening with the lights coming on in the Old City - a truly spectacular view.

And the service itself was a truly spectacular event. The JOH organizers of World Pride had prevailed on the religious leadership of CBST to provide the service. A siddur was devised by our CBST rabbis and the service was led principally by Rabbi Kleinbaum, with the assistance of our cantorial intern David Berger and Associate Rabbi Ayelet Cohen. Several congregants were also called for readings, and our president, Eric Rosenbaum, also delivered some remarks. The event was very well attended, I think beyond the expectations of the organizers, since extra chairs were needed and siddurs ended up being shared among those who did not arrive promptly. The service was slightly long by CBST Friday night standards, but understandably so, since there was so much to say in addition to the traditional kabbalat shabbat prayers. During the Amidah, congregants were encouraged to go out and pray on the balcony facing the Old City, and many took advantage of the opportunity. The attendants were a mix of Jerusalemites, other GLBT folks from around Israel, and the out-of-town World Pride attendants, the whole probably well exceeding 200 in number. Our rabbis and cantorial intern truly distinguished themselves on this occasion with a very moving service.

Afterwards, there was kiddush and motzi with wine, bread, fruit and pastries on the balcony overlooking the Old City with lots of schmoozing, followed by an al fresco dinner on a nearby rooftop event space overlooking the Old City attended by the NY and San Francisco visitors together with JOH staff and the travel agency people who are handling our tour so magnificently. We watched with awe as the full moon rose over the south end of the Old City, strikingly orange and seeming so close as it hung there just over the ramparts in the crystal clear Jerusalem night. Truly a memorable occasion, with much lively conversation and good food...

Art Leonard

Another catch up, maybe the last before we leave on Sunday morning

2006-08-11T20:38:00.000+03:00

Shalom Friends!

I preempt this email by saying that my comprehension of a lot of the following content remains shallow and that I am only reporting on impressions, rather than solid facts. The bottom line is that we are all safe, tanned and packed with experiences and the gift of being on this journey together.

I overslept yesterday and barely made it for a trip led by Amos Gill, our synagogues first Executive Director. Amos heads up an organization who is focused on analyzing the integrity and necessity (section by section) for the separation barrier that was placed around Jerusalem after the suicide bombings. We toured the Jerusalem side of the fence and spoke about various sections. Amos presented a pretty even look at this giving us several arguments for and against certain parts of the fence. As I have pointed out in past emails the issues are not easy. There is a need for some kind of barrier to stop Palestinians with intent to destroy and kill cross into Jerusalem. However, there are some parts of the fence or wall, that divide former Palestinian towns, both of which contain Palestinian residents of the East Jerusalem. There is also the constant desire for some extremist Israelis (possibly financed by gererous Americans) to setup small outposts in both the occupied and Palestinian neighborhoods to complicate future attempts to maybe divide the city.

The more I experience here, the less I feel entitled to judge. I come from two countries that have a sordid past in the history of the world.

We then had lunch at a bookstore in Jerusalem, owned and hosted by David Ehrlich an Israeli writer who talked about his store becoming the center for Gay life in Jerusalem, as well as catering to all Jerusalemites including the Orthodox Jews. He was charming and I found his reading very moving. I purchased a book later and he generously gave me a copy of the first issue of the first Gay magazine to be published in Israel.

A little shopping for me and then off to the hotel to change for the Rally that was organized to protest the treatment against Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender people in connection with this event. The Rally was crashed by a group of Gay activists who did not want World Pride to take place and it eventually became hostile, so the organizers requested that everyone leave the park. Our group gathered at the Windmill in Liberty Bell Park and looked over the old city in the twilight. I still get a deep sense of peace from the land. However, what is going on within the land is rarely peaceful.

Later in the evening we all got together at a great party at a large nightclub and tried to dance the night away.

Today we began with a talk from Jaron Ezrachi, a professor at the Jerusalem University and an expert in Israeli/Palestinian issues. To go into detail regarding some of the complexities of these issues would be to difficult for me to attempt to put in writing, but I will certainly love to speak with any of you about it in detail.

Then off to Tel Aviv and a presentation at the Hall of Independence where we were passionately reminded that there were many thousands of Jews in refugee camps after the war that nobody wanted and were even turned away from Israel by the English who occupied the territory before the State of Israel was born in fear that they would ruin their trade rleations for oil with the Arab Nations. At the time of Israel becoming a State, all of the surrounding Arab Nations declared war on Israel and the English quickly left. Probably why when I came here in 1970 with my father, Israelis were not backwards in reminding us that the English were no friends to Israel. Then, as most Israelis do on the eve of the sabbath, we shopped in Tel Aviv's markets for an hour and jumped on the bus to be back in time to prepare for Shabbat services.

Just as a closing piece of information. The hotel is overbooked with refugees from the North and the people in single rooms are being asked to double up for the rest of the stay. Don't worry only amongst ourselves.

Wishing you all a peaceful Shabbat or Sabbath, whenever it comes!

Mike Finesilver

The Ezrachi Lecture and the Tel Aviv expedition - August 11 (Friday)

2006-08-11T17:26:00.000+03:00

This morning we had a special addition to our schedule, a lecture by the noted political scientist Dr. Yaron Ezrachi, a professor at the Hebrew University and an expert on Middle East affairs. This was arranged by our Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, whose father Steve Cohen is a noted academic in the U.S. and a longtime friend of Dr. Ezrachi. Ezrachi was invited to talk about the current situation. He structured his talk in a novel way, first asking us to pose the questions that are most concerning us, and then structuring his talk around answers to our questions.

What was distinctive, in my recollection (I did not take notes, and it is now late afternoon after our Tel Aviv trip), was how much of his talk depended on facts that are generally not known or appreciated – or at least discussed – in most American media.

Ezrachi points out that Lebanon has long been a "paper nation" and not a true democracy. It was long ruled by a Christian minority, which preserved its power by suppressing information about the true demographics of the country. The coalition that was officially ruling was until recently dominated by Syria, and did not have real effective control of the country. Hizbullah arose during the Israeli occupation as a mechanism to attempt to make Lebanon a Shi'ite republic, and in Ezrachi’s view the current war has everything to do with this goal and only indirectly, if at all, with the fate of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza or some disputed land along the border of Israel and Lebanon. Ezrachi points out that Israel and Lebanon have, generally speaking, a history of calm if not friendly relations, a relatively solid internationally-recognized border, and no real generalized animosity (although of course forces from Lebanon were part of the Arab armies involved in wars against Israel earlier in the history of the state).

In Ezrachi’s view, Iran and Syria supply Hizbullah behind the scenes, but it was not their intent for Hizbullah to provoke a war with Israel at this time, and in fact Iran is irritated at this premature provocation, since it has not yet realized its intended atomic weapons capacity and so is not ready for the ultimate Middle East war. Rather, he thinks the war was provoked by Hizbullah as a way to unite the Lebanese behind Hizbullah as a ruling party, thus making Lebanon a Shi’ite republic (in which adherents to that form of Islam account for an estimated 40% of the population). So this war is not really about Israel as such, it is about internal Lebanese politics, in which Israel serves as the target/rallying point. By responding with heavy air strikes against the Lebanese infrastructure, Israel plays into Hizbullah’s strategy for unifying the Lebanese people with Israel seen as the aggressive enemy and Hizbullah being seen as the defender of Lebanese sovereignty and ultimately the force that will rule the country.

Why have the Israeli defense forces been less successful than expected in fighting Hizbullah? This is, in Ezrachi’s view, an unprecedented military situation, fighting an organization that is in some ways not really a single organization or military unit. He said Hizbullah fighters have "three uniforms in their closet," posing as innocent civilians when it suits their purpose and ready to pose as members of the Lebanese military if it suits their purpose, in addition to their terrorist or militia pose. For this reason, he views with skepticism the idea that bringing the Lebanese army into the southern part of the country to provide a buffer zone with Israel is illusory; Hizbullah fighters will merely assume that pose and blend into the Lebanese army as it suits their purpose. Here is an enemy that blends with the civilian population, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operates under the same strict rules as the U.S. Army, to restrict itself as much as possible to military targets, and so they cannot respond in full force as long as Hizbullah successfully intermingles with civilian population. Ezrachi says that in retrospect using the Air Force for an immediate response was perhaps not so wise a policy, as it did not allow for the kind of precise targeting of military objectives that an effective ground force could attempt. But the political leadership in Israel was responding quickly in light of public opinion, and Ezrachi concedes that his view now is hindsight as he might have felt it necessary to do the same thing were he in authority at the time of the Hizbullah raid and kidnapping of IDF soldiers.

Also, he notes that previous prime ministers, formerly prominent military leaders, had all ultimately come to the same view: that the longer the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza continued, the worse for the IDF, which was being put to a use inappropriate in light of its need for training and effective response to a real war. This was behind Rabin’s decision to sign the Oslo accords, behind Barak’s decision to offer substantial withdrawal of Israeli forces at Camp David toward the end of the Clinton Administration, and behind Sharon’s decision for unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and ultimately the West Bank. Olmert evidently signs on to this view as well, having been elected (for the first time in Israeli history, Ezrachi emphasized) on a platform of withdrawal unilaterally ("for nothing," said Ezrachi several times) to free the IDF from having to be police engaged in a sometimes brutal occupation of a resistant population. The IDF is now not really prepared to fight an allout war against Hizbullah, because the forces have been diverted into being a police/occupation force.

Ezrachi points out that in the modern age of instant communication through the internet, even more than previously, governments are judged instantaneously around the world on moral grounds, and that Israel and the U.S. have lost incredible moral force in the world based on the IDF occupation of the West Bank/Gaza and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. (He did not specifically mention these, but was clearly referring to the various ways in which it appears that the U.S. military, under the misleadership of the Bush Administration, has violated Geneva Convention rules for treatment of prisoners.) So a nation’s legitimacy and status as a world leader, in the case of the U.S., is heavily compromised, and undermines the ability of the U.S. to play an effective role now in mediating between Hizbullah and Israel, or in using moral suasion with Syria or other Middle Eastern states to pressure Hizbullah. He also observed that the events of yesterday in London, where the British government claimed to have foiled a massive Al Qaeda plot for suicide bombing of numerous flights between London and the U.S., was an attempt by Bin Laden to divert international attention from Nasrallah and the Lebanese situation; this may have the desirable side effect of giving the parties here further time to negotiate, as indicated by the Israeli government’s decision to delay the stepped up ground action that had been authorized by the cabinet the other day.

Ezrachi’s talk left us with many questions, some of which played out on the 45 minute bus ride to Tel Aviv with the rabbis leading the discussion and many on the bus contributing comments. Ezrachi had left us with various alternative scenarios, the most desirable of which seemed least attainable. The scariest scenario was that this is a prelude to World War III, with Russia, China, and France each having their own agendas in the situation, the U.S. severely weakened by its Iraq adventure, and international organizations insufficiently authoritative or decisive to intervene effectively. (Ezrachi here drew a parallel here to the weakness of international organizations in the period leading to W.W.II.) As he sees it, this is not a class of civilizations but rather a clashing situation of governmental philosophies, western democracy vs. middle eastern theocracy. For him, a democracy is a country that rules in the context of liberty and freedom, while the opposite is a government that does not depend on the support/consent of the people to rule, but rather rules through fear and sustains itself through the appropriation of the country's wealth. In the Middle East, thus, the major powers are all oil producing countries where the autocratic rules derive their income from natural resources and many of the people live in dire poverty...

Sobering thoughts as we rode to Tel Aviv, where our first stop was the Independence Hall, where we saw an inspiring film on the history of Tel Aviv and that particular building, and then heard a thrilling lecture about the birth of the state while sitting in the room where Ben Gurion read the declaration of independence on May 14 1948. Our speaker here was one of the docents at the Hall, named Isaac, and he was an exuberant speaker, making a strong case for the traditional account of the founding of the state of Israel. We were all moved, even if everybody did not necessarily agree with every part of his account. The house itself is worth a visit; it was constructed early in the city’s history as a private residence for Meir Dizengoff, the leader of the group of Jewish businessmen who founded the city in 1909 when they purchased some property on the seafront, at the time just sand dunes, and set to work constructing a new suburb north of Jaffa that could serve as a "Jewish neighborhood," but which quickly grew to its own municipality, the first entirely Jewish city in the world. Dizengoff left the house to the city as an art museum when he died in the 1930s, and it served as a central meeting place for various occasions, including the declaration ceremony, which was broadcast and filmed live. We heard excerpts from the proceedings while sitting in the room, and saw a bit of the film in a small theater before that presentation.

Afterwards, we walked a bit in the neighborhood, then had a bus ride through the older business district, terminating at Magen David Square, where we dispersed in small groups to find lunch and to shop (or windowship as the case may be), reassembling at 2:30 for the bus trip back to Jerusalem. This evening, we will have a group dinner and shabbat services together with members of Jerusalem Open House and others in Jerusalem for World Pride, after a few hours of down-time to rest.

Art Leonard

8/9/2006 - Mike Finesilver

2006-08-11T16:28:00.000+03:00

Hi there again from where the sun shines on the white stone, both warming and blinding at the same time.

Yesterday and today were packed with activist/tourist experiences.

Yesterday we spent the morning in meetings with groups introduced by the New Israel fund that were bringing a little healing and social action in Israel. We met with a group that dealt with people in financial need and then the Association for Civil Rights. Amazing people - then if that wasn't moving and heavy enough we went to Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Memorial Museum). It has been rebuilt in the last year and was an incredible experience that was followed by the children's memorial for the one and a half million children who were murdered in the camps. We also attended the opening of the interfaith conference with key note speakers from Judaism (our senior rabbi), a Protestant bishop and minister from Metropolitan Community Church and a Muslim woman who has written a book entitled "The Trouble with Islam", then skipped the drag show for a very low key party (hosted by the Canadians. I asked a Canadian this morning why they were so proud of their Country and the South Park song). I then went to bed, only to rise at 4:00 AM to walk through the old city which was uncharacteristically silent and still to the Mount of Olives where we held a service overlooking the city at Sunrise. Then quickly back to the hotel for a shower and to a demonstration at the separation fence between Jerusalem and Bethlehem to show solidarity to our friends from Palestine who would not be able to come through to Jerusalem at this time to attend World Pride. (At this time neither Israelis or Palestinians can pass through, but tourists can). Then we took a fabulous trip to Bet Guvrin which is a city over two thousand years old that is part of a major archaeological excavation and toured the basements (caves of these houses) as well as went to one dig where our guide was working and met with the archaeologist who had just found some almost complete pots 2,200 years old which we all got to hold and be the first to touch these things in all of that time. I am a little tired and tomorrow is a big day, so I may just go out for dinner and miss the drag king show on tonight's cultural menu.

Our bus is usually the only one in all of the tour parking lots. People are so grateful that we are here. The people here love their country deeply. Today the hotel was full for the first time, as Hotels are giving empty rooms to families in the north, so that they can take short break away from the missiles and spending half of their days in bomb shelters. All of the tour companies and guides are giving time and services, so that the last two weeks of the children's vacation can be spent having a little fun. However, we are also aware that there are people on the other side of the border who are also in the middle of attacks, probably without any chance of a respite.

You are all in my thoughts tonight, as you are going through your day.

Shalom!
Mike

8/7/2006 - Mike Finesilver

2006-08-11T16:27:00.000+03:00

Hi, Its me again.

O.K. This is a long winded E-mail and I will not send any more and feel free to delete it if you wish.

I cannot believe that it has been one day, We went to a vista where we stood overlooking greater Jerusalem in the clear blue sunshine and met our friends from San Fransisco, then went to the old city of Jerusalem and the Western wall. It is the third time I have visited there. The first time I was a sad innocent, having grown up in East London where I was regularly beaten up for being a Jew. I prayed for the ability to be able to do my Bar Mitvah and not shame my parents. The next time I was working for a homophobic and anti-Semitic director in Israel, deeply in the closet and I prayed that my tour would end and I would be back in England with my family for the high holidays. Both of my requests were granted against great odds.

Today, I approached the walls and was accosted by a couple of blessing sellers and took a secret delight in thinking that they were unaware that were wrapping, blessing and hugging someone who was an "abomination" in their eyes. However, I think they would have blessed anyone for money.

My time at the wall was interesting. I thought of my friends who had asked me to say a prayer for them and the ones that hadn't. The relationship that I have with G-d today is a regular and constant one as I continue on my own spiritual path. I did not feel that because the place was holy it would therefore grant my hearts desire. It was my relationship to my faith that is holy and is with me everywhere. There was nothing that I need more than that connection today. I walked to the inside part of the wall and remembered being there with my father on my first visit and felt the love and sadness that was our relationship.

We then did lunch at a local cafe and went to the City of David and walked through the caves that carried the water (yes we walked through the water) from the well to the city.

Then back to the hotel for quick shower, food and swim before going to the City Council (or City Hall) for a meeting with the first openly gay city council member. (The Mayor and other Homophobic members of the council declined to attend.)

I cannot understand how people can be so loving and strong as to work for freedom and civil rights in a place ruled by hate and arrogance. The Council member said that the ultra Orthodox who control Jerusalem balk at these "provocateurs" being in the "Holy City", but that he realizes that the city is not holy, but people are holy. Something the rabbis of two thousand years ago believed when rabbinic Judaism began.

It is hard to think of Israel right now without thinking of war. Israel is such an impossible raft trying to keep afloat in the sea of the Arab world. Many of us have strong feelings, but how can we understand the complexities of such a world from a good looking anchor on CNN who spends more money on his outfits than most of the young people fighting this war will ever earn in their sometimes short lives. Then we are here to raise our voice for civil rights that even in the rest of the World is mostly denied us. Today we were to hold a silent vigil at the border that has been closed to Israeli Palestinians at this time, acknowledging that our Lesbian, Gay, Trans-gender and Bisexual Palestinian friends will not be able to attend Gay Pride. However, today was the funerals of the five reserves killed on Sunday. So, we will go on Wednesday.

From where we stood this morning, we could almost reach out and touch Jordan. I truly believe that nobody wins in war and nobody is right. There were flyer's passed out in Jerusalem over the past few weeks offering 20,000 skekels (About $5,000) to anyone who would kill a gay man. We tell ourselves that this is horrible maybe. I think of my friend Michael who was beaten to death in London a few years ago by a gang of boys because he was frequenting a know gay hangout and they were never convicted.

There is real courage in this world. I think it is being demonstrated by people who are making the well being of others against strong opposition and death threats, their life's work.

Mike

8/6/2006 - Mike Finesilver

2006-08-11T16:26:00.000+03:00

Hi,

So after a two and a half hour holdup at Newark due to the catering company inflating the emergency slide, I snuggled down in my economy seat surrounded by children and pets to eventually arrive in Tel Aviv ten hours later. The new airport that is stunningly beautiful on the grandest scale was sadly empty, but to watch the twilight as we walked to baggage control, was truly calming.

I have only been to Israel twice before. Once in 1970 with my father pre bar mitvah, where he considered making a marriage arrangement for me with a family in Jerusalem and once in 1997 when I was touring with a circus as a dancer here (No time to go into that experience). Each time I was here, I sensed a peaceful atmosphere. That part has not changed.

I am sharing a room and it is small, but the hotel seems amicable. My room mate could not sleep either and is now trying to hunt a location from which to see the sun rise. I am sending you this through the wonders of overpriced Internet access from my single bed. However from where I am sitting, I can open drawers, open the curtains, take a shower and leave the room all within two small steps in any direction.

Today we are exploring the old city and some wet caves, that we are going to wade through apparently.

Anyway, all is well and our group is going to join a sister congregation from San Francisco for the tours. World Pride events began yesterday with a health conference and I am hoping that it a success. So many people here have worked so hard for this. They are moved that we came in the light of the current war and I am sad that they are humbled by us showing up. We are the ones that should be grateful for the people in our world that are working to make their homes more welcoming in the face of righteous hatred that seems to be the norm everywhere these days.

Time for my morning prayers, so I will leave off sending love and good wishes from the Holy City!

Mike

I'm sending this just to reassure people that everybody is OK here

2006-08-11T16:04:00.000+03:00

This morning we read in the Jerusalem Post that an Italian tourist was stabbed to death yesterday in the Old City of Jerusalem by a Palestinian terrorist. Our guide, Renee, gives the full story from radio reports. He was part of a group of four who were walking about in Palestianian East Jerusalem and was stabbed as he approach an entry gate into the Old City - not an area where any of us would be walking. I'm sending this just to reassure people that everybody is OK here.

Art Leonard

Article from this evening's Jerusalem Post about today's demonstration

2006-08-10T23:52:00.000+03:00

Gay activists hold J'lem protest vigil

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Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 10, 2006

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Defying a police veto, a group of 200 gay pride activists held a silent protest vigil in a central Jerusalem park on Thursday, after their long-planned international city parade was canceled due to the war in Lebanon.

The heavily guarded demonstration, which was ignored by the city's haredi community, was allowed to take place after organizers adhered to the police conditions for the gathering, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

The evening event in the city's Liberty Bell Park was marred after a group of far-left anarchists joined the gathering and began waving placards against the war in Lebanon and shouting slogans against the IDF.

Police forcibly prevented them from approaching the sidewalk on the edge of the park, and detained a protester who unfurled a PLO flag on the scene.

The low-key event, which was one-fifth the size organizers had planned, came near the culmination of six-day World Pride Event in Jerusalem, which was overshadowed by the war in Lebanon and the police decision to bar their planned parade through the streets of Jerusalem.

A huge red banner at the protest read "Jerusalem is for all," while rainbow-colored placards included such slogans as "The Path to God is not always straight" and "Senseless hatred."

"We believe that the holiness of Jerusalem is increased by this city being the center of tolerance and coexistence," said Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen, 32, who lead a delegation from New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, which is the world's largest gay and lesbian synagogue.

Cohen added that organizers of the event understood that the tone had to be "appropriate" during wartime when "the voices of tolerance and hope are all the more essential."

Some Israeli motorists shouted at the protesters to go to Lebanon and alternatively to relocate to Palestinian-ruled Gaza.

"At a time when Jewish blood is being spilt in Lebanon, all that these self-indulgent narcissistic selfish perverted people can think about is engaging in sodomy," said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Orthodox 'Rabbinical Alliance of America' and the 'Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada' who has been spearheading an international campaign against the parade.

Levin, who was prevented from police from entering the park grounds due to concerns of a violent confrontation, slammed police for "wimping out like French poodles" in not stopping the gathering.

The Jerusalem police spokesman noted that the event was not dispersed since protesters did not file out into the streets, block traffic or use megaphones.

The controversial parade, which was to have been the highlight of a week-long international gay festival in the capital, was nixed last month after police said they were unable to allocate sufficient forces needed to secure such a major event due to the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The international gay festival, which was originally scheduled to take place last year and had already been postponed until August due to last summer's Gaza pullout, has been widely criticized by a coterie of Jewish Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Jerusalem and around the world as a deliberate affront and provocation to millions of believers around the world.

In a largely conservative city, with a strong religious and traditional makeup, the idea of holding such an international parade in Jerusalem is seen by many city residents -- even outside of religious circles -- as out of touch with both the spiritual character of the city as well as the sensitivities of its observant residents.

A public opinion poll released last year found that three-quarters of Jerusalem residents were opposed to holding the international gay event in the city, while only a quarter supported it.

Jerusalem Day - August 10

2006-08-10T21:05:00.000+03:00

Today was definitely “Jerusalem Day” on our schedule. We began with an 8:30 briefing from Shira Bensasson, who works in the Jerusalem office of the New Israel Fund, Shatil, on the complicated relationship between religion and the state in Israel. Bensasson, an engaging native-born Israeli who attended school for some years in the United States as a child, presented this issue from the perspective of a married, modern orthodox woman who is resolutely progressive in her approach to the issues, and she seemed to feel quite comfortable addressing a roomful of gay and lesbian folk.

As part of the political bargaining that led to the declaration of independence, David Ben Gurion wrote to a major religious leader a letter that has become embodied in Israeli law in practice, under which there was a pledge that the state would enforce Jewish Sabbath laws and kosher requirements in the public sphere, would leave issues of personal and familial status to religious authorities, and would allow autonomy in the area of education for religious groups. Thus, there is no public transportation and most commerce shuts down from sunset Friday night to sunset Saturday night in Israel, and the religious “kosher” authorities have great sway over the operation of those restaurants that wish to operate under the banner of kashrut. Perhaps most significantly, in the area of family status, only religious marriage and divorce is available in Israel, and for Jews only orthodox practice is allowed. Thus, reform Jews seeking to marry in Israel, if they do not want to submit to orthodox marriage practice, must go outside of the country to obtain a civil marriage, which is not available in Israel but which will be recognized by Israel. Similarly, Christians can marry only under the auspices of a Christian church, and Muslims under the auspices of their own religious authorities. Presumably all atheists must leave the country to marry. Shira commented that education is the area that has diverged most sharply from Ben Gurion’s commitment, in that the national government does now dictate certain curricular requirements. On the other hand, due to their crucial role in coalition governments, religious parties have played a major role in heading and running the education system.

This truly became Jerusalem Day with our major activity consuming the greater part of the day, a bus tour of “political Jerusalem” led by Amos Gil, the Executive Director of Ir Amim, a non-profit organization that seeks to uncover and present from an unbiased position the “facts on the ground” concerning the existence of Jews and Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem. (Gil is also a former executive director of CBST for three years during the 1990s, when his wife, an Israeli diplomatic staff member, was posted to New York City.) This was a fascinating experience. There was some repetition of what some of us had experience on the prior CBST trip, when we visited the same area of the neighborhood of Gilo, where there was both a small barrier erected against the incessant gunfire coming from the neighboring Palestinian town of Beit Jala, and where a section of the large Separation Wall was under construction as well. This, however, was only the starting point of our tour on this occasion, as we rode along the city borders that were established by the government after the 1967 war to observe how the separation fence and/or wall, depending on the location, was constructed relative to the borders, how new neighborhoods of both Jews and Palestinians have emerged, sometimes in “East Jerusalem” and sometimes across the border in the West Bank, and how future construction plans may affect the balance of population in various parts of the area. Amos was determined to present unvarnished facts rather than opinions, and on many occasions offered alternative interpretations of the same situation. As he put it, his organization is interested in an “amicable divorce” between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Jerusalem metro area, in the context of a two-state solution that provides that their respective parts of Jerusalem be the capitals of Israel and Palestine. This prospect is much complicated by the policies of the Israeli government, aided and abetted by American philanthropists, among others, who are determined to create new Jewish neighborhoods in strategic locations that will make it much more difficult overall to disentangle the two peoples sufficiently to make a clean break between Israeli and Palestinian Jerusalem. At least, this is my interpretation of what Amos was saying. Others will have undoubtedly come away with differing interpretations.

The presentation was intended mainly to raise questions, and to get beyond the simplifications and sloganeering characteristic of most media coverage of these delicate issues. In this I think it succeeded, leaving us in some ways more confused than when we started, but certainly much better informed about the nature of the problem.

Following the tour, we arrived a bit after 1 pm at the Tmol Shilshom bookstore café in downtown Jerusalem for a buffet lunch. The café was established by David Ehrlich, a short-story writer and prominent member of the gay community, about 12 years ago, and was for a time the social center of the LGBT community here until the Jerusalem Open House (of which Ehrlich has been a board member) opened its doors. It continues to be a popular gathering place. As Ehrlich explained in a charming talk after the meal, his intent was to create a place that was open for everybody, gay or straight, men and women, religiously-observant across the spectrum to non-observant. To make this possible, he has complied fully with kashrut requirements, even rearranging the books and magazines on the shelves to appease the religious authorities (whose concerns about kashrut seemingly extend beyond the preparation of the food to the environment in which it is served). Ehrlich said that despite his efforts to be all-inclusive, the place has gained a reputation as being especially accommodating (at one and the same time) to gay people and to orthodox Jewish people! The meal was terrific. Tmol Shilshom is not the easiest place to find, being set in the deepest reaches of an inner courtyard reached through a narrow covered alleyway branching off a pedestrian shopping street in the vicinity of the Ben Yehuda mall, but it is worth the effort.

After lunch, our group split into those who wanted to return to the hotel to prepare for the evening’s festivities, and those desiring to visit the Israel Museum. I joined the museum group, and our guide Rene Goutman took us for a fascinating look at the enormous scale model of Jerusalem circa 100 C.E., the impressive building devoted to exhibiting the Dead Sea Scrolls, and then to the main museum where we went our separate ways to view exhibits in the remaining available time. I checked out the Archeology section, inspired by our adventures of yesterday in the caves, and had an interesting hour viewing artifacts from prehistoric times up through the times of the 1st Temple.

Although the police denied a permit for the originally contemplated march, the Jerusalem Open House staff members who were planning and coordinating World Pride finally decided that an indoor program in place of the march was a non-starter, and decided to take advantage of a loophole in the law under which no police permit is required for a vigil or demonstration that does not involve a group of people in motion. They put out the call by word of mouth that a vigil for gay rights would take place across from the Liberty Bell park (which features a scale model of the U.S. Liberty Bell, donated by the U.S. government long ago) at 6 pm, and they notified the media. In the event, several hundred people showed up, and there was a large police presence to ensure order and protection (in addition to a private security service hired by the worried JOH staff). There were flags and banners and singing and linking of arms, and a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere prevailed. The police seemed pretty relaxed as well. Then a large group showed up determined to turn the event into an anti-war demonstration, with particular emphasis on the Lebanon engagement now underway, and started chanting slogans and attempting to provoke the police, this led to a quick dispersal of other elements of the vigil, including our CBST group, led away quickly by our rabbis. This had been a concern articulated earlier in the day by some of our group; that they were eager to demonstrate for gay rights, but did not want to be associated with an anti-war demonstration. We will have to wait to see how the media handle it.

The evening was to be capped by a gala dance/party at a club called HaOman in Talpiot, which your correspondent, tired from the day, decided to skip, so others will have to report on that.

Art Leonard

Demonstration at the Bethlehem Checkpoint/Expedition to Bet Guvrin

2006-08-09T00:39:00.000+03:00

Unfortunately, people from certain countries who might have wanted to attend World Pride 2006 in Jerusalem could not do so because of travel restrictions due to the relationships (or lack of relationships) between Israel and other countries, especially in the Middle East. The official slogan for World Pride 2006 is “Love Without Borders,” so obviously the organizers were unhappy about this state of affairs, but they were determined to bring World Pride to Jerusalem because the city itself is such an important center of world civilization as a generator of three of the major world religions, for which it is a central Holy City. There were calls to boycott World Pride 2006 from spokespersons for some groups, especially Islamic gay groups – which appeared ironic to some because no gay event could be publicly held in their countries, and of course Jews would not be welcome to go there. At present, it seems, there are really a limited number of major cities around the world where an event such as World Pride could be held without significant governmental or cultural opposition, and without some potential attendants being excluded. Indeed, if World Pride can only be held in a city to which any person can freely travel, then the United States would probably be off limits to host such an event at present.

In any event, and bowing as well to the unhappiness of many World Pride participants (including many of the local organizers) at the prospect that there would be no open, public event associated with this gathering as a result of the refusal of the police to permit the originally-planned parade for security reason, the decision was taken to hold a vigil at the Bethlehem Checkpoint in order to make visible and public the unfortunate circumstance that not all could attend due to the political situation. The Bethlehem Checkpoint is one of the openings in the Security Fence, also known as the Separation Wall, that Israel has been constructing along what the state defines as the border between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the avowed purpose of which is to prevent Palestinian terrorists from gaining access to Israel. Two busloads of conference participants, together with press representatives, rode out this morning from an assembly point near the Liberty Bell Park to the Bethlehem Checkpoint, where we held a half hour vigil. Signs had been prepared in many languages expressing the idea of common humanity, unity, love transcending borders, etc. Political and religious leaders present gave interviews to the press, and songs were sung in Hebrew and English. While this fell far short of the originally planned World Pride March, it served as a symbolic statement of the conference participants.

The CBST-Sha’ar Zahav group faced a choice of activities today. The full-day meetings of the Multifaith Conference were available for those interested in discussing religious questions as they involve the LGBT community. For those who wished to continue our physical exploration of Israel, there was an expedition to Bet Guvrin-Maresha, a National Park that is an active archeological site and a place of historical significance. Your correspondent chose the expedition, so others will have to provide the commentary on today’s conference.

Bet Guvrin is the location in the Judean hills where young David and his followers hid from the wrath of King Saul, and also where Bar Kochba and the other followers of Rabbi Akiva hid out during the revolt against the Romans in 132-135. Maresha, right nearby, was the site of an ancient city, strategically situated where the coastal plain meets the beginning of the Judean hills midway between the Mediterranean and Jerusalem; now there is only a high tel whose rich trove of caves and treasure are being systematically excavated, the last Arab village on the site having evacuated at the time of the Israeli War of Independence.. Our special guide for this occasion, Sharon, is also a volunteer worker at the archeological site, and thus was able to give us a rather detailed insider’s view of what is going on there.

What never ceases to amaze me is what relatively primitive peoples, with relatively primitive tools, were able to achieve in the way of physical structures. I found it almost incredible that such people were capable of constructing the magnificent system of caves and cisterns that have been uncovered here. One descends deep into the tel to find Columbaria where pidgeons were bred by the early inhabitants as one of the local industries, and where the remains of olive oil presses show another thriving local industry. The site is so rich that almost every day when work is going on new artifacts are uncovered. We enountered one of the on-side archeologists who showed us several items that had been unearthed earlier that day, items of everyday life for their owners that provide a visible record of how they lived. The site has yielded up pottery, clay vessels, written tablets, coins, and other valuable artifacts in such profusion that some are even discarded ultimately by the Antiquities Authority as extremely duplicative, either through sale to private dealers in antiquities or, in the case of more fragmentary items, discarded altogether.

We also visited the reconstruction of an ancient family tomb on the site. It seems that when this was first excavated in 1902, the archeologists of that time made a complete photographic record of their findings before sealing it up again. It was excavated anew by Israeli archeologists, only to be vandalized by persons unknown (but there is a suspicion that ultra-Orthodox Jews, who frequently object to excavations that might be upsetting Jewish burial places, may have come in to vandalize the tomb, even though the archeologists are sure that this was not Jewish burial place, as Maresha was occupied by pagan peoples for significant periods of its history when Jews were exiled from the Holy Land and the style and decorations of the tomb are inconsistent with Jewish burial rituals), but luckily the complete early photographic record made it possible to restore the tomb and replace the wall drawings of animals and action scenes that make it such a vivid record of early life.

A trip to Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park should be on everybody’s itinerary who goes to Israel.

Art Leonard

Today we started out with...

2006-08-09T00:11:00.000+03:00

Today we started out with the New Israel Fund, first hearing about Shatil, the organization that provides leadership development support for not-for-profit organizations that NIF supports. Then I went to ACRI (Association For Civil Rights in Israel) to hear Dan Yakir talk about their legal advocacy work on behalf of marginalized people in Israel.

This evening may turn out to have been the highlight of the week. It was the opening of the MultiFaith Convocation organized by Rabbi Kleinbaum. The speakers included Representative Gerry Nadler, Rabbi Kleinbaum, Bishop Zachary Jones of the Unity Fellowship Church in Brooklyn, Reverend Pat Baumgardner of the MCC in Manhattan, and Irshad Manji, author of “The Trouble With Islam Today”. I was incredibly moved that we could have organized (and pulled off) such an event given the war between Israel and Hizbollah.

Each of the speakers addressed the crowd (I’m not good at counting, but there were easily 200 people), speaking eloquently and passionately of their personal stories and the events and ideas that brought them to this particular place at this particular time. I can think of no other event that better captures what we at CBST can achieve in the world when we work together around a common vision and reach out to partners who share our beliefs.

And David! Oy, our cantorial intern made incredible music, pulling together the HUC chorus and conducting them while singing. I’ve never before seen anyone use a microphone as a baton! He, and they, sounded magnificent, and the crowd was moved.

Honestly, I’m still absorbing what I heard and felt tonight. But I know I’m so proud to be associated with CBST and our leadership. I only wish all of you could have been here to see this. I hope to share more with you as my own reactions evolve tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Eric Rosenbaum

As a mental health professional my curiosity...

2006-08-08T18:46:00.000+03:00

As a mental health professional my curiosity was piqued by one of the opening workshops: PsycholoGay - LGBT Psychology in Israel. The information concerning treatment and services for the LGBT population is staggering. LGBT youths are responsible for 30% of the youth suicide statistics. My guess is the rate is even higher. Like sex abuse, so many cases are not reported due to shame. LGBT suicides are plagued with the same kind of shame.

Men having sex with men, come from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for HIV tests. They do not identify as gay men. Many are married and live a completely heterosexual life style. At a recent health conference in Jerusalem attended by 500 mental health professionals, only three had LGBT training. One negative issue after another concerning poor treatment and lack of services was discussed. Yet, so much was not; depression, anxiety, addiction, compulsive behavior, social withdrawal, the list is endless. The mental health issues are just symptoms of a larger picture, homophobia and oppression. To realize how far behind us the LGBT population in Israel is, and to hear so many painful stories was upsetting. It also made me grateful for the gay community center in NYC, Identity House, Hettrick Martin’s high school, GMHC and so much more. The most profound of course is CBST. As LGBT Jews we are blessed while so many are still struggling. Israel has not had its Stonewall yet.

Nance Agresta

WorldPride Human Rights Day - August 8

2006-08-08T18:44:00.000+03:00

The day began for the joint meeting of CBST and Sha’ar Zahav members, together with the group traveling under the auspices of the New Israel Fund, with a presentation by Bruce Temkin from New York and Rachel Liel from Jerusalem, who is the Director of Shatil, the New Israel Fund’s Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations. Rachel explained how Shatil had evolved from simply a grant-making organization in Israel on behalf of NIF to distribute donations from elsewhere, into an organization that provides technical assistant to non-profit agencies providing social services and advocacy for rights in Israel.

Three tracks had been organized for the balance of the morning, allowing participants to hear from the operational staff from organizations funded and/or assisted by NIF through Shatil. Each track involved two such organizations.

Track One visited Community Advocacy, a group modeled on a successful organization in Montreal called Project Genesis, a voluntary community association devoted to raising awareness about their rights among community residents, and Kol Ha-Isha (The Women’s Voice), a feminist center in downtown Jerusalem, an advocacy organization working on feminist issues, including violence against women and women’s economic rights.

Track Two participants first learned about Yedid, an organization that assists culturally isolated and economically disadvantaged people through community centers in four cities in Israel. Then this track went to the headquarters of ACRI, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, an organization patterned on the ACLU in the U.S., for a briefing by ACRI’s legal director.

Track Three began with a focus on the situation for people with disabilities in Israel, by visiting with Bizchut, an advocacy center for such people. Track Three continued with a visit to Mahapach, a n organization focusing on childhood educational issues in disadvantaged communities.

It was difficult to make a selection among the three tracks, but I chose Track Two. To me the most informative part was hearing Rebecca France, the organization’s director of development, speak about the serious problems of poverty and income inequality in Israel, something perhaps not so well known to Americans who may think of Israel as a relatively wealthy country. It seems that there is a very wealthy upper class here, but gross disparity of income, which, we were told, has been exacerbated by the evolution of the government away from egalitarian social services characteristic of the founding socialist orientation, more toward a free market economy incorporating “welfare reform” along the lines of the mid-1990s US changes, emphasizing getting people off public assistance roles and into work. As in the US, however, more emphasis has been placed on getting people off welfare rolls than on finding them decently-paying jobs, and there are many painful stories of people improperly thrown off the rolls, sometimes because language difficulties complicated matters for them to establish their eligibility for assistance due to disabilities or child care obligations.

The three tracks all culminated in a bus trip to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that a year ago opened its new museum (replacing the one that many of us had seen on the previous CBST tours in Israel). We first all ate lunch in the cafeteria/restaurant at the entry to the Yad Vashem campus. (It is a true campus, with multiple buildings in an elaborately landscaped setting.) Then we had our tour to Yad Vashem led by Rene Goutman, our guide. The new museum is indeed overwhelming in its detail and documentation, as well as in the imaginative architecture that has become characteristic as well of holocaust museums in the U.S. While anybody who has visited the major such institutions in the U.S. will not likely encounter much that is new in the Jerusalem museum in terms of the overall themes, the wealth of new detail is striking.

Due to our time schedule we were given only a relatively short time to go through the museum, making it impossible to immerse ourselves fully in the filmed narratives by survivors, the numerous photo captions and explanatory materials, but still the exhibit made a big impact. After going through the main museum and resting briefly in the courtyard, we went through the Memorial to the Children, which always makes a profound impact. This is an ingenious architectural feat, constructing an elaborate internal pathway surrounded by strategically placed mirrors so that a single candle in the middle of the space is reflected hundreds of times, surrounding the viewer with flickering flames in three dimensions from all directions, as the names, ages, and countries of child victims are intoned in the hushed, dark room. It is almost impossible to describe the impact of this – one has to go there. The statutory on the outside is also most impressive, including especially a memorial to Janus Korczak, the Polish teacher, and his young Jewish children.

From there we went by bus to the Valley of the Communities, the impressive memorial to all the Jewish communities that suffered in the Holocaust. We had a brief memorial service there led by SZ’s Rabbi Camille Angel and CBST’s Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, after which we were free for a few minutes to wander and find inscribed on the stone walls the names of towns of our own ancestors. I was successful in locating the town of my father’s family, Suwalki, but unfortunately had not enough time to seek out the towns of my mother’s family.

After this the bus returned us to our hotel. It was a rather sober group coming back in the bus, having been overwhelmed by the emotional experience of Yad Vashem. Tonight is the opening ceremony for the Multifaith Conference, which will be held at the campus of Hebrew Union College, which is nearby the hotels where most of us are staying. Rabbi Kleinbaum will be among the speakers tonight and, of course, during the conference tomorrow, when Rabbi Cohen will also be speaking.

I won’t be giving a first-hand account of this conference, since I have elected the alternative offered to our groups of a trip to Beit Guvrin, an important archeological site. I will attend part of the opening ceremony tonight, but then leave early for a previously scheduled dinner with Alon Harel, a professor of law at Hebrew University who was a faculty colleague of mine at New York Law School for a few years during the 1980s and who I last saw during the CBST visit to Jerusalem at the end of 2003. Prof. Harel is a leading scholar on LGBT legal issues in Israel and an organizer of gay rights at the Hebrew University.

Art Leonard

A Little Story Gleaned at Breakfast

2006-08-08T15:58:00.000+03:00

Last night after the opening ceremony, Rabbi Kleinbaum was chatting with some members of Beth Chayim Chadashim (Los Angeles) and realized she was missing the opportunity to see the spectacular nighttime view of Jerusalem from the balcony of the city hall, which had been opened for the ceremony. So she and the folks with whom she was chatting went out onto the balcony and continued talking until they were the only ones out there. When they tried to get back into the building, the doors were all locked. They were frantically knocking on the doors to get back on (this is six stories up) and nobody came. Rabbi Kleinbaum found the security camera and was jumping up and down in front of it while the others kept banging on the doors. No security guard came to let them in until about half an hour had passed. This was at Jerusalem city hall, where there was so much security for us to get in.... So, a little adventure to launch World Pride!

Art Leonard

First Full Day of Israel Trip

2006-08-07T23:48:00.000+03:00

Today was a day for being religious tourists in Jerusalem. Combining with the group from San Francisco's Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, as the two of our groups taken together was the correct size for the standard tour bus, under the leadership of our guide Renne Goutman with rabbis and congregants in tow, we set out early from the hotel to go to the Haas Overlook, a promenade with a commanding view of the entire city from the South. This had been scheduled originally for our arrival Sunday night, but due to the delay in our flight had been scratched. The sight there is truly superb -- one gets a terrific sense of the layout of the city -- and we also had a good get-acquainted session with everybody from the two groups introducing themselves and talking about why they had come on this trip at this time, which was very moving in many cases. We also had a brief ceremony reciting appropriate psalms for the arrival to Jerusalem and, of course, a blessing for the happy occasion of our commencement of this Israel adventure.

Then it was to the old city, where we walked by the Armenian Quarter into the Jewish Quarter, saw the Cardo (the old Roman road running north-south through Jerusalem uncovered through excavations), the Western Wall, and the new excavations towards the south end of the Temple Mount, which have progressed a bit since we saw them two years ago on the prior CBST trip. Then we scattered for lunch in the Jewish Quarter. After lunch, we went to see the excavations of the City of David. The city of David was the location of a significant part of ancient Jerusalem prior to the construction of the first temple, which was built by King David's son, King Solomon, and which moved the focus of attention northwards. Interesting excavations have uncovered much on the site, including water tunnels that were used to supply Jerusalem with water from outside the city walls. Most of the group went on a walking tour through the water tunnels (which required wading through cold water deep underground - a few of us less daring souls took the alternative dry route through a higher tunnel, with all of us meeting up at the end.

After a quick rest break at the hotel, it was off to the Jerusalem City Hall for a reception and opening ceremonies for World Pride 2006, which included representatives of the key organizing bodies as speakers. The host of the evening was City Council Member Sar Netanel, who made it possible for us to meet in the splendid, relatively new City Hall, where we almost filled the Council chamber. Other speakers included Julie Dorf, who was the founding Exec. Dir. of the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (an organization conspicuous by its absence from World Pride this year, otherwise - having to do at least in part with division in the organization over the propriety of holding World Pride in a country where visitors from some parts of the world are unwelcome - a circumstance that will be the subject of a demonstration organized by World Pride now scheduled for early Wednesday morning), Louis-Georges Tin of IDAHO, an NGO which participated in organizing tomorrow's human rights day events, Fatima Amarshi, a Muslim woman who is critical of her religion's stance on civil rights of women and sexual minorities, Russell Murphy of the umbrella organization that sanctions the World Pride celebration, and of course our rabbi, Sharon Kleinbaum, the North American coordinator for the event. There was a symbolic empty chair for Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupiansky, an orthodox Jew who had declined an invitation to attend and who has consistently opposed the holding of gay pride events in Jerusalem. Rabbi Kleinbaum issued an invitation to Lupiansky, through Councilmember Netanel, to come to speak at CBST! (Don't hold your breath waiting....)

Tomorrow morning we have human rights day events, and in the afternoon our visit to Yad Vashem to see the new history museum there and hold an international memorial service for victims of the Holocaust. In the evening, there will be opening ceremonies for the Multi-Faith Day portion of the conference, which has become a center of gravity for the event since the cancellation of the march.

Art Leonard

Attached is an photo taken this morning...

2006-08-07T20:21:00.000+03:00

Attached is an photo taken this morning at the Haas promenade overlooking Jerusalem. You’ll notice the temple mount and the golden dome in the background. We met up with the Sha’ar Zahav group this morning and introduced ourselves to each other here. There’s also a photo of Rabbi Camille Angel speaking to the group. Here is a photo of Rabbi Camille Angel speaking to the group.

This morning we went to the Old City, including the Western Wall and the southern excavations, and after lunch we went to the water tunnels that supplied the city of King David, to the south of the Temple Mount.

Everywhere we go, people tell us how meaningful it is that we are here. I sometimes wonder if they would still feel the same if they knew we were here for World Pride. I had the idea that we would stamp pink triangles on our shekels, so everyone would know it’s glbt money circulating in the Israeli economy. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Eric Rosenbaum

We’re here!

2006-08-07T16:03:00.000+03:00

I’m writing from my hotel room overlooking the city of Jerusalem. We arrived Sunday evening local time, unfurling our CBST banner as we exited the airport – and amazingly, the people waiting to greet their relatives applauded us. We’re told over and over again how meaningful it is to the people here that a synagogue trip would still come to Israel during this time of war. I imagine that Israeli people feel isolated from the world, knowing that their country’s reputation is once again being questioned because of the violence in Lebanon.

We had dinner last night with the folks from Jerusalem Open House. They were excited to see us after so many months of planning and discussion. I’ll write more (and send pictures that Miya took last night) later.

Off to the Old City!

Eric Rosenbaum

Greetings from sunny Jerusalem!

2006-08-07T16:02:00.000+03:00

Our valiant band of CBSTers arrived safe and sound at Ben Gurion Airport at about 7 pm local time Sunday, met our guide and traveled quickly to Jerusalem to check into our hotels and to have dinner at the Dan Panorama (where most of us are staying) with the staff of Jerusalem Open House, the organizers of World Pride 2006. It was good to see familiar faces here -- including one of the most familiar, Amos Gil, who was Executive Director of CBST for several years -- and to learn that the first major part of World Pride, the LGBT health conference, which was held during the day on Sunday, had been a success.

Despite the uncertainties introduced by the hostilities to north and south, and the frenzied opposition to World Pride taking place in Jerusalem by the ultra-Orthodox, our hosts appeared to have things well in hand and to be confident that the overall event will also be a success. Speaking with Haggai El-Ad, the Executive Director of JOH, was quite reassuring. Although he said that many, many groups that had planned to attend had canceled and so the events would be smaller than they had planned in terms of numbers, nonetheless they were determined to make it a memorable event for everybody. Their publicity efforts resulted in major features in this week's issue of Time Out Jerusalem, including an extensive article/interview and pictorial layout on our own Jack Nieman, part of the CBST group, who will be performing under his persona of Jacqueline Jonee next Saturday night. (Unfortunately, the feature is entirely in Hebrew, so I can't quote you highlights, but the photos are FABULOUS!)

Not that there weren't a few hitches for us getting started... A broken part on our designated airplane for departure from Newark delayed things several hours as a replacement part was transported from JFK, so our arrival was about 90 minutes later than scheduled, which meant that a brief stop at the Haas Promenade as we entered Jerusalem had to be scrubbed and the dinner was rather later than planned. So it is a travel-weary group that will show up bright and early this Monday morning as we join the group from Sha'ar Zahav for a walking tour of the Old City an prepare to join a Solidarity Rally later today at the Jerusalem Separation Fence.

More as things develop.... and greetings from the CBST crowd in Jerusalem.

Art Leonard

Letter to the congregation about the CBST trip to Israel

2006-08-04T18:50:00.000+03:00

Friday August 4, 2006

Shabbat Nachamu

Dear CBST Leadership and Membership:

Our CBST contingent leaves for Jerusalem tomorrow night. We will be joining our sibling congregation Sha’ar Zahav which has been there for a week and having a great time.

Although – due to security -- the march itself has been postponed (there will be an alternative event), all the other activites of WorldPride are still happening. WorldPride was never just the march. The Jerusalem Open House has done an extraordinary job in putting together a superb program – thoughtful, interesting, fun, stimulating, inspiring, wide-ranging – that is a testimony to who we are as a GLBT community with our friends and allies. You can see the full program on our website (http://www.cbst.org) or the WorldPride 2006 website (http://www.worldpride.net). CBST will have our own itinerary – sometimes we will be exploring the archeology of ancient Jerusalem by day and drag shows at night!

The Jerusalem Open House staff, volunteers and board have organized this event in the midst of tremendous pressures. Last year’s Gaza pullout – this year’s war in Lebanan and the bombings of Northern Israeli cities and towns – and vicious anti-gay threats from the religious right wing ultra-Orthodox community. Three people from the JOH leadership have been called up for Reserve duty, one staff person village was bombed last night, others have family and friends living in the North or in the military right now.

I am very proud that CBST is going right now. I completely understand that some people have made a wise personal decision that this is not the right time to go. There will be other times. It is in our tradition that sometimes "proxy" counts – that if you say "amen" to another’s bracha – it is as if you said the bracha. If you have no time to study, if you support someone who is studying, it is as if you yourself studied. I believe our contingent represents all of CBST – even if you are not going. I am very proud to support the work of the JOH now to declare that the intolerance and hatred of the right wing of our own religion does not own Judaism, that their interpretation of our traditions is not the only one, and that we are all, transgender, gay, intersex, lesbian, bisexual, straight, created in God’s image. How sad that that is a radical, threatening statement.

I am proud that we are going now to support the values embodied in the great work of the Jerusalem Open House and to support an Israel that stands for the full equality of all its citizens, Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim and Christian, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, secular and religious, lesbians, gays, transgender, bisexuals, straight. For now, too few are treated as full citizens. I am proud to go now and support an Israel that stands up against the hatred and violence which has plagued that region for so long. The Ultra-orthodox community is still planning anti-gay demonstrations. The ketusha rockets are still landing, the bombing of Lebanan is still happening. The JOH folks have worked under unbelievable pressure – and CBST is proud to be a small part of these historic events. We want to stand for an Israel which will one day embody these values as national values. And since it is WorldPride – we believe in the day that these values will be world-wide. I have to believe.

You can follow our activities by checking the CBST website while we are away. I will be at services tonight and the Friday after we return to report on the trip. Our President Eric Rosenbaum, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, Jacqueline Jonee and Cantorial Intern David Berger are all leading activities, workshops, services, performances. So, CBST will be well represented in the programming.

Pray for peace, with all best wishes, warmly,

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum

WorldPride 2006 and CBST Trip to Israel

2006-08-03T16:32:00.000+03:00

Welcome!

We hope you find that you find these postings helpful in our effort to keep you informed of the trip by the members of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah and the WorldPride events.

Shalom!