PRIDE Shabbat 2025
Friday, June 13
5:30-7:30 PM: Advocacy and Education Booths
- Gender Terminology Matching Game with Julia Sobel, JFCS Intern
- Jewish Value Sign-Making
- J.KidPride Craft with Robin Matthews
- Pride Swag Giveaway & Photo Booth
- Bead Bracelet Craft & Temporary Tattoos
- Queer Talmud with Rabbi Tamara Cohen
- Messages of Hope with Rani Silverman-Gitin, Keshet Fellow
- Postcard Advocacy
6:00-6:30 PM: Family & Kids’ JAM for ALL with Kabbalat Shabbat
led by Chana Rothman, Mikael Elsila, and Student Rabbi Maria Pulzetti
- Welcome Medley: Hinei Mah Tov, Bim Bam, Shabbat is Here, Rainbow Train
- Shalom Aleichem
- L’cha Dodi featuring Drag Queen Eric Jaffe
- Ma’ariv Aravim: Roll into Dark featuring Drag King Henlo Bullfrog
- Sh’ma
- Amidah: Silent Prayer & A Better Way
- Mourner’s Kaddish
- Hinei Mah Tov
- Bim Bam featuring Eric Jaffe & Henlo Bullfrog
Saturday, June 14
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Joint PRIDE Shabbat Service
This JOINT minyanim service celebrates the rainbow thread of our community through liturgy, prayer, and a special D’var Torah from Dane Menkin!
Myth Busting About Gender Affirming Care: What LGBTQ Allies Need to Know in 2025
We are living in a time where we are being asked to understand complicated identities and assaulted with words that make it seem impossible to defend care for transgender people, including children. Even when we know something is wrong, how do we find the words to defend what we know is right? How does one defend against assertions such as: “children can’t know when they are so young….” and “using a pronoun for a child that’s different than their assigned sex is grooming them”? Dane will talk about facts based in medicine and psychology. We will talk about how the same myths that have been around for centuries and used to erase minorities have a new platform and a new megaphone, but are no different or less dangerous.
After the service is over, join us for a celebratory luncheon!
“Most weeks, it’s a struggle to get my teenage daughter to attend services with me. But on Pride Shabbat (both Friday night and Saturday morning), she impatiently left home before I did to get there early, and determinedly stayed at shul after I went home. The gorgeous, playful, creative setting with rainbow balloons, unicorn headbands, affirming lawn signs, and a rainbow of desserts puts everyone in a festive and unified mood. But because this is Germantown Jewish Centre, Pride Shabbat isn’t just a party — it’s also about praying, singing, and learning together. There is a soulful Friday night service and exciting text study… Pride Shabbat makes me and my family feel both safe and challenged. We feel assured that GJC is a welcoming home for us and other LGBT+ families, and we are also pushed to expand our understanding of traditional texts, liturgy, and gender to appreciate and multiply the diversity that has always existed within the Jewish community. We are looking forward to next year’s celebration!” (Alexandra Volin Avelin)
Pride Shabbat D’vrei Torah
- 2025 – Dane Menkin – “Myths and Facts about Gender Affirming Care- How to use them to be an Ally”
- 2023 – Rabbi Jacob Staub – “We” Have Always Been Queer
- 2022 – Liturgy Handout
- 2021 – Maria Pulzetti – “A Thread of Blue: Queer Perspectives on Tzitzit”
- 2021 – Mindy Shapiro (Minyan Masorti)
- 2020 – Maria Pulzetti – “Say Their Names: A Jewish Prayer for Black Lives Matter”
- 2020 – Gwynn Kessler
- 2019 – Laynie Soloman – “Trans Identity & Self-Determination in Halakhah: Creating New Legal Paradigms for Queer Liberation and Expression” text study source sheet
- 2018 – Maria Pulzetti
- 2018 – Leiah Moser
From GJC Teens
- The Stonewall Riots – by Zivia Allen Avelin and Sol Pinsky Elsila, 2020
- Pride Flags & Their Meanings (be sure to click on the text icon!) – by Yossi Ravital, Yael Smith Posner, and Sadie Wade, 2020
- A Little Bit About the Rainbow – by Toby Kessler Cohen and Hadassah Weinmartin, 2020
Want to get involved in planning Friday Night PRIDE and Pride Shabbat? Do you have an idea for an LGBTQ program or a speaker you would like to hear? Would you share your journey with GJC on our stories page? Email Jared Jacobson at program@germantownjewishcentre.org.
Download Pride backgrounds for your Zoom meetings here!