PRIDE@GJC! See what’s happening in June!

Mon, 05/24/2021, -- Kate Lawn

Download a PRIDE Zoom Background here.

PRIDE Storytime in GJC’s Early Childhood Program with Radiance Angelina Petro
Tuesday, June 1

Tuesday, June 1 is Pride Storytime in GJC’s Early Childhood Program! Send your little one to ECP with clothing inspired by the rainbow. Each class will visit Radiance Angelina Petro, Director of Community Engagement at SAGA Community Center. Radiance is a proud transwoman and mother of three grown sons. She is an activist, poet, musician, artist, storyteller, speaker, twenty-year elementary school teacher, and workshop leader. She has been featured on an episode of Liz Plank’s Vox, as well as in several newspaper articles including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Montgomery News, and the Bucks County Currier Times. She has published articles for GLSEN and the Montgomery County Women’s Center, as well as two books of trans-related poetry. Germantown Jewish Centre was lucky to have Radiance as part of our very first Friday Night PRIDE celebration and is thrilled to have her return to tell stories and sing songs with our ECP children.

Friday Night PRIDE! (online) – Friday, June 4

  • 6:00 PM…….GJC Teen PRIDE
    featuring Levanah Cohen, Toby Kessler Cohen, Oliver Kraut, Serena Levingston, Sol Pinsky Elsila, Yael Smith Posner, Sadie Wade, and Hadassah Weinmartin
    Begin PRIDE month with the teens of Germantown Jewish Centre, coordinated by Serena Levingston and Dasi Weinmartin. Dialogue, discussion, skits, slideshows, and more – you are bound to learn something new and have fun in the process! The teen program is geared towards and adults and children 7+.
  • 6:30 PM…….Friday Night PRIDE Service
    Co-led by Rabbi Tamara Cohen and Hazzan Naomi Hirsch, with participation from GJC members, this Friday Night PRIDE service offers its distinct LGBTQ voice through readings, prayers, songs, and liturgy.

PRIDE Shabbat (in person and online) – Friday, June 4

  • 10:00 AM…….Charry PRIDE Shabbat Service led by Rabbi Adam Zeff with the D’var Torah by Maria Pulzetti
    Join us under the rainbow arch for the Charry Service! Full details are emailed to those on our list serv. This service will be on Zoom and live-streamed through StreamSpot (see links below).

    • D’var Torah – A Thread of Blue: Tzitzit from a Queer Perspective.
      This week’s Torah reading concludes with the mitzvah of tzitzit (fringes), which we are commanded to put on the corners of our garments. We traditionally hold together the four tzitzit of our tallit before we say the Sh’ma, symbolizing the power of ritual to gather the Jewish people from all four corners of the earth. As our community gathers for the first in-person Shabbat in a long time, and as we celebrate Pride, we’ll look at tzitzit from a queer perspective. What can we learn from tzitzit about our individual relationship to prayer, and how can a queer perspective shape our community’s approach to becoming inclusive and affirming for LGBTQ people and for all people?
  • 10:00 AM…….Dorshei Derekh PRIDE Shabbat Service led by Andrea Jacobs
    Join Dorshei Derekh online for a PRIDE-inspired service. Masks and vaccinations are required and social distancing encouraged.
  • 10:00 AM…….Minyan Masorti PRIDE Shabbat Service with d’var Torah by Mindy Shapiro
    Join Minyan Masorti in the Temin Canteen Room. Masks and vaccinations are required and social distancing encouraged.

Queer Jewish Pasts: A History of LGBTQ Jewish Activism and Innovation, 1965 to Today with Dr. Gregg Drinkwater
Sunday, June 6 at 11:00 AM

Explore the queer Jewish past in the United States with Dr. Gregg Drinkwater, a scholar of queer Jewish history and a longtime advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in the Jewish world. In this online talk, we’ll discuss these and other questions:

  • When did Jewish sexual and gender minorities in the United States forge identities as LGBTQ Jews?
  • Where did LGBTQ Jewish activism emerge and how did LGBTQ Jews gain allies?
  • Who founded the first gay synagogues? What did “Jewish Gay Lib” look like in the 1970s?
  • How did American Jews respond to the AIDS Crisis?
  • Why did LGBTQ Jews develop specifically queer Jewish ritual and liturgy?

Through images and stories from the queer Jewish archive, we will consider the lives and work of the political, cultural, and spiritual leaders who created space for LGBTQ people within American Judaism and within American culture, broadly, from the mid-1960s to the present.

About Dr. Drinkwater: Dr. Gregg Drinkwater’s research focuses on sexuality, gender, and Judaism in the modern United States. His work has appeared in the journals “Jewish Social Studies” and “American Jewish History”, as well as the “Journal of Modern Jewish Studies”. He is currently working on a book on the history of gay and lesbian synagogues and their role in transforming the American Jewish community in the 1970s and 1980s by incubating queer Jewish space. For the 2021-2022 academic year, he will be a visiting professor in Jewish History at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he completed his PhD in U.S. history in 2020. Prior to entering academic life, Drinkwater worked for 10 years as a researcher and advocate for LGBTQ inclusion and social justice in the Jewish community through the organizations Jewish Mosaic and Keshet. He is the co-editor of the book “Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible” (NYU Press, 2009).

PRIDE Family JAM with Chana Rothman
Sunday, June 13 – 11:00 AM & 12:00 PM

Join Chana Rothman (outdoors on GJC’s front lawn) in a Rainbow Train for a joy-filled, song-filled morning of inclusion, love, and celebration of diversity! Reserve your group’s individual “train car,” complete with items to shake, shimmy, and make music along with Chana. The train car pods will help our families gather together safely, and all items in your pod are yours to take home after the program. Masks are required for those who are of the age to wear them. This program is geared towards children age 0-6 and their older siblings and grown-ups, and enjoyed by those of any age! You must pre-register to attend, and registration will close on Friday, June 11 at 10:00 AM. REGISTER HERE.

GJC would like to extend thanks and gratitude to the Harold & Renee Berger Family Engagement Endowment Fund for sponsoring this PRIDE Family & Kids JAM.

About Chana: Chana Rothman is a Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter, musical community organizer, and educator. From local – Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live and Tin Angel – to global – workshops and concerts throughout Europe, Israel, and South Africa, Rothman’s music is a unique blend of folk, world beat and hip-hop, aiming to break down barriers towards consciousness and change. Chana has been a part of Germantown Jewish Centre’s PRIDE celebrations for years, and GJC is thrilled to have her bringing Rainbow Train to life once again!

THANK YOU!

Germantown Jewish Centre extends much thanks, love, and gratitude to the following people who have shaped 2021’s PRIDE@GJC:  Rabbi Tamara Cohen, Hazzan Naomi Hirsch, Andrea Jacobs, Gwynn Kessler, Julie Klein, Serena Levingston, Maria Pulzetti, Rabbi Robert Tabak, Hadassah Weinmartin, Steve Weintraub, and countless others who are LGBTQ+, allies, and advocates.

Germantown Jewish Centre would like to extend thanks and gratitude to Michael Beer for his generous support in making GJC’s PRIDE programming and congregational gifts possible. GJC also extends gratitude and appreciation to the many volunteers gave their time and energy to assembling these bright rainbow boxes and delivering them.

GJC would like to extend thanks and gratitude to the Harold & Renee Berger Family Engagement Endowment Fund for sponsoring PRIDE Storytime and the PRIDE Family & Kids JAM.

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