Fri-Sat, June 6-7

Pride Shabbat with Scholar-in-Residence  

Friday, June 6, 7:15 PM (new summer service time)

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

CEH member Leslee Friedman will lead services. Our weekend scholar-in residence, Rav Avigayil will share a D'var Torah on Queer Torah: A Collaborative Chevrutah. What do traditional Torah texts sound like in conversation with the lives of LGBTQ people in our communities today? 

Saturday, June 7, 10:00 AM

Shabbat Services followed by Lunch and Learn

Our Shabbat morning service will feature a D'var Torah from Rav Avigayil: Parashah and Pride! How does Parashat Naso Connect to World Pride? Services will be followed at approximately 12:30pm by Lunch & Learn with Rav Avigayil and Rav Amelia: Historically, Judaism has not welcomed the LGBTQ community. Where do we find Torah, spiritual backing, and legal texts that teach us not only to tolerate but to celebrate people of all genders and orientations?

Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Avigayil Halpern is a writer and educator who is passionate about the Torah that emerges in the conversation between our own lives and traditional texts. Avigayil’s work focuses on queer and feminist Torah, and she is currently at work on a book about queer niddah. You can read her writing here.