Joy Ladin
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
When prize-winning teacher and poet Jay Ladin got tenure at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women in 2006, he knew he could finally have the gender reassignment procedures that would free him from a body he had never felt at home in, without risking his job. Life was tough as a man, but there’d be new challenges to face when Ladin returned to work at the Orthodox Jewish college as Joy Ladin. The New York Daily Post heralded her return with the front-page headline “Ye-She-Va.”
And yet she has endured, publishing her dignified testimony this year. Ladin, now 51, is heartfelt when she says, “I am surrounded by love.”
With the release of her memoir, “Through the Door of Life,” Ladin, who holds the David and Ruth Guttesman Chair in English at Stern College, has luminously expressed her situation and has become an advocate of transgender rights and issues in the Jewish world.
Reviewing the book in the Forward, Naomi Alderman wrote: “Ladin is a lyrical writer, and there are some beautiful and moving passages in the book. She is achingly honest about her children’s difficulties in accepting that their father is now their ‘parent.’”
Ladin’s world is a spiritual one filled with responsibilities to others. Using the publicity around the launch of her book, Ladin has had a platform to help others by talking about her diverse experiences. As she said in interview with Capital New York: “I know that in the Orthodox world, even though I’m not Orthodox, I am this beacon of hope for transpeople and queer people in general.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
