She built the largest queer synagogue in the nation ‘for Jews rejected from everywhere’
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum is set to retire from Congregation Beit Simchat Torah after 32 years as its spiritual leader
Sharon Kleinbaum
The Latest
-
News -
The Schmooze 24 Top Power Couples: Jewish Edition
They have power. They have charm. They have longterm commitment. And some of them are annoying. With the understanding that we are merely scratching the surface, here they are, in no particular order: the power couples of Judaism. The A-Listers: Diane von Fürstenberg and Barry Diller Status: Married (2001) Him: A business brainiac who has…
-
Fast Forward Clinton To Headline Gala Honoring Prominent Anti-Trump Rabbi
Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to headline a gala dinner honoring Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, a prominent critic of the Trump administration and the spiritual leader of the Manhattan LGBT synagogue Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. The gala marks Kleinbaum’s 25th anniversary leading Beit Simchat Torah, perhaps the most prominent LGBT synagogue in the world. Kleinbaum’s partner,…
-
News Jewish Activists Struggle for Right Tone on Racism After Murders of Police Officers
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum was observing the Sabbath on December 20 when New York police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot and killed in their patrol car in Brooklyn by 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who then took his own life. After sundown, Kleinbaum, who leads New York’s Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and has been an…
-
Life Trio of Jewish Women Religious Leaders
The Huffington Post is out with its list of the top 10 women religious leaders, and one is a rabbi, another a Jewish activist and a third is a spiritual guru with Jewish roots. Coming in at No. 9 is Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum who leads the only LGBT synagogue in Manhattan, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah…
-
The Schmooze LGBT Synagogue Finds New Home, Complete With Assyrian Art
Every Tisha B’Av, rabbis around the world try to come up with new and creative ways to remind their congregations of the history of the two Holy Temples that once stood in Jerusalem. Students of Jewish history readily recall 586 B.C.E. as the year that the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple, and 70 C.E. as…
-
Life Beyond N.Y.’s Same-Sex Marriage Bill
The LGBT–oriented Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan, led by openly gay Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum — a Sisterhood 50 selection — was front and center in the fight to get same-sex marriage legislation passed in New York state. (Kleinbaum also made headlines when she put her arm around an ultra-Orthodox man protesting the legislation, and…
-
The Schmooze In Albany, A Scuffle Over Marriage Equality
If you were to ask the question “Who is a Jew?” to some ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrating against marriage equality yesterday in the New York state capitol, their answer would definitively be “Not Sharon Kleinbaum.” In a video made yesterday by The Times Union (the newspaper serving the Albany region) and posted today on the gay…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Your complete guide to Trump’s Jewish advisers and pro-Israel cabinet
- 2
Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
- 3
Fast Forward Trump AG nominee Matt Gaetz has left a trail of antisemitic comments
- 4
Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jessica Tisch, Jewish public servant, appointed as commissioner of NYPD
-
Fast Forward ‘A sense of wariness’ for many Jews when they see keffiyehs in public
-
Opinion A ceasefire may be imminent in Israel’s war in Lebanon — why not Gaza?
-
Fast Forward Man who attempted terror attack on Jewish New Yorkers in 2022 sentenced to 10 years in prison
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
