Elliot Kukla, first out transgender rabbi ordained by the Reform movement / Nic Coury Reactions to the Forward’s transgender and Jewish series varied from “after a decade of acceptance, this is news?” to “the synagogues are being overrun by sex maniacs” to an attitude of open curiosity, perhaps best espoused by Sheila Rubin in Naomi…
Dana International, Israel’s most famous transgender pop star, has managed once again to draw International media attention. Her latest video for “Yeladim Ze Simcha” (‘Children are Joy’) is causing controversy in Israel and beyond, after parents of the religious Jewish children featured in the video claimed they didn’t know their kids were shooting a music…
(Haaretz) — More than most kids, Moshe, who lived with his mom and siblings in a midsize Midwestern city with a small Orthodox community, loved going to shul. But shortly after Moshe began preparing for his bar mitzvah, he suddenly changed. From a sunny little boy to one who was withdrawn. Depressed. His grades, which…
Thinkstock During Passover it’s our obligation to think about all the people who are in chains who should be free — whether they are Jewish or not. Today, as I sit at my desk longing to munch on anything but another matzo sandwich (how oppressed my taste buds are!), I’m thinking not just about frightening…
Forward deputy culture editor Naomi Zeveloff and Yeshiva University professor Joy Ladin talk with the City University of New York’s ethnic media show about transgender inclusion in Jewish life, following the publication of the Forward’s new eBook on transgender issues.
Schmekel was Brooklyn’s trans Jewish band. The group’s lyrics probed queer and trans identity to a klezmer/punk beat. In February, after three years of musical irreverence the group disbanded. “Schmekel ended amicably,” drummer Simcha Halpert-Hanson said in an email to the Forward. “We felt finished with the project and wanted to pursue other life goals…
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt of the introduction from the Forward’s new ebook, Transgender & Jewish. Buy it now on Amazon. This is a book about the birth of the future — a future that was unimaginable to me for most of my life, and that is still unimaginable for many American Jewish communities,…
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day set aside to memorialize trans people who have been killed because of their gender identities. Founded in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender designer and activist in the wake of the murder of Rita Hester in Allston, Mass., the day is now observed in hundreds of…
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