Mishpachah Matters Iyar - Sivan - Tammuz, 5778/May and June 2018 Page Mishpachah Matters
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Mishpachah Matters Iyar - Sivan - Tammuz, 5778/May and June 2018 Page Mishpachah Matters Issue 78.9 and 78.10 Mishpachah Matters Iyar - Sivan - Tammuz 5778 The Newsletter of Bet Mishpachah, Founded in 1975 May and June 2018 by Members of the Washington, DC, Gay Community Content listing can be found on page 2. www.betmish.org Shavuot: Festival Service, Pot-luck, Study Spring Shabbaton: May 11 and 12, 2018 Sessions – and Cheesecake! May 19, 6:30 pm Let’s join Rabbi Ben Shalva, our scholar-in-residence, as he leads our Spring Shabbaton on May 11 and 12, at Join us as we and our neighbors Tikkun Leil Shabbat the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th (TLS) jointly observe Shavuot on Saturday, May 19, at Street, NW, Washington, DC. the Edlavitch DC JCC, beginning at 6:30 pm. We’ll have a pot-luck seudah shlishit (third Shabbat meal), His topic will be "Inner Light: Kabbalah & Meditation and continue with study, worship and the traditional for the Busy Mind." Kabbalah -- Jewish Mysticism -- cheesecake break. offers a number of transformative meditation techniques aimed to calm the mind, revitalize the soul, connect to Shavuot has both agricultural and religious significance. the Source, and discover the deepest self. Together, we On the second night of Passover, we began counting the will sample a variety of Kabbalistic meditation practices (Continued on page 3) and discover solace and sanctuary in our own bodies, hearts and minds. No prior experience necessary -- all Celebrate Pride Week! beginners welcome! Program tickets and details can be found at our weekly newsletter email. For questions, We are thrilled to announce that Bet Mishpachah will please email [email protected] . again be participating in the Capital Pride Festival! This is a perfect opportunity to display our LBGTQ Jewish Women’s First Friday Pre-Service Potlucks pride and to introduce others in the community to the warm and welcoming Bet Mish family. We hope you will Don’t forget to mark your calendars to attend our join us! wonderful women’s outreach pre-service potlucks. Usher in your Shabbat with great company, The festivities begin on Tuesday, June 5, at 7:00 p.m., conversation, and food. with the 14th Annual Night OUT at Nationals Park! (Continued on page 2) Friday, May 4, 6:30pm, Celebrate Spring together and talk about significant events which happened in Humble Pride May: By Rabbi Laurie Green • Gendered Nationalism and May Fourth: China’s new woman. In 1919, China’s May Fourth Feminist movement challenged the gender stratification of Soon we will be celebrating Shavuot, the festival that Chinese society in an open and systematic fashion. reenacts the revelation at Sinai and receiving the Torah. But why was Mount Sinai selected as the location • May 1, 1950 – Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first for this holy moment? African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, named Library of Congress’ (Continued on page 5) Consultant in Poetry (later called Poet Laureate) in 1985. Reflections on the 24th World Congress • What else is happening in May you want to talk By David Schwarz, President about? Bring your ideas! In March, I had the opportunity to attend another World Friday, June 1, 6:30 pm, Let’s kick start the Congress conference, this time in Rome. One of the celebration of PRIDE month together! many advantages of these conferences – in addition to Do you have a skill you would like to teach? Volunteer to seeing old friends and making new ones in interesting facilitate or share a Women's Outreach First Friday Pre- places – is the chance to gain some perspective on our service Potluck! What would you like to talk about? Send own LGBTQ Jewish community here at home in light of your ideas to [email protected]. our counterparts’ situations overseas. This year’s **We use an inclusive definition of "woman" and "female" and we (Continued on page 4) welcome trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people. Washington DC’s Egalitarian Synagogue Embracing a Diversity of Sexual and Gender Identities Mishpachah Matters Iyar - Sivan - Tammuz, 5778/May and June 2018 Page 2 Celebrate Pride Week! Contents: (Continued from page 1) We will be participating in this event along with Nice Jewish Girls, Nice Page 1: Reflections on the 24th World Congress Jewish Boys DC, and GLOE - GLBTQ Outreach & Engagement at the Ed- Shavuot: Festival Service, Pot-luck, Study lavitch DCJCC. Proceeds from ticket sales contribute to Team DC Student- Sessions – and Cheesecake! Athlete Scholarships, which are awarded each year to local college-bound Humble Pride LGBTQ student-athletes who have enhanced the perception of the LGBTQ Capital Pride Week community through their role in academics and sports. To purchase tickets, Women’s First Friday Pre-Service Potlucks please send $28 per ticket to Jenn Rubenstein on PayPal Spring Shabbaton: May 11 and 12 ([email protected]) or Venmo (jennrubenstein). To be seated with oth- Page 2: ers from Bet Mish, please write “Bet Mish” in the memo field. Please mes- Celebrate Pride Week! sage Jenn on Facebook or Twitter if you would like to pay by cash or check Page 3: or if you have any questions. Shavuot: Festival Service, Pot-luck, 11th Annual Rainbow Seder Held at HRC The Pride festivities continue on Friday, June 8, with the National Pride Relocation: Progress Report Shabbat. Held at the historic Sixth and I Synagogue, this special Erev Shab- Page 4: bat Pride service is cosponsored by Bet Mish, Sixth and I, and GLOE. Our Reflections on the 24th World Congress Book Group own Rabbi Laurie Green will be among the service leaders. There will be a reception before the service and a dinner afterwards. Page 5: Humble Pride Relocation: Progress Report This year we will be using Shavat-Yinafash, our new hard cover Siddur, de- Page 6-7: veloped by our Liturgy Committee to meet our needs as LGBTQ Jews and May and June Calendars allies which offers a wide variety of meaningful prayers, readings, Page 8: and meditations by contemporary liturgists, including several talented mem- Volunteers Needed Oneg Shabbat and bers of Bet Mishpachah. Kiddush Thank You to Our March and April Service On Saturday, June 9, we will join other LGBTQ Jewish organizations to Leaders march in the Capital Pride Parade. The parade begins at 4:30 p.m. at 22nd Thanks to Our March and April Oneg Shabbat and Kiddush Sponsors & P St. NW and ends at 14th & R St. NW. Welcome to Our New Member Mazal Tov To wrap up the weekend, on Sunday, June 10, we will host a booth at the Page 9: Capital Pride Festival, held on Pennsylvania Ave. NW between 3rd and 7th May and June Anniversaries St. We need volunteers to help staff the booth from 11:00 am through 7:00 May and June Birthdays p.m. Please sign up! What could be better than spending time with your Bet Page 9-10: Mish family, handing out goodies, and meeting other members of the com- Donations munity who are interested in Bet Mish! To volunteer, or if you have any Special Musical Shabbat Service Save The Date questions, please email Isaac Belfer at CommunityAffairsDirec- Erev Shavuot Schedule [email protected]. Volunteers Needed Page 11-13: Over the next month, more information about these and other events will be Member Yartzeits announced in the weekly “This Weekend and Beyond” email and on our Page 15: website (betmish.org). You can also visit the Capital Pride 2018 website Directory (http://www.capitalpride.org) for the latest Pride updates. Do you want to join Bet We hope you are as excited for Pride as we are! Let’s show the world the Mishpachah? vibrant and welcoming Bet Mish family that we all know and love! Membership is an opportunity to develop What’s This? friendships, learn, become involved in your heritage, Scan it with a QR code reader on your smartphone and find and support the only LGBT synagogue out! in the Washington, DC area. To join Bet Mishpachah as a member is Web: www.betmish.org easy, just visit www.betmish.org today. Facebook: http://on.fb.me/BetMishpachah Questions, e-mail Twitter: twitter.com/betmish [email protected]. E-mail: [email protected] Mishpachah Matters Iyar - Sivan - Tammuz, 5778/May and June 2018 Page 3 Shavuot: Festival Service, Pot-luck, Study Relocation: Progress Report Sessions – and Cheesecake! By Diane Liff, Housing Relocation Chairperson (Continued from page 1) Omer. This 49-day period correlates with the growth of The Edlavitch DCJCC, our congregational home for more spring barley in the land of Israel, and is a time of than 20 years, will close this August for a significant uncertainty about the fate of the harvest. Our ancestors renovation. The J estimates the renovation will last for celebrated the success of the harvest at Shavuot. about 10 months, with re-opening of the renovated building anticipated sometime in the summer of 2019. The The Rabbis added a connection between Passover and good news: The J has arranged for Bet Mishpachah’s Shavuot. Passover is the celebration of our liberation temporary relocation to Foundry United Methodist Church, from slavery. Shavuot commemorates the revelation of virtually across the street. The J also intends to relocate the the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Our liberation, other religious organizations it hosts (the DC Minyan, and begun at Passover, is not complete until we have Rosh Pina), as well as a substantial portion of its received and committed ourselves to the teachings of preschool, to Foundry. At Foundry, the J will provide the the Torah.