Pride and Piety – Vered and Ariela
FEATURE ARIELLA AND VERED (right), who became a couple after meeting at Bat Kol, each had to separately contend with revealing their sexual orientation to religious family and friends. (Photos courtesy) Pride and piety The Bat Kol organization may serve as a friendly meeting place for lesbian women, but coming out of the proverbial closet – especially when that closet is located in a religious home in a religious community – remains doubly challenging for some • LIAT SHPIGLER in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beersheba. Currently 300 members strong, Bat Kol has developed into an official organization, he name Bat Kol means the voice of God, but if dissected by word, the holding activities such as study groups, Shabbat getaways and annual Second word bat means daughter and the word kol means voice. The Bat Kol or- Passover celebrations. ganization strives to make both Jewish and lesbian voices heard, proving Each year, Bat Kol and its male counterpart Havruta, which together make up that religion and same-sex love can coexist. the religious lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community, hold a Second Bat Kol is the bridge between the often conservative and traditional Passover event a month after the official biblical holiday. Tundertones interpreted by the rules of religion, and the human right to the The Second Passover holiday appears in the Book of Numbers and was celebrated realization of love regardless of its object and institutional objection. while the Jews were in the desert after their exile from Egypt. A Passover sacrifice was The Bat Kol organization has been in existence for almost a decade and serves as to be made, but there were those who were considered impure at the time, or who a friendly meeting place for lesbians on the entire religious spectrum – those who could not make it to Jerusalem to offer the sacrifice.
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