By Rabbi David Ariel-Joel
Rabbi David Ariel-Joel of The Temple
The Temple commemorates national LGBTQ+ Pride month with many events, including our special 10th Annual Pride Shabbat on Friday evening, June 13 and Shabbat morning on June 14. Pride Shabbat at The Temple represents the first-ever Jewish Community Celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride month in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
As Kentucky’s oldest and largest Jewish congregation and a founding member of the Reform Movement (Judaism’s most progressive Jewish denomination), The Temple has always promoted the two central ideals in Jewish teachings: “Love thy neighbor” and “All people are created in God’s image.” Throughout The Temple’s 182-year history, rabbis and lay leaders have been active in civil rights and in advocating for fair treatment of all people, including LGBTQ+ individuals. The Temple was Louisville’s first and only Jewish congregation to have an LGBTQ+ rabbi. The Temple rabbis are active with the Fairness Campaign and have conducted same sex marriage rites since 1996 – including the first same sex marriage in the state of Israel. The Temple is a welcoming congregation and celebrates the contributions of all its members. The Temple rabbis hope that Pride Shabbat will help promote acceptance for and celebration of LGBTQ+ individuals in Louisville and throughout the region.
In March 1996, I performed a marriage ceremony for the first time in my life between two women. This was the first LGBTQ+ wedding in Israel. I did so out of a belief that recognizes the basic right of every person, as a person, to receive love from their partner, to live a life of partnership, and to establish a family. The right to marriage is one of the most basic human rights, and we find no room here for discrimination based on sexual identity and orientation.
That experience was the most religious and spiritual experience I have ever had. This was, I believe, due to the mature and special attitude of the couple towards Judaism and their wedding ceremony. The guests participated in the ceremony with excitement, in a way that reminded me of stories I had read about similar experiences among the “Jewish mystical community.” All of this strengthened my recognition of the authentic religious-spiritual need of the LGBTQ+ community, not only for wedding ceremonies but for a positive religious experience in general.
The religious persecution, which continues to this day against LGBTQ+ people, is, in my opinion, the essence of human evil. In my opinion, evil inclination is doing evil to others. In the sexual context, it can be said that the evil inclination, or the urge to do evil, is expressed precisely in the suppression of sexuality, in sexual prohibitions, in the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of society in everything related to what happens in the bedroom of our neighbors, who are mature and consenting adults. The evil inclination is at its peak when we persecute others, violate the rights of others, and judge the behavior of others based on what happens in their bedrooms. This voyeurism is the evil inclination at its most apparent form.
It is said of Hillel the Elder, the wisest of all Jewish sages, that when he was challenged to distill the entire Torah into a single sentence, he answered: “What is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is commentary. Go study.” (Talmud Bavli 31a)
And if we are talking about what is hated by us, let us ask ourselves, what is hated by us most of all? What could be more hated than intrusion into privacy in general, and its holiest place, the bedroom, in particular! Who among us is willing to have that private space peeped into? Who among us is willing to be judged by their actions in such a space?
Why then do we do to others what we hate?
Indeed, in doing so, we are transgressing the essence of the Torah, the commandment that summarizes the entire Torah! Let us try to remember this: “All human beings are created in the image of God, equal to one another and entitled to dignity and freedom. Any distinction that discriminates against people based on faith, ethnicity, color, gender, or sexual orientation is an attack on the image of God and God’s presence in our lives.” The Reform movement was the first major religious body in North America to embrace same sex marriages (already in 1996), and to ordain openly LGBTQ+ rabbis (already in 1985). We at The Temple are proud to continue that progressive tradition by advocating for full equality for LGBTQ+ individuals everywhere.
Pride Shabbat includes inspiring speakers, will be led by our LGBTQ+ members with both Temple Rabbis, and will have Shir Chadash and Voices of Kentuckiana (Kentucky’s only LGBTQ+ choir) together with Jennifer Diamond, Avery Curtis, and Dr. Louie Bailey leading the music.
- Pride Erev Shabbat Service Friday, June 13 at 7:00 pm: speaker Aaron Guldenschuh, founder of Pride Shabbat at The Temple.
- Pride Shabbat Saturday, June 14: The day begins with a special Torah study at 9:00 am led by Rabbi David and Rev. Johanna Bos, followed by our Pride Shabbat Service featuring music by Shir Chadash and Voices of Kentuckiana and participation by LGBTQ+ Temple members. Stay afterward for a concert with Voices of Kentuckiana and a Shabbat Luncheon.
- Pride Pajama Party Saturday, June 14 at 5:30 pm: Bring your family for crafts, snacks, storytelling, and a brief Havdalah service.
- Kentuckiana Pride Parade Saturday, June 21 at 12:00 pm: Join The Temple in Nulu as we march to celebrate all LGBTQ+ individuals and families.
- All events are free and open to the public, including Shabbat morning services. Please RSVP for lunch.
David Ariel-Joel is Senior Rabbi at The Temple