An old story finds new life in LGBT haggadah
Asher Gellis talks about his life with a modest but clear-eyed sense of wonder that fits his role as a young community activist who is just beginning to hit his stride. Next week, JQ International, an organization that has helped to nurture his development as a leader, will host a seder that will include readings from a new haggadah weaving the history of gay and lesbian people into the story of the Exodus.
"There was no place to be Jewish and gay in Los Angeles," he said. "Some temples had gay programming, but they seemed more oriented toward people who were partnered, had kids."
As a young man just discovering himself, Gellis said, he simply didn't connect with communities oriented around family identity -- conventional or otherwise.
Then he discovered a scattered group of like-minded young gays and lesbians who were beginning to coalesce into a community. They had a variety of backgrounds -- from secular Jews who had been involved in JCCs to Orthodox Jews who had been through yeshiva.
"JQ International evolved organically," said Gellis, who is now executive director of the Los Angeles-based organization, which focuses primarily on people in their 20s and 30s. "It's a true grass-roots organization. Once we had a critical mass of people, things just took off."
The upcoming Passover seder, which will be hosted by Hillel at USC on April 26, exemplifies the organization's focus on integrating Jewish and LGBT identities through activism and traditional observance. A distinctive feature of the event is the alternative Seder plate -- which holds a coconut.
"The coconut represents young closeted gay people," Gellis explains. "Even though they're sweet and tender-hearted on the inside, they're also stuck inside a hard shell. It's our way of remembering people who can't be with us because they're not out [of the closet] yet."
"Stories in gay and lesbian experience find a lot of parallels in the Passover story," said Kevin Shapiro, a member of JQ's board of directors and a graduate student in the MBA program at USC. "The main theme of Passover is exodus. The Jews went from being enslaved and not living lives of integrity to a period of freedom where they gained knowledge and a new level of awareness. That's a good mirror for the experience of coming out."
Shapiro joined JQ in 2004, after he heard about the organization through a friend and went to a Chanukah party where he met young people who were gay, Jewish and eager to integrate and deepen those identities through activism.
"I especially liked the fact that it was nondenominational," Shapiro said. "Everyone was there because of the common experience of being gay Jews, regardless of their background."
Shapiro also points out that JQ's haggadah is as much about recovering history as making it.
"Whether or not we've been out, we've always existed," he said. "That's why simply acknowledging our existence now isn't the same thing as inclusion or integration into the tradition."
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"There was no place to be Jewish and gay in Los Angeles," he said. "Some temples had gay programming, but they seemed more oriented toward people who were partnered, had kids."
As a young man just discovering himself, Gellis said, he simply didn't connect with communities oriented around family identity -- conventional or otherwise.
Then he discovered a scattered group of like-minded young gays and lesbians who were beginning to coalesce into a community. They had a variety of backgrounds -- from secular Jews who had been involved in JCCs to Orthodox Jews who had been through yeshiva.
"JQ International evolved organically," said Gellis, who is now executive director of the Los Angeles-based organization, which focuses primarily on people in their 20s and 30s. "It's a true grass-roots organization. Once we had a critical mass of people, things just took off."
The upcoming Passover seder, which will be hosted by Hillel at USC on April 26, exemplifies the organization's focus on integrating Jewish and LGBT identities through activism and traditional observance. A distinctive feature of the event is the alternative Seder plate -- which holds a coconut.
"The coconut represents young closeted gay people," Gellis explains. "Even though they're sweet and tender-hearted on the inside, they're also stuck inside a hard shell. It's our way of remembering people who can't be with us because they're not out [of the closet] yet."
"Stories in gay and lesbian experience find a lot of parallels in the Passover story," said Kevin Shapiro, a member of JQ's board of directors and a graduate student in the MBA program at USC. "The main theme of Passover is exodus. The Jews went from being enslaved and not living lives of integrity to a period of freedom where they gained knowledge and a new level of awareness. That's a good mirror for the experience of coming out."
Shapiro joined JQ in 2004, after he heard about the organization through a friend and went to a Chanukah party where he met young people who were gay, Jewish and eager to integrate and deepen those identities through activism.
"I especially liked the fact that it was nondenominational," Shapiro said. "Everyone was there because of the common experience of being gay Jews, regardless of their background."
Shapiro also points out that JQ's haggadah is as much about recovering history as making it.
"Whether or not we've been out, we've always existed," he said. "That's why simply acknowledging our existence now isn't the same thing as inclusion or integration into the tradition."
full article
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