JVOICES.COM

x-posted from the Jewish Chronicle
In my Orthodox world, an ‘invisible mechitzah’ prohibits valuable friendships.
I had tea with my friend David the other day. And it was fun. But when I told my husband that I went to tea with a classmate — a male classmate — his face was less than sunny. It contorted with [...]

Please consider contributing an essay for an anthology on the subject of Jews and Transgender. I am eager to hear from representative Jewish voices in trans, gender variant and intersex communities. Persons of any gender or no gender or shifting gender, please feel welcome to contribute. Jews with no relationship to Judaism, secular [...]

Check out this opportunity if you’re in the Providence, RI area!
Therapy with GLB/TGI Clients: Raising Clinician Awareness and Identifying Treatment Approaches
Presenters: Y. Gavriel Ansara, Liz Cantor Ph.D., Beth (Stump) Olsen
Venue: Psychological Ctrs, Inc./URI Counseling Ctr Training Program
Date: Friday, February 29th, 2008 Time: 8:30-4:30 a.m.
Credits: 6 Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists, social workers, mental [...]

Written for Torah Queeries:
27 Tevet 5768
Exodus 6:2 - 9:35, Comment on this essay
Parashat Vaera offers deep insight into the insecurity and hesitation many of us experience when challenged to respond to injustice, providing a concrete example of the power of advocacy and the importance of being an ally. The parasha commences with Moses, a man [...]

“Androgynos is in some manners equivalent to men and in some manners equivalent to women; in some manners equivalent to both men and women; and  in some manners equivalent to neither men nor women.�
(Mishnah  Ze’raim, Bikkurim)
I don’t know how many men have studied this text in yeshivah or on
candlelit kitchen tables over the centuries. As [...]

Last week I went to Nehirim, the queer shabbaton up at Camp Isabella Freedman in Connecticut, after mixed reviews from friends who had attended last year. Despite going in with reservations, I had a fabulous time; many attendees were there for the first time and open to new experiences, I made several friends who I [...]

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is our favorite quote from this, very weird, parsha. It is also the mantra of our congregation. But getting to the weird part, YHWH is forever screeching that she is our one and only god. This week, however, She commands us to send offerings to another deity! Azazel is a [...]

Physician-assisted abortion after the 24th week of pregnancy is illegal in Massachusetts. Self-induced abortion, as it turns out, is illegal at any point during pregnancy, and could even lead to homicide charges.

Parashat Terumah
The Gift of Safe Space
by Y. Gavriel A. Levi Ansara on Saturday February 24, 2007
6 Adar 5767
Exodus 25:1 - 27:19,Shabbat
Parashat Terumah opens with G-d speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanding him in meticulous detail regarding the construction of the Mishkan, or “tabernacle,� the portable dwelling place of G-d’s presence that the Israelites [...]