Refusing to give up on each other
Jewish Mosaic’s Bay Area directory, Karen Erlichman, and Rev. Janice Steele of Imani Community United Church of Christ wrote a call to action that begins, “we have been reflecting with great sadness and horror about the recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum in DC by James Von Brunn, a man whose hatred of Jews and African-Americans was well known and well documented.” Click here to read the full story.

Social Justice as Spiritual Practice
Jewish Mosaic’s director of the San Francisco Bay Area office, Karen Erlichman, would like to remind us that “as we are engaged in interfaith community organizing with other LGBT people, there are times when secular political events are scheduled on Shabbat or on a Jewish holiday. This has been particularly relevant with regard to interfaith activism for marriage equality, especially given this week’s disappointing California Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8.” Click here for the rest of her reflections on social justice as a spiritual practice.

Bay Area Needs Assessment Jewish Mosaic’s Bay Area LGBT Jewish Needs Assessment is now in its final stages. Commissioned by the Federations of the West Bay and East Bay, this assessment will facilitate important strategic planning for the Bay Area Jewish Community. Earlier this week, Jewish Mosaic staff met with a group of Bay Area community leaders to discuss preliminary findings of the study and next steps. In the coming weeks, we will be finishing a final wave of interviews with a diverse mix of LGBT Jews and drafting the final report. Stay tuned!

Our Family Coalition LGBTQ Family Survey
Our Family Coalition strives to make their programs and work responsive to our evolving community and to meet the many challenges the New Year will bring. Thus they are very excited to launch their bi-annual Our Family Coalition LGBTQ Family Survey. Your input is critical in helping them know who you are and what you want from Our Family Coalition, and to plan their programming accordingly. The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete and if you chose, participants will be entered into a raffle for one of three Target $50 gift cards. This year they want to spread the word far and wide, getting input from as many LGBTQ parents/caregivers and prospective parents as possible. Please forward this information to anyone who fits the bill. Share your thoughts and fill out our survey online by clicking here.

LGBT Jewish clinical & social services training (announced December 19, 2008)
Jewish Mosaic is launching its LGBT Jewish Clinical and Social Services Training Initiative to provide continuing education and training for professionals working with LGBT Jews and their families in Jewish clinical/social service settings. This initiative, which will pilot in the San Francisco Bay area, will offer an integrated approach to professional development that blends Jewish texts and resources, LGBT cultural competency, and clinical and social services skill building. As part of this new initiative, Jewish Mosaic has officially become a Continuing Education Provider for licensed clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists in California. For more information, contact Jewish Mosaic’s Bay Area director, Karen Erlichman, by calling 415-652-2210.

Latkes, Vodkas and More: A Pre-Chanukah Celebration
On Thursday, December 18, Jewish Mosaic joined Congregation Sha’ar Zahav and The LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, the recently formed LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation of the East Bay and more then twenty Bay-area organizational partners from both the LGBT and Jewish Communities, for LATKES, VODKA AND MORE: A Pre-Chanukah celebration. This event was held at the LGBT Community Center in San Francisco.

Kol Tzedek: forging an intra-faith alliance
Originally coming together in the summer of 2008 to celebrate the California Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriages, and then to attempt to defeat California’s Prop 8 in the November elections, four Bay Area Jewish organizations (Jewish Mosaic, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, the LGBT Alliance of the San Francisco Federation, and the Progressive Jewish Alliance) banned together to form Kol Tzedek (“voice of justice”). Read the Zeek article, Fighting for Same-Sex Marriage Rights: How San Francisco Jews Forged and Intra-faith Alliance for more information about what brought them together and how they make it work.

Milk and More!
Monday, December 1, 2008, 6:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 1881 Post Street, at Fillmore, San Francisco. In light of the disappointing passage of Proposition 8, The Jewish Community Federation invites you to a special event which includes a private screening of Milk, followed by a no-host reception. For more information, and to view the trailer, please click here.
Sponsored by: Business Leadership Council (BLC), LGBT Alliance, Young Adults Division, American Jewish World Service, AWJS-AVODAH Partnership, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
Contact: LGBT Alliance, 415.369.2863, lgbt@sfjcf.org.

Hineini: Cheshbon HaNefesh and Standing in the Tragic Gap
Rosh Hashana 5769/2008, by Karen Erlichman
A few months ago I was talking with the lovely Julie Batz (one of the spiritual leaders of our congregation) about my current career path, and attempting to figure out what next steps to take.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity is conducting a study in partnership with Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, and the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.

Want to know more? Click here.

Attention Transgender Californians!
From The Transgender Law Center: “The Transgender Law Center needs 500 more transgender, transsexual and gender-fabulous Californians to take the state’s first survey on Transgender Economic Health. The survey – in English and Spanish – was created to learn about the work and health needs of transgender adults. We want to use the results to help transgender health and employment programs throughout California (and are happy to share the results). But we need your help! Please complete the survey today and share it with others in our community!” For more information, please go to http://www.jewishmosaic.org/page/load_page/141.

Breaking the glass, making history: Same-sex couples say, I do
J. – the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California ran this article, which features both Jewish Mosaic diversity trainer, Sharon Papo, and Jewish Mosaic San Francisco Bay Area director, Karen Erlichman. Read Breaking the glass, making history: Same-sex couples say, I do for more about how same-sex marriages are politically validating, and a big deal for all, not just the LGBT community.

Karen Waxing Poetic on Same-Sex Marriage
Check out who made LiveLeak’s coverage of the celebrations in San Francisco – Rebecca Weiner, director of Children and Family Education at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, Rabbi Sydney Mintz from Congregation Emanu-El, and Jewish Mosaic’s very own Karen Erlichman, director of Jewish Mosaic’s San Francisco Bay Area office. Mazel tov to all who celebrated the simchah of marriage!

A Jewish Perspective on ENDA – By Karen Erlichman
What does Judaism teach us about discrimination in the workplace? How can we respond to the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) from a spiritual perspective? Karen Erlichman, the director of Jewish Mosaic’s San Francisco Bay Area office, offers some answers in an essay she wrote for the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program.

To read the entire essay click here.

The Ronald P. Wilmot Scholarship Fund
The Bureau of Jewish Education is offering undergraduate and graduate scholarships to the children of gay and/or lesbian parent(s). For more information, please visit: www.bjesf.org/financial_collegestudy.htm

Nehirim West—Outside San Francisco Nehirim is proud to announce Nehirim West, our first weekend retreat in California, created in partnership with JewishMosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity. The retreat will take place March 7-9, 2007, outside of San Francisco, and will be directed by Julia Watts Belser.

For more information please visit: http://www.nehirim.org/west/index.shtml

Jewish Mosaic is a co-sponsor of this event