Jewish Mosaic’s Bay Area Director, Karen Erlichman, will be speaking in San Francisco’s Union Square on January 10 at the WOW prayer event protesting the arrest of a woman in Israel for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall. Karen’s speech is one of a series of You Tube videos capturing the event.

Amanda Simpson, a multiply-degreed physicist for the defense industry with three decades of experience, has been appointed to serve the Department of Commerce as a senior technical advisor for weapons technology export. A Boston Herald article covers her Jewish past as well as her transition from male to female. Joanne Herman at the Huffington Post blogs about the history of transgender appointments to the Obama administration (she’s not the first), and also about the history of federal employment discrimination against transgender people that has very recently, and with little fanfare, been made illegal.

As radical Ugandan bills supporting extreme punishment for homosexual behavior move forward in the process of becoming Ugandan law, Ruth Messinger of the AJWS urges Jews to echo the call for compassion already spoken by leaders of other faith traditions (including the Pope).

Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social work and the YU Tolerance Club sponsored a panel discussion called, “Being Gay in the Orthodox World,” in which 1 YU student and 3 former students spoke about the challenges of being Orthodox and gay to a standing-room only crowd. A Curious Jew blogger Chana posted an unnofficial transcript of the event. Partial video of the event is available on Vimeo. Rabbi Mayer Twersky presented a shiur (teaching) strongly criticising the event, (available as an audio download or as a transcription ) suggesting that the compassion for gays expressed by this forum can lead to an erosion of Orthodox halacha that condemns homosexual behavior as toevah (abomination). One of the panel participants countered each point in R Twersky’s shiur. Pulpit Rabbi Herschel Billet disagreed with R Twersky’s assertion, and suggested that compassion does not lead to halachic compromise. A blogger from the JTA Telegraph picked up on the distinction between rabbis who serve from the pulpit and the ivory tower of the yeshiva. If you have the time to dedicate, the commentary on each of these articles is also immensely interesting. Also covering the event and its aftermath were Jewschool (with lots of interesting links) and the Jewish Star (with photographs of the event).

The GLAAD Media Fellowship was created to develop new leadership in the movement for LGBT equality and provide a unique opportunity to build experience in media activism by working nearly full time in GLAAD offices and being supervised and mentored by GLAAD’s staff in Programs and Communication. GLAAD Media Fellows have worked in our National News Media Program, People of Color Media Program for Asian Pacific Islander Communities, and Public Relations.

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST) seeking full-time Assistant Rabbi/Family Educator

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST). A Synagogue for People of All Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities, is seeking a full-time Assistant Rabbi to begin August 16, 2010. CBST was founded in 1973 and is unaffiliated. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has served as the Senior Rabbi since 1992. Congregation Beth Simchat Torah is a spiritual home for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Passionate, provocative, and deeply Jewish, our community engages in spirited debate and activism: rejoicing in diversity, denouncing social injustice wherever it exists, and striving for human rights for all people.

The position will include:

-A major focus (50%) of this position is on the education, programming, services for families with children. We are looking for someone who is passionate about working with children, preferably someone with at least 3 years experience. Most of our children are under 8 years old. The Assistant Rabbi will organize and lead all HHD services, Shabbat and yomim tovim services for families with children. The Assistant Rabbi will organize, teach and supervise all educational programs for families with children. The Assistant Rabbi will be responsible for the hiring and supervision of all teachers and songleaders as necessary. We will look to the Assistant Rabbi to develop outreach and new programming for families with children. The Assistant Rabbi will be the primary rabbi for all pastoral needs with the families with children. Currently, we have two Shabbat mornings a month for families with children and some Friday night programs as scheduled. The Assistant Rabbi will work closely with the education committee (both for adults and children).

- General pastoral counseling (including working with members who are dealing with: coming out issues, Aging issues, Queer issues, being LGBT and Jewish, aging parents, parenting, spiritual crisis, AIDS and other illnesses and related issues, gender identity issues);

- Directing, programming and teaching in the Lehrhaus Judaica, (our adult education program) including our adult b’nai mitzvah program;

- Performing lifecycle rituals, (baby namings, conversions, funerals, kiddushin, divorce/separation, adult and young adult b’nai mitzvah and creative new rituals);

- Some pulpit responsibilities;

- Representing CBST in the broader communities; - Assisting in supervision of Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Interns;

The Assistant Rabbi/Family Educator will work closely under the supervision and mentorship of Rabbi Kleinbaum.

- Applicants are welcome from any of the Jewish Movements. All are welcome to apply regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Preference is given to those with at least three years experience working with families with children and education course work or degree. We are looking for someone who is detail oriented, self-motivated, has personal spiritual depth, creative, excellent communication skills (written and oral), computer savvy, has excellent follow through, works well on a team.

Please send a cover letter and resume to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum/CBST/57 Bethune Street/New York, NY 10014 or rabbi@cbst.org by February 8, 2010.

For more information about CBST please consult our website: www.cbst.org

The Progressive Jewish Alliance in the Bay Area is sponsoring NewGround a fellowship program for Jewish and Muslim students interested in exploring issues of faith, gender, diversity, and social transformation. Participants will develop skills to engage in productive conversation to address conflict, and to build positive partnerships. Application materials are included in the link, above.

Rabbi Elliot Kukla looks back at the Jewish response to HIV in an article for My Jewish Learning.

Kol Tzedek announces resources for Transgender Day of Remembrance 2009.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Jewish Mosaic staffers Karen Erlichman and Noach Dzmura attended a San Francisco meeting of Jewish organizations and individuals with two areas of focus: 1) interest in forming burial societies that are inclusive of LGBT people, and 2) interest in developing training for non-LGBT burial societies about end-of-life issues for LGBT people. Organizations represented included the Jewish Healing Center and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in addition to Jewish Mosaic. Please email Noach@jewishmosaic.org to stay in the loop. This past week in the East Bay, Congregation Chochmat ha Lev and the Aquarian Minyan are forming a Chevra Kadisha with shared membership. Noach Dzmura was in attendance, and information about burial of transgender and gay membership (and community members) was received with compassionate welcome.