Tomorrow evening, thousands (tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands?) of Jewish college students across the United States will “go to†their Hillel center or a Chabad house or another Jewish communal setting, say Erev Shabbat prayers, sing blessings and songs, and eat Shabbat dinner with their fellow Jewish students. And I’ll be one of them.
Some “go to Shabbat†on college campuses to immerse themselves in the spiritual experience of the Shabbat evening prayer service, some come for the food, and some come for other reasons. I try to go each week to “be with my people†in a sense. The liberal Jewish environment is one in which I feel very comfortable and welcome, a place that I can call a home away from home if you will. The cultural practice of setting aside at the very least Friday night for resting, relaxing, and being with friends and family is as important to me as prayer is to some weekly Shabbat evening attendees.
We in Swarthmore Hillel have a practice of organizing “themed†Shabbatot, in which we try to structure our Shabbat experience by exploring different aspects of Judaism and the worldwide Jewish religious and/or cultural experience, for example ‘Ethiopian Shabbat’, ‘Eco-Shabbat’, or ‘Medieval Shabbat’. This week is ‘Queer’ Shabbat, in which we will learn about the intersection of Jewish and queer identity and the struggles of Jews who identity with part of the GLBTQ spectrum, something which I know next to nothing about.
‘Queer Shabbat’ is part of the week-long Swarthmore College event called ‘Coming Out Week’. I see ‘Queer’ Shabbat as an example of true, organic, ground-up exploration of Judaism by students who are actively engaged in questioning and re-interpreting their faith and identity. I guess this is what is meant by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s idea that Judaism is always reconstructing itself. If Swatties want to learn and talk about being queer and Jewish, they will and this will form a substantive Jewish experience for those in attendance at tomorrow’s Hillel Shabbat services and dinner. I hope to report back next week on what I learned about the queer Jewish identity and experience, but I can’t comment as of now because I know very little about the multiple issues at hand. But I can say that much thought has been given to the event and the issues to be discussed, and I’m proud to be part of liberal Jewish organization that wants to grapple with the intersection of Judaism and queer identity in the modern day. Thoughts?
