Storahtelling

Being a Better Jew Helps Me Become a Better Queer Helps Me Become a Better Jew
[From the Gay Pride issue of Alef: The NEXT Conversation]
by Jake Goodman

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם

אשר נתן לשכוי בינה להבחין בין יום ובין לילה
Praised be the Eternal One
Who gave my heart understanding to distinguish between day and night

I don’t know any great Truths
But
Sometimes
There is Right and there is Wrong
And I can understand the difference

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
שעשני ישראל
Praised be the Eternal One
Who has made me Yisrael

My instinct is to run away
To send everything I love down the river
To hide alone in the darkness
But I’ve struggled with my shame
And I won
I’m here to take what is mine
Even if I have to take it back
From you

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
שעשני בן חורין
Praised be the Eternal One
Who has made me to be free

Life has many closets
And my life’s work
Is to destroy every one of them

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
פוקח עורים
Praised be the Eternal One
Who helps the blind to see

• “As many as 40% of the homeless youth in the United States are LGBT.” (Source: Ali Forney Center)
• “There is no federal law that consistently protects LGBT individuals from employment discrimination; it remains legal in 29 states to discriminate based on sexual orientation, and in 38 states to do so based on gender identity or expression.” (Source: Human Rights Campaign)
• 1,138 rights and responsibilities are bestowed upon married couples. Additional rights and responsibilities come from state governments with a marriage license – 1,324 in New York State, to give one example. (Source: Empire State Pride Agenda)
• Since its implementation in 1994, more than 13,500 service members have been fired under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a law that mandates the discharge of openly gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. (Source: Servicemembers Legal Defense Network)

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם

מלביש ערמים
Praised be the Eternal One
Who clothes the naked

Lies!
Enabling delusion!
If not me, who?

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
מתיר אסורים
Praised be the Eternal One
Who releases the bound

I am Somebody
I deserve full equality
Right here
Right now
I am Somebody

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
זוקף כפופים

Praised be the Eternal One
Who straightens the bent

• Queer Rising’s National Freedom to Marry Protest, February 12th, 2010
• Get EQUAL’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Rally, May 2nd, 2010
• Queer Rising Confronts NY State Senator Joe Addabbo, who took hundreds of thousand of LGBT campaign donations, and then voted against marriage equality

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
שעשני לי כל צרכי
Praised be the Eternal One
Who has provided me every need

I have the time, the resources, the energy
To help those who do not have every need
I must step outside my own privilege

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
המכין מצעדי-גבר
Praised be the Eternal One
Who makes firm our footsteps

Now is the time for bold steps
I must step outside my own privilege

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
עוזר ישראל בגבורה
Praised be the Eternal One
Who girds Israel with strength

There was a time when we were weak
There was a time when we were the victims
There was a time when it took all our strength just to survive
For some, it is still that time
I must step outside my own privilege

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
עוטר ישראל בתפארה

Praised be the Eternal One
Who crowns Israel with splendor

We are powerful
We are subjects to no one
We are fabulous!
We are queens!
We must step outside our own privilege

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העןלם
הנותן ליעף כח
Praised be the Eternal One
Who gives strength to the weary

The odds against us are not too great
Full equality is not an idealistic impossibility
It is an inevitability
This is not a spectator sport
If I do not try to see and act outside of my own privilege
I will be on the wrong side of history