Cancel the Haredi Transgender! Washington Heights/Brooklyn SY Intersectionality
David Shasha
Cancel the Haredi Transgender! Washington Heights/Brooklyn SY Intersectionality
Poor Talia Avrahami cannot seem to catch a break.
Members of the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community had much to talk about over the Fall Holidays, as their flagship school, Magen David Yeshivah, was dealing with an LGBTQ issue:
The complete article follows this note.
I included that article in SHU 1080, believing that the matter was closed:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/KLhRqP4G4EA/m/6k78KV3pAQAJ
The issue was complicated by the fact that Avrahami did not disclose her gender identity, and continues to dress in the usual Haredi fashion.
Which says a lot about the Jewish affiliation of MDY and its love of Ashkenazi Haredim, and LGBTQ hate.
But once she agreed to leave her job, I did not think that we would hear about her again.
Not so fast!
The complete article follows this note.
Indeed, Avrahami and her husband found themselves kicked out of a YU-affiliated shul in the wake of the MDY fiasco.
What makes this part of the story so bizarre is that the Avrahamis were already knee-deep in the Washington Heights MISHPOCHEH, in both a personal and professional way.
YU has already been dealing with LGBTQ issues over its mishandling of a campus club:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/pW9qI39CgUk/m/gQ0vTDT4CAAJ
Things have not been going well for them in this regard:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-york-court-says-yeshiva-university-must-recognize-lgbtq-club/
As I have also pointed out in this context, the LGBTQ issue is being prosecuted while the alleged Heterosexual Rape by a member of the YU basketball team is being hushed up, in good Norman Lamm fashion:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/TM6-PjQlF8E/m/xhfFGzn4CAAJ
Being LGBTQ is bad, being a rapist is a matter to be covered up:
https://yucommentator.org/2022/06/yu-sued-for-covering-up-students-alleged-rape/
The Avrahamis appear to have had no problems with YU – until now.
Sadly, as we see in the ongoing financial corruption in the Syrian Jewish community, whose primary lay leader is a criminal who wore a wire to entrap other corrupt community members, and whose members are deeply tied into the Trump corruption, morality in this rarefied “Orthodox” world is a relative matter.
YU and the RCA harbored sex offenders, as we have seen in the Norman Lamm and Baruch Lanner cases:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/83Ci0oqx5x0/m/bAUUAOUUBgAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/-DOE981HO5E/m/6FIU4-kTBQAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/QJPHyJJygz4/m/veOWP-JwCAAJ
It should of course be remembered that the degenerate pedophile Lanner was a man of great distinction in the Syrian Jewish community of Deal, New Jersey:
https://www.jta.org/2002/06/21/ny/women-detail-abuse-by-lanner
I have written about Lanner in the context of Deal’s Rabbi Ezra Labaton, who led that community as the sex abuse was going on, and remained silent in the face of Lanner’s crimes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcdFEia2TvNUoa3OhzSisj1XdjZru3wamrrysvJ9Cxw/edit
Indeed, the common thread here is that both Lamm and Labaton showed no actual concern when confronted with the charges of pedophilia, but their respective communities have shown great resolve when it comes to cancelling LGBTQ individuals.
That is what is called Moral Relativism.
Clearly, rapists and child molesters are given free rein in the Modern Orthodox community, while the matter of gender identity and sexuality has become a matter for hysteria and automatic dismissal.
I suppose that the priorities are in correct order.
What can you expect in a world of Ashley Madison and its rabbinic enablers?
Just be careful for your children.
The Washington Heights Jews will not protect them – until it’s too late!
And, by the way, we are still waiting for married Lesbian, White Christian Supremacist Bari Weiss to weigh in on the Avrahami cancellation.
Do not hold your breath!
David Shasha
Transgender Woman Pushed Out of YU-linked Synagogue after Uproar over Day School Job
By: Luke Tress
NEW YORK — A transgender woman who was asked to leave her teaching position at a New York yeshiva after an uproar over her identity late last year said she has been ejected from a synagogue affiliated with Yeshiva University due to the ongoing controversy.
Talia Avrahami was asked to leave her job in September at the Magen David Yeshivah, a religious Jewish day school in Brooklyn, and agreed to step down after facing widespread harassment.
Avrahami told The Times of Israel last week that after she left her teaching position, she was also asked to leave Shenk Shul, an Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan that is linked to Yeshiva University, the flagship Modern Orthodox institution of higher learning in the US.
The university, known as YU, and the Orthodox community as a whole have been reckoning with how to welcome LGBTQ Jews, and the school has been embroiled in a yearslong controversy over its refusal to recognize a student Pride club.
Shenk Shul disputed Avrahami’s account, saying, “We have had several conversations with the Avrahamis and we understand their concerns.”
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The synagogue denied that Avrahami and her family had been asked to leave, but did not respond to requests for more information. Avrahami said the synagogue told her it “could not accommodate” her and her family.
Yeshiva University referred requests for comment to Shenk Shul and did not answer whether transgender individuals are welcome to attend services at university-affiliated synagogues and prayer groups.
Shenk Shul receives services and support from the university, according to YU’s website, and is housed in a building owned by the university.
Avrahami said the synagogue had urged her to leave in mid-November. Her family stopped attending at the time, but she had hoped to remedy the situation and arranged a meeting with the university’s leadership. When that meeting late last month didn’t go well, she decided to cut ties with the synagogue.
Avrahami shared text messages and an email exchange with the synagogue that supported her claim that she had been ejected from Shenk Shul, including an email refunding her membership dues.
Avrahami said she had approached the synagogue’s rabbi to ask if there had been any issues about her identity after the uproar over her job, hoping she could help smooth things over. The rabbi said there had been several complaints from synagogue members who didn’t feel comfortable with Avrahami attending services, and said he had been in touch with Yeshiva University over the issue. University administrators then instructed the rabbi to bar Avrahami and her family from attending, she said.
“We were very close with the rabbi and the rebbetzin,” Avrahami said, referring to the rabbi’s wife. “This is just a big shock.”
Avrahami and her husband, both from the US, met while studying in Israel and moved to New York to pursue studies at Yeshiva University. Avrahami has a master’s degree from the university in Jewish education, and is studying part-time for another degree in Jewish history. Her husband works at the university.
Avrahami said her life, and her husband’s, has revolved around Yeshiva University in recent years, and said the university had “been great to us,” but that things had soured after the controversy in the fall.
In that incident, she was asked to leave her teaching position at Magen David Yeshivah days after the school’s “parents night,” when the students’ parents visit the school to meet with teachers.
One of the parents apparently filmed Avrahami introducing herself and the video spread quickly online and in group chats, stoking controversy, as some accused her of being a man masquerading as a woman.
She was attacked on social media, community sites ran stories with accusatory headlines, and she started receiving harassing messages from strangers, as her phone number and social media accounts circulated. Someone filmed her leaving her apartment building with her husband and infant daughter, then posted the clip online.
The school then told her she was not a good fit for the social studies class and she agreed to leave.
“We respect this former instructor and after mutual agreement have parted ways in an amicable and professional manner,” the school told The Times of Israel at the time.
In another incident at Magen David Yeshivah, last month, the school fired a transgender woman, Zephyr Wingard, who worked in its kitchen. She was removed after less than two weeks on the job and told The Times of Israel she believed the firing was discriminatory due to abrasive treatment from her supervisor.
“I have a very effeminate appearance and my hair is very long,” she said last month. “I can tell you for a fact that because of the way that I present I feel like she was very taken aback and didn’t like it and made a conscious effort to make me feel extremely uncomfortable.”
She said she had complained about her work conditions, and got sick with the flu, then was fired over the phone. New York State law protects workers from gender discrimination and allows for needed sick days from the start of employment.
Wingard has filed a lawsuit against the school over the firing, according to a source with knowledge of the case.
Magen David Yeshivah declined to comment.
Avrahami and her family have moved to a different synagogue in the area after leaving Shenk Shul and she has been working as a substitute teacher.
LGBTQ rights in the Modern Orthodox community have come under the spotlight as YU battles in court to block a Pride club from recognition on campus amid a lengthy and acrimonious legal battle in which the school has claimed doing so would violate its religious rights.
The university says recognizing the club infringes on its religious beliefs. Gay sex and same-sex marriage are generally frowned upon in Orthodox Judaism, though there has been a growing movement within Modern Orthodoxy to welcome LGBTQ individuals.
The legal battle between the university and the Pride group began in 2020, when LGBTQ student activists accused the university of discrimination in a complaint to the city’s Commission on Human Rights, and then sued the university last year.
The legal dispute revolves around whether the university is a secular institution that must adhere to non-discrimination laws, or a religious one covered by the First Amendment’s protection for the free expression of beliefs.
From The Times of Israel, January 11, 2023
Brooklyn Yeshiva Asks Transgender Teacher to Leave Amid Uproar Over Her Identity
By: Luke Tress
BROOKLYN, New York — A transgender woman left her teaching position at an Orthodox Jewish New York City day school this week, after an uproar over her identity.
The teacher, Talia Avrahami, has faced widespread harassment in the past week over the issue and agreed on Friday to leave her position at the Magen David Yeshivah in Brooklyn.
“It’s sad to see that some people want to derail our lives,” Avrahami told The Times of Israel. “We’re questioning whether or not our entire lives are ruined or not. It’s tough.”
The school told her she was not a good fit for the social studies class.
The religious Jewish day school, or yeshiva, sent an email to parents over the weekend, saying, “Please be advised that beginning Monday, September 19th, your child will have a replacement teacher for Social Studies.”
“We respect this former instructor and after mutual agreement have parted ways in an amicable and professional manner,” the school told The Times of Israel. Avrahami said she could not discuss details of her resignation.
The incident has been widely discussed in online public forums in the religious New York Jewish community.
Avrahami was asked to leave days after the school’s “parents night,” when the students’ parents visit the school to meet with teachers.
One of the parents apparently filmed Avrahami introducing herself and the video spread quickly online and in group chats, stoking controversy, as some accused her of being a man masquerading as a woman.
Avrahami has since been targeted online and in person. She was attacked on social media, community sites ran stories with accusatory headlines, and she started receiving harassing messages from strangers, as her phone number and social media accounts circulated.
“They’re posting pictures of our family, they’re posting where we live, we’re getting death threats. They’ve somehow taken videos outside our home,” she said.
Someone filmed her leaving her apartment building with her husband and infant daughter on Friday, then posted the clip online.
Some of the news stories portrayed Avrahami as a man disguised as a woman, not as a transgender person, and have since been taken down.
“Agitators” dug up pictures of Avrahami from when she still presented as male, she said, and posted those photos alongside current pictures of her with her husband and child.
She said the harassment campaign was somewhat separate from the situation at the school. Until the last few days, she had had no major incidents related to her identity at work.
A couple of weeks into the school year, one of her students went to the board during a lesson and erased the “s” where she had written “Mrs. Avrahami,” making the sign read “Mr. Avrahami.” It wasn’t clear if the student was targeting her for being transgender, or joking with a friend, and Magen David quickly condemned the incident and told students it was unacceptable, she said.
Before the recent controversy, “everything was fine, and now everything’s not,” she said.
Avrahami and her husband were not raised Orthodox, and have devoted years to education and the community. A family friend who has helped her cope with the controversy described Avrahami as “hardcore Haredi,” or ultra-Orthodox, and said she strictly adheres to the community’s traditions when it comes to clothing and other customs.
The friend said being transgender in the religious community can actually be gender-affirming because some conventions are clearly defined.
“There are so many specific ways of dress and behaviors of frum woman that can be a positive experience,” the friend said, using a Yiddish word to indicate religiosity. “She checked off all the boxes — skirts, covering hair. She went above and beyond to go through the transition process.”
The couple are members of the Washington Heights Jewish community in Manhattan, which has been overwhelmingly supportive, Avrahami said. She and her husband regularly attend synagogue and host Shabbat dinners.
She also said younger members of the Orthodox Jewish community have been supportive since the controversy erupted. The Washington Heights community is mostly younger, she said, noting a “generational divide.”
“It kind of reinforces a lot of views that I had before, in that the kids are the future,” she said. Younger Orthodox Jews “have been steadfast in supporting me.”
“This is the future of even Orthodox Jews,” she said. “There is absolutely a place for transgender people in the Orthodox Jewish community and in halacha,” or Jewish law, she said. An online petition in support of the LGBTQ community at Yeshiva University, also embroiled in controversy, has accumulated 55 pages of signatures.
Avrahami and her husband, both from the US, met while studying in Israel and moved to New York to pursue studies at Yeshiva University. Avrahami has a masters degree from the university in Jewish education, and is studying part-time for another degree in Jewish history.
The family friend, who also works in the field of education, helped Avrahami find the job at Magen David at the end of the summer. She asked not to be named for privacy purposes, as the issue is so inflammatory in the community.
“She has every right to work in a Jewish day school,” her friend said.
The friend dismissed rumors that Avrahami had intended to get fired and file a lawsuit, pointing to the years and expenses she had invested in adopting the lifestyle and training to be a Jewish teacher.
“Talia has spent years of her life to become a frum woman, to teach in a yeshiva day school,” the friend said. “All she wants truly is to pass as a woman and live her life.”
“Years of her life becoming this person to have it all taken from her,” she said. “They deserve to be part of the Jewish community just like anybody else.”
“I’m an Orthodox Jewish woman who happens to be transgender, just like there are Orthodox Jewish women out there who happen to have red hair,” Avrahami said. “Before this whole incident, it wasn’t even something that I thought a lot about.”
“I don’t consider this a giant part of my identity and nobody else should.”
Avrahami has hired legal representation but it is unclear where the case will go.
New York law protects workers from discrimination or harassment based on characteristics including gender identity or expression.
On the Zev Brenner talk show, prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz said the Magen David and Yeshiva University cases both relate to freedom of religion in the education system.
“These are complicated, complicated issues, and justice has to be even. Justice has to be equal for everybody,” he said. “If this is a person who’s transitioning from one gender to another then they’ll probably be more protected than if they just engaged in out-and-out fraud in regard to that.”
He predicted that both Yeshiva University and Magen David would win cases in court, but said he did not know enough about the Avrahami case. The radio episode described the case as “an Orthodox man masquerading as a woman at a Brooklyn yeshiva who was fired.”
The family friend condemned the school and the community for the controversy.
“The community and Magen are all complicit, telling her and trans people, ‘You are not welcome.’ And what does that say about us, that only some people can be loved?” the friend said. “They’re just normal people trying to live their normal lives.”
“Hundreds of people are assuming nefarious intent,” she said. “Evil people cared enough to ruin her life.”
The controversy comes as New York yeshivas are already under fire for a perceived lack of secular education, and LGBTQ rights in the community are under the spotlight as New York’s Yeshiva University attempts to block a Pride club from recognition on campus. (Avrahami said her life and her husband’s life has revolved around Yeshiva University in recent years, and said the university “has been great to us.”)
Last week, New York State officials issued final approval to rules that will regulate secular education in non-public schools, after a years-long battle over curriculum that is a major point of contention for Haredi communities in New York.
The new regulations were approved after a New York Times investigation indicated yeshivas receive hundreds of millions in public funding, provide dismal secular education, and some mete out physical punishments against students.
The investigation roiled the religious community in New York, with community representatives, politicians, and other defenders of yeshivas accusing the newspaper of unfairly targeting Jewish schools.
Also last week, Yeshiva University, New York’s flagship Modern Orthodox university, banned all student clubs, as it seeks to avoid recognizing an LGBTQ group. The university has appealed to the US Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case, but conservative justices said the college can try again after it exhausts other appeals and would “likely win” before the nation’s highest court.
From The Times of Israel, September 20, 2022, re-posted to SHU 1080, December 7, 2022