[Commentary] [USA] Transgender Jews: Breaking Down One Wall, Praying At Another
Stephanie Stevens
Idit Klein
Executive Director, Keshet
Transgender Jews: Breaking Down One Wall, Praying At Another
Posted: 12/ 2/11 11:45 AM ET
Last week, on a foggy night in northern Israel, I heard the news I was
waiting to hear for six years -- Massachusetts, my home state, had
finally passed a Transgender Equal Rights Bill. This new law offers
vital protections to transgender people in employment, housing and
credit, and explicitly includes trans people in the state's hate
crimes law.
I was in Israel on a 10-day trip with a group of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender American Jews, hosted by three LGBT Jewish
organizations -- Keshet <http://www.keshetonline.org/> , Nehirim
<http://www.nehirim.org/> and A Wider Bridge
<http://www.awiderbridge.org/> . We celebrated this legislative
victory together and, a few days later, commemorated Trans Day of
Remembrance, a day of mourning for transgender people whose lives were
cut short by violence. Though the whole group was excited by the
victory, it was especially meaningful for those of us who would return
home to a state with a new law on the books. I was proud to be part of
a Jewish community that responded to Keshet's repeated calls for
action to host letter-writing campaigns, organize phone banking,
testify at the State House and attend legislative hearings, and host
educational workshops about the importance of this bill. At last
count, more than 50 rabbis in Massachusetts publicly endorsed a
statement of faith based support for the bill drafted by the
Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality
<http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/Clergy-supports-transgender-rights-bill>
, which Keshet helped found.
Israel is a country in which life is rigidly defined by gender. This
is experienced most starkly at the Western Wall, known in Hebrew as
the Kotel. Traditionally, Jews all over the world pray in the
direction of the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish religious site. The
plaza in front of the massive stone wall is divided into two sections:
the right side for women, the left for men, with a barrier in between
that no one crosses. People pray at all hours of the day, sometimes
weeping, at the Wall. The crevices between the wall's stones are
packed with countless tiny slips of paper, each with a handwritten
prayer from a visitor. Even the greatest rationalists find themselves
moved by the fierce trust and hope in prayer, the power of faith that
is manifest in this space.
And yet, this is a space where women are still fighting
<http://womenofthewall.org.il/> for the right to read from the Torah
and where transgender people, whose gender identities or presentation
do not fall neatly into the two parts of the plaza, have no place at
all. This year, while standing at the Wall in the women's section, I
contemplated the unselfconscious ease with which I chose that part of
the prayer space; the full and accurate assumption that no one would
stare at me uncomfortably or act in any way as if I didn't belong
there. I remembered a story that Rabbi Stephanie Kolin, then a rabbi
at the largest Reform synagogue in New England, shared as part of her
testimony at the Massachusetts State House in April 2009. She
explained that she was leading a trip to Israel for young adults. When
they got to the Wall, one of the participants started to cry. Rabbi
Kolin described what happened next:
"He said, through his tears: 'I don't know what to do.' And,
gesturing to the right side of the Wall, he said: 'I don't belong over
there,' and gesturing to the left side, the men's side, he said: 'and
no one wants me over there.' And he cried some more and he told me
that all he wanted to do was approach what was sacred to his people,
to be part of his community, to be counted among the people."
How painful it is that in this most sacred of places, many trans
people must pretend to be other than who they truly are to take part
in a ritual so central and so celebrated that the image of the Kotel
graces every Israeli travel brochure I have ever seen. How ironic and
sad it is that Jews all over the world pray in the direction of a
place whose basic structure is exclusive.
Clearly, we have work to do in the realm of the sublime. And despite
passage of the Transgender Rights Bill here in Massachusetts, plenty
of work is ahead of us in the most mundane of spheres: restaurants,
shopping malls, hotels, bathrooms and other spaces of "public
accommodation" which lamentably were left out of the bill. This
particular victory is a bittersweet one. "On the one hand, it feels
great to know that Massachusetts has taken a stand that it's not ok to
discriminate against trans people; that we exist; that we're human
beings," said Eli Latto, a trans member of Keshet who was on the
Israel trip with me. "I think about a trans woman I used to work with
who was always on the verge of being kicked out of her apartment.
She's protected now." He continued, "But it's a major disappointment
that public accommodations weren't included. Trans people can still be
kept out of basic institutions that all of us encounter on a daily
basis, that all of us need access to -- grocery stores, restaurants,
public bathrooms. Every trans person I know feels afraid in these
settings."
The recitation of names on Trans Day of Remembrance -- giving voice to
thousands of trans people who were murdered for simply being
themselves -- bears terrible witness to Eli's words. In Jewish
tradition, when we mention the names of those who have died, we say,
"May their memories be a blessing."
As we emerge from the shadow of Trans Day of Remembrance, may the
memories of all those whose lives were violently cut short give us the
blessing of a steadfast commitment to justice and equality. And next
year, as we approach this day of mourning, I pray that not a single
additional name is added to the long list of those we lost.
--
Idit Klein is the executive director of Keshet
<http://www.keshetonline.org/> , a national organization that works
for the full inclusion and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender Jews in Jewish life. Led and supported by LGBT Jews and
straight allies, Keshet offers resources, trainings, and technical
assistance to create inclusive Jewish communities nationwide
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