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Category: Gender & Sexual Identity

What Would Shekhinah Say?
By Joy Ladin
February 28, 2019
I kept falling into this poetic form of idolatry
Design Your Own Ritual with a Little Help from a Rabbi
By Rabbi Kami Knapp
August 2, 2017
Ritual helps us pay attention. From the joy of a recovery to the grief of a funeral, ritual helps us inhabit the breadth of human experience.
Queer Families
By Ariana Katz
January 25, 2017
Building queer family is an act of resistance.
It Could Have Been Me
By Rabbi Nathan Weiner
July 6, 2016
It could have been me. I could have retreated to the safe space of a gay bar or club in order to dance with a man, to hold his hand, to kiss him in safety. One of my safe havens, a safe space for LGBT people like me, has come under attack. My lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters have been killed. And it could have been me. 
Song of Songs: Composing a New Ancient Love Song for Two Women
By Alexander Massey
June 27, 2016
When my friends Ella and Natasha were getting married, I wanted to offer them music for their wedding based on traditional biblical text. The challenge was that there was, of course, no explicit biblical narrative of a same-sex marriage. 
The Heart of Pride: Be Who You Are
By Rabbi Rachel Weiss
June 2, 2016
I believe that the heart of Pride has to do with love. In the midst of the book of Leviticus we find the three words: “v’ahavtah l’re’akha camokha”—You shall love your fellow as yourself.
Meet Henny Wenkart: Holocaust Survivor
By Hila Ratzabi
April 26, 2016
This Sunday, at the Ethical Society in Philadelphia, Ritualwell goes offline to celebrate Jewish women writers with a special program called "Embodied Ritual, Embodied Writing." The very special woman who inspired the endowment of this program is a poet named Henny Wenkart. The Wenkart Writer-in-Residence program was established through Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies, at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
What would Queen Esther say?
By Rabbi Roni Handler
June 13, 2014
We shared ideas for new rituals and prayers and worked together in hevrutah (with partners) to create new additions that honor, celebrate, and offer support for the experiences of transgender and genderqueer people.
Two Women Marrying in the Tradition of Moses and Israel
By Rabbis Jaimee Shalhevet and Helayne Shalhevet
July 19, 2013
We wanted a traditional Jewish wedding, but, as two women, we weren’t a traditional Jewish couple. 
A Guide to LGBTIQ Resources on Ritualwell
By Ritualwell
February 1, 2013
Ritualwell maintains a large collection of rituals, prayers and blessings that addresses the concerns and life experiences of people in LGBTQ communities. As a progressive Jewish site, our goal is to present LGBTQ material as integral to contemporary Jewish life.

The Reconstructionist Network

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Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

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Join the Ritualwell community to read and discuss examples of hope expressed in writing through song, story, humor and metaphor that will stir you to think about where hope lives within you.

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