Liberation means no longer facing that kind of oppression, Luckner adds. The Seder is not Luckner’s first time holding an LGBTQ event at his Hillel. In November 2016, Luckner hosted a Transgender Day of Remembrance. The service was dedicated to mourning recent deaths of transgender individuals. Luckner says the transgender community’s struggle for acceptance in religious spaces is the motivation for the day of remembrance.
PHOTO COURTESY TRINITY COLLEGE HILLEL
Trinity College students gathered at the Zachs Hillel House to participate in Rainbow Shabbat, celebrating the connection between Judaism and LGBTQ rights in the United States and in Israel.
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• Jewish Life on Campus
PHOTO COURTESY AMERICAN UNIVERSITY HILLEL
“ Now I am proud to be gay, I am proud to be Jewish, and I am proud of my Israeli community”
“Taking that religious space, [the Hillel], and giving these people that importance” when they were not considered important during their lives “was something that I thought was needed,” Luckner says. At the end of the service, attendees share what action they will take to stop violence against the transgender community. Luckner is “going to Students from American University keep doing this Hillel preparing rainbow challah for the work and keep Rainbow Shabbat. being active and trying to bring people together.” Hillels elsewhere incorporate LGBTQ discussion into their Shabbat programming.