Rabbi Amy
Jewish queer youth need to claim their space in Judaism and work to create a welcoming Jewish community. Rabbi Amy says, "My request to young Jewish queer people is to take the religion, belonging to the Jewish community, and their Jewish identity seriously. If you do, and you’re on the inside, you will help change Judaism for the better. And you will help change the Jewish people for the better. Everyone who says I’m done with this, it’s too heteronormative, it’s too family-focused, and it’s too patriarchal, I get it and I’ve heard all the arguments. If you walk away from it, it doesn’t change. I didn’t walk away. Because I leaned in harder, I am now senior Rabbi of one of the largest Reconstructionist synagogues as a queer woman."
Newer generations of Jews have incorporated traditions and rituals into Jewish Holidays that acknowledge and celebrate diversity. We must continue building on this momentum. Rabbi Amy encourages us to question, "How can we create ritual and lean into holiday observance in ways that feel more affirmative?" She explains, "It’s not just queer identity, we now have issues around race and gender. I think there is a whole range of folks who come to Judaism in different ways and who are different from what we normally think a Jew looks like. We must strive to affirm all of those identities and it's the young generation that's doing it. They are creating so many great rituals and more affirming representations of other kinds of Jewish lives. You young people are doing a great job and a beautiful job. Older generations need to pay attention. Each generation is going to have to figure out what they want to affirm, how they want to reconstruct Jewish rituals, and holiday observance to reflect that. That is our job and our work."
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