#trans jews

Hello! I saw a post about sharing your story if you’re queer and Jewish and that’d be me! So here goes:
My name is Arthur Arbetman, I’m currently 16, and I’m a pansexual transgender guy. I knew I was Jewish before I knew I was queer. I was diagnosed with major depression in middle school, but realized it had went all the way back through elementary school. It was weird because there wasn’t an exact cause of it, so yanno at the time it was really stressful. I was very young, but I believe part of this was from an identity crisis I had. Not long after, in late middle school, with everyone still thinking I was a girl, I had started dating a long time best friend who was a girl. This came as a shock to my family. Soon after that, I had what at the time was called my bat mitzvah. One thing I have loved all my life is singing songs in services and I have a knack for doing Aaliyahs, given my rabbi provides me with samples to listen to. When I use to go to Sunday school even when I was feeling down constantly, sitting in the synagogue with light streaming through the stained glass windows on the high ceilings with music filling the air always cleared my mind for a moment or two. Unfortunately, things got a little worse for me. At first I didn’t realize what was wrong just that..I felt BAD. I knew it wasn’t external I knew it was something within myself. Looking in the mirror was hard. Getting myself to wash myself was hard. This, I now realize, was gender dysphoria. Every time someone misgendered me I felt a little stab of nausea. I won’t get too into the details, but I came out as trans to my parents. It took them about a year or two to really accept it. Luckily, they did. It took awhile but eventually they told everyone else about it, including our Jewish friends. Now my family is in a very reformed version of Judaism and don’t go to services all the time,but initially, I was very afraid to go to services even for small things. I was afraid to get asked questions I didn’t really know like “how did this start?” “How’d you pick your name?” or have people try and argue about my gender since it IS a religious space and not all religious people are very open to that sort of thing. So, needless to say, I often weaseled my way out of going. I also haven’t started T until recently so I don’t/didn’t look very masculine in a traditional sense. However, my rabbi reached out to my parents after he’d heard. He told them that if he can be there for me, he’d like to. It felt really good that perhaps the most passionately Jewish man in the community was supportive of me. The first time I’d went back was actually this year did Yom Kippur services. The rabbi had specifically seeked me out earlier to ask if I would take the honor of chanting one of the Torah Aliyahs. Of course, I didn’t refuse. I was really nervous when I practiced the song because of my voice. I could use a lower octave but then i wouldn’t be able to hit all of the notes and it’d sound sloppy and I didn’t want to insult the beauty of the text like that. I decided, to a bit of my dismay, to sing in a higher voice. It was ultimately more beautiful and flowed nice, however it sounded extremely feminine which gave me a bit of dysphoria. When the rabbi called me, he said “Arthur Arbetman” with a welcoming smile. I remembered feeling my heart beat loudly against my binder and how tight my chest felt. Nevertheless, I went up to the bima and chanted it. When I had finished the rabbi smiled at me and whispered “perfect.” I smiled back and went to my seat to finish they service. Afterward and at the break fast, many members of the congregation approached me to tell me just singing was beautiful and how much they enjoyed it. It surprised me since I honestly have trouble seeing myself in a high opinion, but it was very sweet to see how people went out of their way to be kind, which I think really says something about real Jews, ones who are open and accepting. I know that I always have people in the family that is my congregation, even if I am not particularly close to everyone.

Sorry it was kind of long you can probably cut some of it but!! This is a really cool thing that’s happening thank you!! I’m not extremely religious but I was raised Jewish and it’s just a part of me!! Thank you!!!!!

On May 18th host or attend a multi-generational #SAGEtable event “share food and experiences…create connections among generations.”

Are you going to host or attend a #SAGEtable meal? Who are your multi-generational Queer heroes? Who would be at your dream SAGE table event?

On May 18, @sageusa invites you to host or attend SAGE Table, a chance for LGBTQs of all ages to sit down, strengthen community, and forge new traditions. Follow @sageusa or the link in our bio and please host or attend a SAGE Table in your community. . In support of SAGE Table, @lgbt_history worked with the incredible @levijfoster and @mh0ffman to create “The Families We Make,” a series bringing together queer activist heroes of all ages. This post is part of that series; swipe right to see Levi’s portrait. . Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer met in 1963, began dating in 1965, and got engaged in 1967. They spent decades fighting for LGBTQ liberation. . In 2007, after thirty years of living with progressive MS, Thea was given a year to live. As they couldn’t legally marry in New York, the couple wed in Toronto. . After Thea’s death in 2009, Edie had to pay substantial federal taxes on her wife’s estate, whereas a heterosexual widow would not have paid any taxes; the different treatment arose from Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which applied “spouse” only to opposite-sex couples. Edie sued and fought to the Supreme Court, which declared Section 3 unconstitutional, paving the way for 2015’s marriage equality ruling. . @sageusa has a special place in Edie’s heart. She is a former board member and a winner of @sageusa’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and she took great comfort in the SAGE community after Thea’s death. . As @levijfoster’s portrait shows, it didn’t take long for Edie and @raymondbraun to hit it off. Raymond, a media personality, activist, and entrepreneur who has been named, among other things, one of the world’s most influential LGBTQs by OUT magazine, has an unrelenting passion for fairness and equality, especially when it comes to LGBTQ youth; he is engaged, engaging, hyper-intelligent, and compassionate. . Because of @sageusa, these two incredible activists shared space, made plans, and gave each other strength. We all can make these connections on May 18 by participating in SAGE Table. . Pictures: (1) Edie & Thea, Halloween, 1981. c/o Edie Windsor; (2) Edie & Raymond, New York City, April 20, 2017. Photo by @levijfoster. #SAGETable

A post shared by lgbt_history (@lgbt_history) on May 4, 2017 at 11:16am PDT

Sword Magen David ⚔️

also made a trans version! this is my original design (I am a trans jew) and was made to represent the Star of David and the strength of the Jewish people.

will be available as a necklace soon so stay tuned :)

stop capping

red sus

green sus

blue sus

paraparathecow:

magnetothemagnificent:

Thinking about how trans the story of Yosef is….

Yosef was the son Rachel and Yaakov always wanted. He is described as feminine- adorning his hair, painting his face. His brothers see him as different, they hate him. He’s banished from his home and left to figure himself out in a foreign country. When his brothers see him again, they don’t recognize him.

They don’t recognize him because he has transformed into who he was meant to be.

Now, I don’t know how Yosef would have identified if he were alive today.

Midrash describes Yosef’s soul as having been switched with his sister Dina’s.

Whether he was gay, bi, intersex, or trans is something we’ll never know.

But his story resonates so deeply with me, just another Jewish person who made a huge transformation and became unrecognizable.

Didn’t his brothers hate him because of the sheer arrogance in which he described his dreams? (And the fact that he was treated better than all his siblings by his parents)

His brothers hated him because he was different. Midrash tells us that it was because Yosef was effeminate, and would do his hair and colour his lips “like the women do”. There was also an element of jealousy to his brothers’ treatment of him, but it’s important not to discount the element of “distrust of the different.”