Jewish Federation of Cincinnati

David Harris

As I walked out of the airport in Boston, Valentine’s Day weekend began with a debilitating intake of burning cold air. I hustled myself into the cab that would take me to the Boston University Hillel, the familiar location of all three annual Nehirim LGBTQ Jewish Student Retreats. I, myself, was a second year attendee, returning in the hopes of having another life changing experience in the company of other LGBTQ identified Jews from across the United States and Canada.

The introduction was reminiscent of last year’s conference; people were nervous, excited, self-conscious, welcoming, and most of them just didn’t know what to expect. For our ice-breaker, we went around and introduced ourselves and shared our preferred gender pronouns. The evening program’s speaker was the legendary Rabbi Steve Greenberg, previously part of our Cincinnati community, he is now a true Bostonian. It’s safe to say his lecture moved everyone present and set the bar high for the sequence of programs to follow on Saturday.

Saturday’s workshops were not only fun and interactive, but so thought-provoking they left us all in discussion afterwards. I chose to attend three workshops: Using Organizing Tools to Make Change on Campus, Women Who Love Women in Rabbinic Literature, and What’s Queer About the Torah. Not only was the content unique and riveting, but the perspectives of so many differently identified people was astounding.

When the blizzard hit, we refused to be discouraged. The hospitality we experienced from the community of Boston was so amazing, I couldn’t be more grateful. When our keynote speaker, Professor Joy Ladin, was snowed in, we were worried our ending ceremony Sunday would be cut short, but we were able to Skype her in for a beautiful lecture along with an interactive question and answer portion. Being able to experience the openness, safeness, and loving environment with other LGBTQ identified Jews was a memorable and beautiful experience I would not have had without all of the work of Nehirim, Boston University Hillel, and the money provided to me by the Jewish Federation through the Opportunity Fund at Cincinnati Hillel.

After two additional unplanned days of my trip, my return to the seven inches of snow in Cincinnati was a relief to the several feet of snow I experienced while trapped with my new friends in Boston. On my way home from the airport, I stopped at UDF to get gasoline. The UDF employee I had seen regularly over the years was having a conversation with a regular customer. The customer began to comment on gay marriage, saying it was “unnatural” and meant to be “between a man and a woman.” To this, the employee responded calmly and respectfully, “Actually I don’t have a problem with it at all, I think it is natural and normal,” and the man apologized and left the store humbly, still thanking the employee. As he rang me up, I thanked him for saying what he said and told him that being able to stand your ground on human rights is important and does make a difference.

The fact that this happened on my way home from an LGBTQ conference is a beautiful coincidence. It was like I was standing in a moment where I saw that there was work to be done, but I also was able to see that we aren’t just standing still. There are people out there who care and who fight for all of us to be a respected and included part of the community. Being able to share that part of the story is the part that means something; the part that brings us together to make our community even stronger and even more inclusive, which is what I aim to do this year with our LGBTQ Jewish Student club, Gesher.