UPCOMING PROGRAMS/EVENTS
LOCAL RESOURCES
Eshel - Eshel’s mission is to create a future for Orthodox lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, and their families. Through its innovative and culturally sensitive programming, Eshel supports LGBTQ Jews, opening hearts, minds and doors in traditional Jewish communities.
JACS Toronto Rainbow Group - JACS delivers education, programming, care and support to all those affected by addiction in the Jewish Community and beyond. This group is a safe space for 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals to discuss their issues surrounding substance use and related mental health issues.
Jewish Queer Youth - JQY (Jewish Queer Youth) supports and empowers LGBTQ Jewish youth with a special focus on teens and young adults from Orthodox, Chassidic, and Sephardi/Mizrahi communities. JQY fights to ensure the emotional and physical health and safety of this population. Our goal is for all these individuals to know: You are a valued member of the Jewish community and you are not alone.
JF&CS LGBTQ2S+ Services - JF&CS is committed to being a safe space for the LGBTQ2S+ Community. We offer counselling, groups and workshops to individuals and families as well and welcome folks of all sexual orientations and gender identities at our existing groups and workshops. We also offer support and training to organizations on being more inclusive.
Keshet - Keshet works for the full equality of all LGBTQ Jews and our families in Jewish life. We strengthen Jewish communities. We equip Jewish organizations with the skills and knowledge to build LGBTQ-affirming communities, create spaces in which all queer Jewish youth feel seen and valued, and advance LGBTQ rights nationwide.
LGBTQ+ Jewish book list from the Jewish Book Council! - Jewish Book Council, founded in 1943, is the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the support and celebration of Jewish literature. They have compiled a list of books featuring LGBTQ+ Jewish narratives.
Nonbinary Hebrew Project - We are building a bigger tent for nonbinary Jews through a third-gender grammar systematics for Hebrew, guided by our Torah and Talmud that teach us to rejoice that which cannot be neatly categorized. This project is free, open-source, community-based, and grassroots. It lives and grows and changes with every single person who uses and adds to it.
Ontario Jewish Archive’s LGBTQ+ Stories - The Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre is the largest repository of Jewish life in Canada. Here you can find the OJA’s compiled list of LGBTQ+ stories from Ontario’s Jewish community.
SVARA - SVARA’s mission is to empower queer and trans people to expand Torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of Talmud study. We offer year-round learning, served up the old-fashioned way: hardcore, queer, and radically inclusive.
Queering the Jewish Wedding - The aims of this project are to in-gather and archive Queer-Jewish weddings and union ceremonies of all kinds, interview the folks who crafted them, and create a video artwork and expansive resource from what's been shared. If you have had, have officiated, or are planning a Queer-Jewish wedding, we'd love your contribution!
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
SUPPORT OUR WORK
We’re so proud of the team we’ve put together, and the outstanding line-up of programs and events we offer. Now we’re hoping we can count of you to support us! We’re still in the early stages of this work but we have lots of plans that will need financial support! Any amount helps.
At LGBTQ+ at the J there is no right way to be Queer, and no right way to be Jewish; there's certainly no right way to be both. Our programs aim to support diverse, pluralistic, and accessible community at the intersection of LGBTQ+ and Jewish identities and experiences. We bring Queerness into Jewish moments and bring Jewishness into Queer life, striving for spaces where everybody can bring their full self. We both celebrate and amplify LGBTQ+ Jewish people and stories, in recognition of their inherent value. Interested in more information? Scroll through our webpage or contact Emunah Woolf, our Community Programmer, at emunahw@mnjcc.org.
ABOUT US
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LGBTQ+ at the J: Soul Candles - Sunday, Sep 25, 6-8 pm
Facilitated by artist Sof Kreidstein, this creative workshop is focused on the old Ashkenazi custom of making soul candles out of beeswax. This centuries-old practice, called feldmestn (Yiddish) was carried out by women in Eastern Europe who would measure the graves of their ancestors with wick thread, making candles as a connective channel between the dead and the living.
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Pink Triangle Holocaust Museum Tour - Wednesday, Sep 18, 7-9 pm
Join LGBTQ+ at the J for a guided tour of Toronto's Holocaust Museum, focusing on survivor stories that fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. These often forgotten and invisabilized narratives deserve space to be remembered. We will walk through the museum together, and follow the tour with a reflective debrief.
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Queer Waters: Tashlich at Hanlan's Point - Sunday, Oct 6, 10 am-12 pm
LGBTQ+ at the J invites you to our second annual Queer Waters: Tashlich at Hanlan’s Point. Literally translating to “casting off”, taschlich is traditionally done on the second day of Rosh Hashanah or in the days before Yom Kippur. Many Jews go to a moving body of water to welcome the new year and symbolically cast into the water what we would like to leave behind. We bring this ancient practice into the present moment, recognizing that the water is our teacher and we are all connected to ourselves, to one another, and to the nature around us. Hanlan’s point is one of the Toronto Islands, and its beach faces west, allowing us to watch the sunset as we engage with this ritual. LGBTQ+ community has gathered at Hanlan’s Point since the 1950s, and the first Gay Pride celebration took place on this beach in 1971. We will bring our Jewish practices and community to this queer landmark as we enter the new year together.
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LGBTQ+ at the J: Shabbat Chanukah Potluck - Friday, Dec 27, 6-8:30 pm
Join LGBTQ+ at the J for our quarterly Shabbat dinner potluck, this time in celebration of Shabbat Chanukah! We'll bring the latkes, you bring whatever dish you want to share with community, Chanukah-related or otherwise. You'll get a chance to meet new friends, share a vegetarian potluck dinner, and learn some queer Chanukah Torah.