Pesach and the LGBTQ Experience

Congregation Or Chadash presents a workshop series continuing

March 1–March 22, culminating in a communal Seder on May 3.

Although there is no charge for any of the workshops or for the community seder, registration is required.

Register Now!

Pesach is zman heiruteinu, the time of our freedom. On Pesach, we celebrate liberation. Yitziat Mitzrayim, Exodus from Egypt, is the Jewish people’s archetypal narrative of liberation. The rabbis remind us that each of us is to tell the story of our people’s liberation from Egypt as if we personally were redeemed. For LGBTQ Jews, this narrative of liberation is very close to our hearts. We know the oppression of places of constriction. This is what being closeted is. We also know the joy of liberation and moving from places of constriction to the openness of the desert. This is what coming out of the closet is. We know the uncharted spaces of wilderness travel — the fear, the doubt, the walking in the world in new and uncertain ways. And more and more, with marriage equality and other forms of LGBTQ inclusion, we know the feeling of homecoming, of entering into the Promised Land.

The purpose and intention of our yearly participation in the Passover seder is not simply to recall or re-enact our people's ancient story of liberation.  Rather, we engage creatively with our texts, traditions, each other and our own experiences.  In Passover's themes of liberation from oppression, the journey from slavery to freedom, rebirth and renewal, the holiday provides a powerful Jewish context for healing from homophobia, discrimination, the coming out process, internalized homophobia and the pain these cause.  These workshops, the compilation of a Haggadah and the Seder itself all offer great potential to provide healing.

In each of the 8 professionally facilitated workshop sessions, which begin February 8 and continue through March 22nd, taking place in various Chicago and suburban locations, we will engage in a process of reflection and discovery to create written and artistic works, some of which will be incorporated into the Haggadah used during a community Seder on May 3rd.  The program offers an affirming space for participants to discover, celebrate, and intertwine Queer and Jewish identities. It is open to anyone, regardless of religious affiliation, interested in exploring the intersection of Jewish and LGBTQ narrative, identity, history and liberation. 

This program connects the coming out process with the archetypal Jewish narrative of leaving Egypt and traveling through the wilderness towards the Promised Land.  During art, music and writing workshops, participants will explore the intersections of their personal journeys and the Jewish people's struggle for liberation.

Although there is no charge for any of the workshops or for the community seder, registration is required.

Register Now!

Journey to Freedom: Pesach and the LGBTQ Experience is supported by a Breakthrough Fund grant from the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. 

Community Partners include: Anshe Emet Synagogue, Emanuel Congregation, Gesher Chicago, Interfaith Family/Chicago, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Jewish Child & Family Services, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Mishkan Chicago, One Northside, Response’s Parent & Family Connection, SVARA,  Temple Sholom of Chicago, and the Union for Reform Judaism.