December 2004 Newsletter
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The World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Jews: Keshet Ga’avah E-Mail Newsletter Tevet 5764 | December, 2004
Breaking News: The 18th World Conference of GLBT Jews has been POSTPONED!
Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances, the 18th World Conference of GLBT Jews, planned to be held in San Francisco, California in March, 2005, will NOT take place.
The WCGLBTJ: Keshet Ga’ava would like to encourage people who would, in other years, come to the world conference, to choose this year to go to World Pride celebration in Jerusalem in August instead. Please see the separate item on this issue, and http://www.kenes.com/israelpride for further information about the WCGLBTJ: Keshet Ga’ava mission to World Pride in Jerusalem.
We do not yet have a new date for the 18th World Conference - an announcement will be later in 2005.
Keshet Ga’ava regrets any inconvenience this change in plans may have caused.
WCGLBTJ - Keshet Ga’ava embraces World Pride in Jerusalem
Get acquainted with people from all over the world. Celebrate the 30 year of WCGLBTJ - Keshet Ga’ava in a gala dinner in Jerusalem. Enjoy a morning of workshops and social activities in the beautiful Beit Shmuel, overlooking the old city.
WCGLBTJ - Keshet Ga’ava is proud of offer a series of events built around the World Pride activities. ’Keshet le Israel Mission’ is being offered as a core package to be accompanied by optional pre and post tour for Jewish, Christian and interfaith groups and individuals. We’ve made it easy for you to put your own missions together. For more information please visit the ’Keshet le Israel Mission’ web site.
GLBT Jews emerging in South America
By German VaismanPride month in the south of South America is in November. Here in Argentina, summer is coming and we rather march and dance at this time of the year, rather than in the cold and rainy winter. We are Keshet Buenos Aires, a newly formed GLBT Jewish organization in Latin America that seeks full inclusion of GLBT people in our Jewish communities.
This November, we offered Jewish programming to the entire Buenos Aires community. Our Queer Jewish Film Series sponsored Trembling Before God at the 2nd Jewish Film Festival, and also screened five more GLBT Jewish movies every Sunday of November. Films included classics from Sunday Bloody Sunday, to little-known films like November Moon. The Queer Jewish Film Series ended with the first Israeli movie dealing with homosexuality in the military, After. All films were subtitled in Spanish and publicized widely. 500 people attended our screenings: gay Jews, straight couples, lesbians, and even Jewish seniors!
Keshet Buenos Aires also launched the first website in Spanish offering resources about Judaism and Sexual Diversity, to address the lack of online information in our language. Members worked on translation of current articles from English and Hebrew. Now, anyone interested on knowing more about how sexually diverse Jews are, can access www.keshet.com.ar, a resource entirely in Spanish.
After all our hard work, we also gave ourselves time to socialize together. We met at a member’s house to celebrate Havdalá. Each of the 35 attendees brought a Jewish-style dish, which we shared after our Havdalá service. The singing service was led by a member who is a chazan (cantorial) student. Needless to say that food overwhelmed our eating capacity, and in keeping with tradition, “pekelehs” were prepared for each of us to “take something home”.
Keshet Buenos Aires is a new member of the World Congress of GLBT Jews. Our mission is to develop studies and institutional opportunities within mainstream Jewish institutions that focus on sexuality, sexual diversity, and inclusion within the Spanish-speaking Jewish community. We use social, cultural, political and educational venues within the Jewish community to raise awareness about oppression based on gender and sexuality, and to promote critical thinking and dialogue related to sexual diversity within the Jewish Community.
We are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina and our telephone is (54 11)4546-0311. Please email us at: [email protected]. Or visit our new website at www.keshet.com.ar.
News-brief from Israel
The second week of November turned out, quite unexpectedly, to be an outstanding week for gays and lesbians in Israel, because of an unprecedented decision on Nov 11th by the District Court in Nazareth. The court recognized the right of a gay Israeli to inherit his late spouse’s apartment, where the two had lived together for almost thirty years, even though deceased had neglected to prepare a Will directing the property to his partner.
According to the Israeli inheritance laws, the property of person with no spouse or relatives who dies leaving no testamentary instructions, is handed over to a governmental custodian. This law specifies that a couple-relationship is a relationship between “a man and a woman”.
In a two-to-one decision, the majority judges acknowledged the many changes that have occurred since this law had been passed, and bravely decided that the law’s current interpretation must apply to include not only heterosexual married couples and “reputed (unmarried) spouses”, but also samesex couples.
This ruling may open the door for future court interpretations of other Israeli laws which define couple-relationships as only being constituted by “a man and a woman”.