Shabbat Services with the incoming President of the World Congress of LGBT Jews
On Friday, July 24, at 8pm we will honor the incoming President of the World Congress of LGBT Jews, Frank Giaoui from Paris, France for Shabbat Services.
Join Rabbi Lisa Edwards, Cantor Juval Porat and our very special guest speaker. Jonathan Falk and Glen Chester, BCC members and BCC representatives to the World Congress, will host Frank Jaoui’s visit to LA.
The World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Jews: Keshet Ga’avah consists of around 50 member organizations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.
The World Congress holds conferences and workshops representing the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender Jews around the world. The focus of these sessions varies from regional, national, continental, to global. The Hebrew subtitle Keshet Ga’avah – Rainbow of Pride – emphasizes the importance of Hebrew and of Israel to the World Congress.
Our guest, Frank Giaoui, comes from the LGBT Congregation Beit Haverim in Paris, where he serves as the congregation’s spokesman.
Created at the end of the 1970’s, the group of gay Jewish Parisians came together at the beginning of the transformation of the gay movement, of which it forms an integral part. Beit Haverim takes part in the current movement of “gay plus one” associations, which is described by Elisabeth Armstrong in her analysis of gay identity construction in 1950’s San Francisco. Its development also references transformations of the French Jewish world, marked by questioning of the place of religion in Jewish identity. While Jewish places of socialization, synagogues, and cultural centers do not allow gay or lesbian affirmation, Beit Haverim allows its member to not only live their homosexuality with a dimension of collective identity, but also to find support for another dimension of identity, their Jewishness.
Services are followed by refreshments. Bring friends to welcome and meet our special guest.
