Rev. Chani's Blog

A few weeks ago, I wrote a reflection about intent vs impact. In that post, I shared a story about speaking at a synagogue and responding to a question about pronouns (you can read it here). A few days after I shared it, I received an email from the rabbi of the congregation where I […]

“Why should I care about which pronouns people use, why should I care about what you prefer to be called, why can’t I just assume?” Let me set the scene for you. I had been invited to speak about pronouns at a synagogue in Northern New Jersey during Pride month. We had just spent the […]

A Pride Reflection I grew up in a family where we prayed all the time. In addition to my father going to synagogue three times a day he recites both bedtime and morning prayers at home. My mother on the other hand, prays all the time she prays in Yiddish, sometimes in Hungarian her mother […]

Throughout the U.S. and in some parts of the world, the month of June is celebrated as Pride month. This is because 51 years ago the LGBTQ+ community grew tired of being harassed, threatened, and marginalized simply for trying to live their lives in a way that society felt threatened by. As is often the case in uprisings, accounts vary, but most go something like this…On June 28th, 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn in NYC.