By Shuli Karkowsky
As we step out of Transgender Awareness Week (November 13-19), I find myself thinking about how it is always important to mark this week – and how its significance rose this year when the recent political strife increased the demonization of, and vitriol against, the transgender community.
In a recent conversation with Moving Traditions’ Founding Chair, Sally Gottesman, I asked her what she thought are the foundational pieces of knowledge she wishes every Jewish young person would know. One of her answers was that she wished that every Jewish young person spent some time exploring and discussing the many names the Torah uses for God– names that are agender, every gender, singular, plural, male, female – truly the entire gender spectrum, so that they see God reflected in themselves. This drew me back to the first piece of Moving Traditions curriculum I ever taught, and I am sharing it with you, now, as a prompt:
| Biblical Hebrew Name of God | English |
| יהוה | YHVH |
| אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶר אֶהְיֶה | I will be what I will be |
| אֱלהִים | Almighty Gods |
| רחמים | God of mercy/Mercies/Wombs |
| אל שדי | God Almighty/Breast God |
- What does it mean to embrace and celebrate the fluidity of gender within the divine? What does it mean for humans, created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of the divine, to reflect a range of gender identities, too?
- How does it affect you to think about yourself and others as powerful, nurturing, knowing, strong, and compassionate, attributes which are associated with these various names of God?
As part of this week-long observance, each year on November 20, we mark Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to commemorate trans lives lost in violence over the past year. The day arose after the brutal murder of Rita Hester, a 35-year-old trans woman who was killed in November of 1998, just weeks after the nation reeled from Matthew Shepherd’s internationally publicized murder. Like so many murders of trans people even today, the crime has never been solved. And like so many of the dead, her gender was a sensationalist byline for media outlets, which otherwise ignored her name, pronouns, and dignity. In response to her death, Rita’s friends started TDOR, a way to mourn and dignify those we’ve lost to violence.
Here are some ways you can mark the day:
- Read the profiles of trans lives lost in violence this past year
- Light a yahrzeit candle
- Say the names of the victims out loud (here’s a list)
- Read about any of this year’s 665 anti-trans bills that threaten everyone, but especially target trans youth
- Recite any of the tefillot from Keshet’s TDOR 2024 guide
- Explore GLAAD’s Transgender Resource Hub (Transgender Awareness Week | GLAAD) to learn more about how you can support the transgender people in your life.
On behalf of Moving Traditions, we are sending you support today and throughout the week. We are all in this together.