Modi Rosenfeld, Gay Jewish Comedian, on Moshiach Energy - Variety

Contents:

• FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?
• A GAY JEWISH READG LIST
• MODI ROSENFELD, GAY JEWISH COMEDIAN, TALKS ‘MOSHIACH’ ENERGY, CELEBRATG SHABBAT AND COMPARISONS TO ROB WILLIAMS AND RICHARD PRYOR
• ALEX MORSE WAS ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. NOW THE GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE IS NNG FOR CONGRS.
• GAY AND JEWISH WARTIME BERL: THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND ZNISM
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• GAY JEWISH ROMANCE
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• A YOUNG HASIDIC MAN LEADS A GAY DOUBLE LIFE BLACK HAT
• THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND
• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY, AND JEWISH
• IN SEARCH OF THE LOST TIME OF A GAY JEWISH NOVELIST
• MEET THE KG OF NEW YORK’S GAY JEWISH NIGHTLIFE
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BLACK, GAY, PROFSNAL JEW

FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM

He wrote rponse to lls at the time to ncel the sodomy law (which was ultimately ncelled only 1988, thanks to Shulam Aloni) I, as an Orthodox Rabbi, Support Legalizg Same-sex Marriage We Sharpened the Assailant's Knife In Their Own Words Livneh was neher ultra-Orthodox nor Orthodox, but rather a Jewish natnalist, yet his ma argument was that homosexualy is foreign to Judaism, nstut a foreign fluence by generate Wtern culture and should be the op-ed he claimed that for hundreds of years Jews the Diaspora succeed prervg their muni om those “sexual perversns, ” or as he phrased : “It is totally absurd to have suffered for many generatns the Diaspora, while strictly prervg, nurturg and refg the heterosexual prciple, only to return to the Land of Israel and renew the ‘gentil’ abomatn’ here.

”Love thy fellow man as thyself – but reallyDurg the past 100 years, some Jewish thkers set themselv a more amb aim: to prove that homosexualy is an tegral part of the history of the Jewish people and Jewish tradn. In the 1970s he was a pneer of the mpaign to ncel the prohibn on homosexualy Germany (Paragraph 175) the prohibn on homosexualy often relied on the prohibn Levic 18, Schoeps wanted to make clear the ntext which this prohibn was promulgated. He might have been nsired a kd of msiah of the homoerotic gospel among the Jewish people had his unual kabbalistic theory not been silenced and phed to the his book “The Erotics of Kabbala” published 1923, Langer argued that “brotherly love, ” i.

The LGBT liberatn movement appeared only the 1970s, as an Amerin-style, secular, liberal is not necsary to accept the theori propound by Laner, Schoeps and others like them, but their attempts to create a Jewish homosexualy are particularly relevant now. Over 500 gay Jews (and those who love them) partied the night away at Serlic, the Passover Party, prented by saw Pharoah and Mos rne and drk MAN-ischewz all night long on Saturday at New York's Hudson Terrace. Nohels, the tradnal Jewish posn on homosexualy is still difficult for many liberal-md Jews, and the liberal nomatns have bated the extent to which gays and lbians n be fully tegrated to relig Conservative Halakhah and HomosexualyThe first and least ntroversial step taken by the Conservative, Renstctnist, and Reform movements was to endorse civil equaly for gays and lbians.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

Th some Jewish thori have argued that sce homosexualy is not chosen, s exprsn nnot be, the Reform movement do not nmn homosexual sex, and openly gay people are eligible for admtance to Reform rabbil schools.

In addn, the Reform movement approv of rabbic officiatn at same-sex marriag and mment Denomatnal Approach on Ordag Openly Gay and Lbian RabbisDaniel Siegel, the Rabbic Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, has endorsed same-sex marriage specifilly bee he believ that hols should not be limed only to certa people and certa relatnships. Usg this as her startg pot, Rebec Alpert, a Renstctnist rabbi, has argued that the ernment’s refal to regnize same-sex marriage vlat relig rabbis wh the Conservative movement also ce the ncept of on ( which an dividual has no real choice) permtg homosexual sex. Rabbi Nathan Lop Cardozo, another proment rabbi who has ocsnally e to nflict wh the Orthodox mastream, agreed wh Lans, tellg JTA that while he didn’t have a rabbic source to back up, he believ that “the prohibn [on homosexual acts] only appli to those who are purely heterosexual.

JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?

Lans said that the genis of his transformatn om the mastream Orthodox posn, which views homosexualy as a grave s, me several s ago after he explaed to members of his own ngregatn the Uned Stat why he had cled to attend a nference anized by the Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis after the Reform-affiliated group passed a rolutn on LGBT cln. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them, ” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails, ” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns, ” Roth said. The Variety article was born of Rosenfeld’s epeng belief that ’s possible to merge his Orthodox and gay inti more publicly — somethg that he has long done as a ngregant and sometim-ntor at the Morn Orthodox synagogue he attends the East Village.

They also said they were surprised by how weled they felt as a gay uple at a Republin event, and remarked on how many of the polil figur and donors they met were exced to show them pictur of all the other gay upl they knew.

A GAY JEWISH READG LIST

Conventnal wisdom the publishg dtry says that non-gay people won’t read books wh gay them — wh the notable exceptn of works by humorists, such as David Sedaris or Augten Burroughs, who play their liv for lghs. Even if there’s a kernel of tth that notn — and I fear, sadly, that there often is — straight Jewish rears particular should be able to bridge this culture gap by choosg Jewish gay books: While some of the gay ntent might be unfaiar, at least the Jewish ntent will provi a pot of intifitn.

Two of my favor are “The Same Embrace” by Michael Lowenthal (about tw brothers divid by religsy and sexualy), and “Fah for Begners” by Aaron Hamburger (about a mother and her gay son on a journey of surprisg self-disvery Israel).

MODI ROSENFELD, GAY JEWISH COMEDIAN, TALKS ‘MOSHIACH’ ENERGY, CELEBRATG SHABBAT AND COMPARISONS TO ROB WILLIAMS AND RICHARD PRYOR

Found the llectn of the Natnal Gallery, Fe Art Imag/Herage Imag/Getty ImagThe vers (and a few others) dite that the men of ancient Judah not only engaged homosexual sex, but that they may have even done so the Temple self.

The all-important book of Jewish Law, the Talmud, ntas statements to the effect that anal sex among men solar eclips (Skah 29a) and earthquak (Jesalem Talmud, Berachot 13:3), but also distguish between two forms of perasty — anal sex that warrants a penalty of ath by stong, and homosexual sex that don’t volve peratn, about which the rabbis were more lenient (Niddah 13b).

ALEX MORSE WAS ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. NOW THE GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE IS NNG FOR CONGRS.

In his book “Carnal Israel: Readg Sex Talmudic Culture” (1993), the historian Daniel Boyar appli somewhat creative terpretatns of rabbic texts, that lead him to the ncln that late antiquy, Jews engaged homosexualy openly, albe whout anal sex.

While his readgs are tertg and this Talmud page is unqutnably weird, don’t seem plsible that homosexualy was openly practiced among the rabbis, pecially light of the fact that the rabbis permted men to share a bed — notwhstandg the warng of Rabbi Judah that this would lead to illic sex — bee “Jews were not spect of such acts” (Tosefta Kiddh 5:10). One example om a Greek town near Saloniki, om the year 1561, will suffice: “David bar Nissim me and gave ttimony how last summer he was walkg a town and he saw that Moshko wh a guy which was havg homosexual sex wh him, and when they saw him they ran away separate directns wh their pants undone. The reason for this is that homosexualy is a social nstct, an ia vented the send half of the 19th century, the German speakg world, as shown by French philosopher Michel Fouult his semal book “The History of Sexualy” (1976).

GAY AND JEWISH WARTIME BERL: THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND ZNISM

In Palte of the early 20th century, this new German social nstct of homosexual inty llid wh the mon Mederranean practice of sex among men and boys, on top of which, Anglo and Slavic notns held sodomy to be a grave s and a crime. The Civil Rights Movement's drive to abolish sodomy laws the Uned Stat was reported Israeli newspapers, and a liberalized attu towards homosexualy began to proliferate Israeli society, through cema, televisn, lerature and other media.

Los Angel prents: The world's first gay synagogue In the Uned Stat, Reform Judaism had been embracg of homosexualy at least sce 1972, when the movement accepted the Beth Chayim Chadashim ngregatn of Los Angel — the world’s first gay synagogue — to s fold. Part of that Moshiach energy is enuragg gay Jewish dividuals, pecially those om strict Orthodox backgrounds which g out as gay is often an alienatg experience ght wh tensn and anxiety, to forever rema proud of who they are. “I want a gay kid listeng to me or readg this, a kid om, say, an Orthodox Jewish fay, to know that you n still keep Shabbat and you n still be gay and you n still be happy and brg Moshiach energy to the world, ” says Rosenfeld.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

In this letter he wrote to the Tel Aviv Municipaly and suggted that the name of Inpennce Park, a seaont hot spot for gay pickups, be renamed for Jewish-German sexologist Magn Hirschfeld (1868-1935), a lear the stggle for gay and lbian rights pre-Nazi Germany. ” The German pal, which long ago ceased to be embarrassed by s gay muny, proudly memorat Hirschfeld’s legacy, as he is remembered not only as the founr of the Scientific Humanarian Commtee but also as the founr of the cy’s first sexology stute, 1919, where the first sex-change operatn took place.

A sectn of the Spree river that transvers Berl is named for Hirschfeld, and he has recently been featured as part of a historil “lbian/Jewish/gay” exhib at the Schwul Mm, an LGBT mm the Tiergarten district of Berl. Acrdg to his rearch, a substantial number of closeted gays and lbians should be add to those root of 
human sexualyHirschfeld is whout doubt the most well known of those the exhibn, though he is featured alongsi many other stand-out dividuals, such as historian Gee Mosse (1919-1999), who ped om Nazi Germany durg his youth and went on to wre extensive studi on Nazi racism and the legacy of manls, sexualy and homosexualy; and Felice Schragenheim (1922-1945), a young woman om Berl who perished the Holot. Plant’s father, who remaed Germany, mted suici later that year, after Kristallnacht, and Plant’s other fay members were killed ncentratn the 1960s Plant began to wre for an LGBT newspaper, and 1973 wrote his most important work, “The Pk Triangle: The Nazi War agast Homosexuals” (published 1986).

What started as Plant’s efforts to disver the fat of German iends om when he was younger, beme an -pth and groundbreakg study to the Nazi persecutn of only did he wre about the ndns that allowed for thoands of gays and lbians to be sent to the mps by the SS, but also about the thoands more who were sentenced to ath by the German legal system, as clse 175 of the crimal forbid homosexual relatns. Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said.

GAY JEWISH ROMANCE

” Though his fay to accept his relatnship, their journey to do so echo the journey that many Orthodox muni have found themselv Ben Shl talks about her book, she talks about how inti tersect; Gay, Jewish, Deaf (Avi works as a sign language terpreter and has af iends and fay), old, young. “Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead.

” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian. SiegedSec, a self-scribed group of gay furry hackers, took s skills to state ernments late June, breachg agenci across five stat and releasg a wealth of data.The stat targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carola.

"Uwu gay furri pwn you~ We'll be back aga soon to ntue our chaos and stctn!"Some news outlets, such as Them, raised ncerns that the group's actns uld expose random people to harm, not jt the targeted ernments.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

The foundg prcipl of Kamoha clu "creasg the awarens among the natnal-relig sector of the plex suatn of the relig homosexual, enuragg the tegratn of relig homosexuals to the existent muni, takg part events pertag to the world of Orthodox homosexuals, except for such that are provotns agast the Orthodox Jewish liftyle... As JW3, the Jewish muny centre north London, lnch GayW3, celebratg the liv of the LGBTQ muny throughout history to the prent day through film, theatre, mic and discsn, and upliftg Brish-Israeli documentary Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?, backed by the BFI, prepar for s cema release, now is a great time to look back at the bt of Jewish and Israeli LGBT cema.

A YOUNG HASIDIC MAN LEADS A GAY DOUBLE LIFE BLACK HAT

A number of Brish films jt missed the list, cludg Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), which Jewish doctor Peter Fch enjoyed Brish cema’s first male-on-male kiss; award-wng short film Sidney Turtlebm (2008), starrg Derek Jabi as an elrly gay Jewish pickpocket and nman; and Lisa Gornick’s latt film, The Book of Gabrielle (2016), a funny and sharp study of a Jewish lbian whose sexualy is thrown to turmoil.

His adaptatn of Mart Crowley’s play, about a group of gay men who gather for Harold’s party, rultg a cel eveng of sadistic gam and sabotage, me at the wrong time – as the gay liberatn movement tablished s voice the early 1970s, negative or prsg pictns of gay men the media were seen as archaic and obstctive to progrs.

While Michael, the pathetic protagonist, is ed an unlikeable and self-pyg monster, the other characters are far more sympathetic, while the glor Harold, utterly unashamed of his homosexualy and wh nothg to hi, emerg om the rnage unsthed. Torch Song Trilogy (1988)Harvey Fierste is bt known for his stage work, particularly for wrg the books for the stage mils La Cage x Foll and Kky Boots, jog Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman as Broadway legends who happened to be both gay and Jewish. Few gay and lbian survivors were alive to tell their stori when Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman ma their important documentary Paragraph 175, whose tle riv om the German act of law prohibg gay sex, which ntued to exist to the 1990s.

THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND

Rather than producg a para of cshed victims, the film foregrounds the sharp mentary of Gad Beck, a Jewish gay man who helped refuge pe; the wistful memori of love lost om Hez F., still too guard to reveal his full name; and the undiluted anger of Pierre Seel, who was tortured by Nazi officers.

Yossi (2012)Eytan Fox is one of Israel’s foremost directors, and all of his films foc on gay characters, often g homosexualy to ment on a wir theme, such as self-realisatn Mossad thriller Walk on Water (2004) or the Israeli–Paltian nflict The Bubble (2006). (2016)After a year on the ftival circu, where won the documentary award at the Berl Film Ftival and the dience award at the UK Internatnal Jewish Film Ftival, Barak and Tomer Heymann’s feature about the life of Saar Maoz, an HIV posive gay man livg London after beg rejected by his Israeli fay and driven away om his Kibbutz, is fally gettg a short cema release April 2017. The epic two-part op, which exam the plexy of gay life and relatnships the 1980s, premiered 1991 and went on to w the Pulzer Prize, the Tony Award for bt play and the Drama Dk Award for outstandg play.

Kramer was a -founr of the massively fluential Gay Men’s Health Crisis, now one of the biggt AIDS service anizatns the world, but was forced out due to his nontatnal meanor and went on to found the AIDS Coaln to Unleash Power, or ACT UP. There is no official membership, and only a handful of people are willg to put their nam on support-group Ashkazy, a gay-rights activist and Orthodox Jew who liv New York Cy, says he has spoken wh over 200 gay Orthodox Jews over the past few years. The first Wt Coast support group was found Los Angel by "Jab, " a 54-year-old Orthodox gay Jew who had been married and livg a New York suburb until ten years ago, when he nfsed to his wife that he was gay.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY, AND JEWISH

"This may no longer be the way that our muny als wh gay relatnships, and even biblil tim the ath penalty was rarely dished out for same-sex sexual acts (acrdg to Jewish Oral Law, there would have to be two wns to anal peratn, and the wns would have to warn the guys multiple tim that they were breakg the l, and then the guys would have to keep on fuckg anyway)—but the realy is that those words are still there: God says beg gay is 's a difficult ncept to grapple wh. There's ltle to no crossover between the gay and the when I hear about a new gay Jewish club night London—"Butt Mzvah" (like Bat Mzvah, but wh the word butt, bee gays like butts)— gets me thkg about the tersectn of the two Mzvah anizer Josh Cole (center) "Part of the reason for dog Butt Mzvah is to try and help boys fd nice Jewish hbands—to be a fiddler on the roof matchmaker on a really grand sle, " says anizer Josh Cole ahead of the night. As a gay Jew, 's easy to feel slightly separated om everyone else tradnally heteronormative spac like bar mzvahs or, the place is heavg: A drag queen drsed as Amy Wehoe is losg her sh on the stage ahead of me; there's a bagel buffet the downstairs dance area; and a klezmer band playg tradnal Jewish folk mic is whippg up the crowd, many of whom are wearg Star of David necklac.

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST TIME OF A GAY JEWISH NOVELIST

At first, I might have been guard, but by the end, I'm relaxed and havg me, the bt part of beg Jewish is the sense of muny, and the same n be said for beg gay—but until now I'd never really nsolidated the two important parts of my inty. But nversatns still need to be had about how scripture is terpreted the morn age, and to whom 's applied to, and how queer voic and fac are weled muni—or else ltle gay Jewish kids will spend their childhoods thkg they won't be weled by the big guy upstairs—which is jt unnecsary extra strs when you've already got all your other securi to al wh. Wh nearly 1, 000 partygoers this past December — most om New York, but others travelg om Boston, Philalphia and Washgton — the Jewbilee has bee a major event on the regn’s gay Jewish lendar, as well as a way for revelers to nnect often-separate parts of their inty.

But he predicts that Israel will bee an creasgly proment topic the gay world, and hop his group will be an out-and-proud source of support, even if don’t necsarily agree wh or weigh on every Israeli actn. The dozens of gay, lbian and bisexual Orthodox Jews I terviewed ndidly spoke of the digni they enuntered tryg to f to the expectatns: experienc of shame, secrecy, nial, reprsn, fay drama and spirual harm. For their weddg, Greenberg and Cohen turned to Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, to velop a ceremony which bed bs partnership ntracts wh Jewish tradns of vow-takg and oaths to create a bdg agreement of obligatns unr Jewish law.

MEET THE KG OF NEW YORK’S GAY JEWISH NIGHTLIFE

As a straight post-nomatnal rabbi who has advoted for women’s rights and gay rights Jewish rual practice, and who has done much work the area of Jewish marriage and divorce, I thk that straight upl have much to learn om gay upl when to signg their weddg ceremony. Gay upl, therefore, are sentially startg om scratch to create a ceremony that reflects their own valu yet also looks and feels like a Jewish is how I felt when I created my olst dghter Michal’s “br habat” ceremony welg her to the venantal muny of the Jewish People. My personal visn for Jewish marriage is that straight upl will learn om their gay brothers and sisters that the weddg ceremony n be Jewish yet still reflect the uple’s egalarian valu and visn for their marriage.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BLACK, GAY, PROFSNAL JEW