Havruta, an independent organization representing religious gay men, held its
first plenary session in Tel Aviv Thursday night as an officially-registered
non-profit association.
The organization was founded four years ago and
registered as a non-profit in recent months.
“We’re going to become the
first gay, religious organization to establish a representative leadership,
befitting an organization owned by its members,” said Havruta chairman Eyal
Liebermann. “Only in this way can we make a difference to the attitude of the
religious community as well as the general public, in that an organized,
well-anchored group simply cannot be ignored.”
Dozens of the group’s
members turned up to the plenary session to elect a five-man board, change the
group’s bylaws and decide on other procedural matters.
“This is a
historic and exciting event,” said Daniel Jonas, a spokesman for Havruta. “After
years of both self-denial and the denial of others, we have institutionalized
our existence. Today we can no longer argue that we have no voice,
leadership or community.”
The meeting itself was lively, energetic and
accompanied by a seasonal serving of apples and honey. The seven candidates for
board positions elaborated and expounded on their particular agendas, goals and
priorities, with time being devoted to several rounds of a question and answer
session before a vote was taken.
“We’re trying to create a safe place for
people coming from Orthodox society who are dealing with their sexual identity,”
Liebermann told
The Jerusalem Post. Being gay and religious entails all the
issues usually confronted by homosexuals, as well as an identity crisis borne of
a struggle between your sexual identity and the beliefs you were brought up with
and the much more conservative society in which you were
raised.
“Internally, we are trying to help people in this complex period
of their lives and especially to create a community for people who feel they can
no longer be part of the community they grew up in, or at the very least feel
very estranged from it.”
Havruta’s membership is, according to Liebermann,
comprised overwhelmingly of people from the religious-Zionist sector but also
include those from haredi communities as well as a number of
converts.
More broadly, he says, Havruta is seeking, through advocacy and
education, to promote tolerance within religious society for gay people living
within it.
“As such, we don’t employ any theological or scientific
arguments but instead rely on the personal narratives of our
members.
“We’re aiming for social integration and social change, we’re
not trying to change halacha. Many religious communities are becoming
increasingly accepting of gays, albeit mainly in
dati leumi [national religious]
society, and the goal of Havruta is to advance this process.”