“Casting Our Sins Away”: A Comparative Analysis of Queer Jewish Communities in Israel and in the US

התחדשות יהודית התנועה הרפורמית טקסים להט"ב מגדר קהילה תל אביב תפילה תשליך

This ethnographic study compares the performance of the "Tashlich" ritual in two egalitarian Jewish congregations: a Reform community in Tel Aviv and an LGBTQ synagogue in New York City. The author analyzes how this traditional atonement ritual is reinterpreted to empower gender and sexual identities. By performing the ritual in public urban spaces and adapting the liturgy (e.g., using feminine language or the plural "Nashlich"), participants transform a religious act into a political statement of visibility and pride. The study demonstrates how these rituals serve as therapeutic tools for self-acceptance and closure, creating a hybrid identity that fuses Jewish tradition with liberal, non-heteronormative values.