Converting to Judaism — Jewish-Adjacent: Judaism Unbound Episode 391 - Chris Bartlett
Chris Bartlett, the Executive Director at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, isn't Jewish. But...he's attended Queer Talmud camp, hosts Shabbat gatherings at his organization's building, attends many Jewish holiday gatherings, and has Jewish friends of all ages! He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about notions of "Jewish-adjacent" and "Ger Toshav" — two terms in different languages that each refer to folks who are not Jewish, but/and are absolutely part of the Jewish community. This episode is the fifth in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism.
[1] Learn more about Chris Bartlett by clicking here, and learn more about the William Way LGBT Community Center via WayGay.org.
[2] Dan mentions that Lex and Bartlett first met through their connections to Eric Rofes — Lex’s uncle and a mentor and colleague of Bartlett’s. Learn more about Rofes’s work via this article, published upon his death in 2006, or via this piece, published when he was included as one of 50 LGBTQIA+ leaders on the National LGBTQ+ Wall of Honor at the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City.
[3] For the story from the Talmud that Bartlett references, in which Moses travels into the future to meet Rabbi Akiva, see Menachot 29b.
[4] Lex references Amichai Lau-Lavie’s Joy: A Proposal, published in 2017, which explores what it might look like to re-incorporate the notion of Ger Toshav (a non-Israelite who dwells in the midst of Israelites, in the Bible) into Jewish life today. Read Joy: A Proposal via this link.
[5] Bartlett notes Kol Tzedek, a Reconstructionist synagogue in West Philadelphia. Learn more about it via Episode 279: Voice for Justice - Ari Lev Fornari.
