Miryam Kabakov, ed., Keep Your Wives Away from Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires

Wednesday, October 20 
7:30 pm | Ina and Jack Kay Community Hall
Tickets: $11, Discounted Members/Seniors/Under 25 $9

Reconciling religion with queerness is an enormous challenge—especially when you’re an Orthodox Jew. In this groundbreaking new anthology, Kabakov brings together the first-person accounts of lesbians that speak to an enormous range of experiences, from those posing as straight to maintain marriages with men, to women who are pushing the boundaries of the most liberal of observant Jewish communities. Contributors Goldie Goldbloom and Elaine Chapnik will share personal stories of how their Judaism coexists with life in and out of the closet.

Editor Miryam Kabakov holds a master’s degree in social work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work of Yeshiva University. She has worked in direct service in New York City with previously homeless, mentally ill, and chemically addicted seniors, and with young adults who have devoted a year of their lives working with people in poverty. She founded and facilitated the New York Orthodykes, facilitated a support group for ex-Orthodox and Hassidic young adults, and is the former director of GLBT programming at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. She is currently the director of the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival. Kabakov lives with her partner and two children in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“Moving. Challenging. Frustrating. Exhilarating. Important reading for all, indispensible for some. This book will save lives and heal souls, and it is sure to be banned in some circles because of that.” —Shaul Kelner, assistant professor of sociology and Jewish studies, Vanderbilt University, and author of Tours that Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism

“Each powerful essay challenges my preconceptions about the nature of religious lives and communities, about gendered selves, and about the delights and constraints of Orthodox Judaism. Keep Your Wives Away from Them is a complex spirit journey that speaks of the longing for love and the search for comforting and comfortable identities.” —Vanessa L. Ochs, associate professor of religious studies University of Virginia, and author of Inventing Jewish Ritual

Presented in partnership with the 16th Street J’s Kurlander Program for Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement (GLOE).

This program is co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and LGBTQ Resource Center-Georgetown University.

See the full line up at washingtondcjcc.org/litfest.