Havruta (, from

Talmudic Aramaic Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ( Aramaic: ) was the form of Middle Aramaic employed by writers in Lower Mesopotamia between the fourth and eleventh centuries. It is most commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which was co ...

for "fellowship") is an organization of religiously inclined

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

LGBTQ people in Israel which acts to promote tolerance and acceptance of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people in the Orthodox community in Israel. Havruta started as part of

Jerusalem Open House The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH, ''HaBayit HaPatuach'', "Open House"; ''Al-Beit Al-Maftoukh'') is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997 that runs an LGBTQ community center offering educational and social events and a ...

and split off in 2010.

Goals

Havruta aims to create a broad community of volunteers and participants who will offer social support and sense of communal belonging and empowerment for gays who have some religious connection in all aspects of their lives and life cycle events. In addition, Havruta aims to increase the recognition of religious gays, leading to them being accepted. Havruta also aims to help gay people live a religious lifestyle, and support them through working together, as well as offering an opportunity for the greater gay community to share the experience of a Jewish religious life.

Community activities

Havruta serves as a community for religiously inclined and formerly religious gays and helps bridge the wide gaps that exist between religious and gay life. Havruta provides monthly social meetings in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa as well as annual hikes and weekend retreats that attract many members. These meetings provide a space where religious gays can socialize in a loving and accepting environment.

Advocacy

In February 2009, Havruta hosted an event that brought together a panel discussion of prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel to discuss Orthodox Judaism and homosexuality. In December 2011, Havruta and Bat-Kol were awarded a special mention by the French

Commission on Human Rights A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

, for their joint effort to advocate for tolerance and acceptance among educators and religious authorities and to raise their awareness of homophobic discrimination and its impact on adolescents. Havruta is awarded a human rights mention by the French government
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Joint projects

*Advocacy project - Havruta has joined forces with Bat-Kol, a religiously inclined lesbian association, to create a joint project of speakers beureu called

Shoval Shoval () is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the northern Negev desert near the Bedouin city of Rahat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymology The kibbutz founders wanted t ...

. *LGBT youth - Men from Havruta have created a group for gay orthodox male adolescents in cooperation with the Israeli Gay Youth (IGY) organization. A parallel group for girls is supported by Bat-Kol.

References

External links

Havruta Official Website
{{LGBTQ topics and Judaism LGBTQ organizations based in Israel LGBTQ Orthodox Jewish organizations Jewish organizations based in Israel Religious organizations based in Israel Non-profit organizations based in Israel Organizations established in 2007