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Bet Mishpachah
Bet Mishpachah (Hebrew: בית משפחה, lit. 'House of Family') is a non-denominational Jewish egalitarian worshiping community and congregation that supports a synagogue. It is located in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Bet Mishpachah is one of a number of national and international Jewish communities of LGBTQ+ affirming congregations that specifically welcome and embrace the LGBTQ+ community, along with all others who "wish to participate in an inclusive, egalitarian, and mutually supportive community." Membership is open to all singles, couples, and families, regardless of religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Sabbath worship services and most religious and educational programs are held at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (EDCJCC) in Washington, DC.
Bet Mishpachah was founded in 1975, as the Metropolitan Community Temple Mishpocheh. At first, its members were all men, and it later had woman as members too. In 1976, it hosted the First International Conference of Gay & Lesbian Jews, which was organized in response to the United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism, in an effort to create a forum for communications and mutual support among gay and lesbian Jews. Bet Mishpachah was incorporated on July 26, 1977.
In 1978, the congregation elected members of its Board of Directors and began holding weekly worship services, using rented spaces in Washington, D.C. The following year, the congregation received a Torah scroll, rescued from The Holocaust, on permanent loan from the Westminster Synagogue in London. The scroll (a Sefer Torah, in Hebrew) once belonged to a small 500-year-old Jewish community in Dolní Kounice, a town destroyed in 1940, in the former Czechoslovakia.
In 1980, the congregation formally adopted its present name, Bet Mishpachah, "House of Family", and co-founded the World Congress of Gay & Lesbian Jews at the Third International Conference of Gay & Lesbian Jews, in San Francisco, California. At the time, Bet Mishpachah had 80 members. Its services, led by lay leadership, were held in the basement of a United Methodist church called Christ Church. In 1985, the congregation hosted the Ninth International Conference of the World Congress of Gay & Lesbian Jews.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bet Mishpachah lost several of its members to AIDS. The congregation decided it needed to hired its first rabbi, in part in order to help with the pastoral needs of members with partners who were terminal or had died. Rabbi Robert Saks was hired as their first rabbi, on a part-time basis, in 1991.
In 1991, Bet Mishpachah purchased its second Torah scroll. Like the first one, this was an historic scroll. It was written in 1917 in Czarist Russia, but never mounted on Etzei Chaim, the wooden poles to which the parchment is attached, and never used in synagogue services.
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Bet Mishpachah
Bet Mishpachah (Hebrew: בית משפחה, lit. 'House of Family') is a non-denominational Jewish egalitarian worshiping community and congregation that supports a synagogue. It is located in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Bet Mishpachah is one of a number of national and international Jewish communities of LGBTQ+ affirming congregations that specifically welcome and embrace the LGBTQ+ community, along with all others who "wish to participate in an inclusive, egalitarian, and mutually supportive community." Membership is open to all singles, couples, and families, regardless of religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Sabbath worship services and most religious and educational programs are held at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (EDCJCC) in Washington, DC.
Bet Mishpachah was founded in 1975, as the Metropolitan Community Temple Mishpocheh. At first, its members were all men, and it later had woman as members too. In 1976, it hosted the First International Conference of Gay & Lesbian Jews, which was organized in response to the United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism, in an effort to create a forum for communications and mutual support among gay and lesbian Jews. Bet Mishpachah was incorporated on July 26, 1977.
In 1978, the congregation elected members of its Board of Directors and began holding weekly worship services, using rented spaces in Washington, D.C. The following year, the congregation received a Torah scroll, rescued from The Holocaust, on permanent loan from the Westminster Synagogue in London. The scroll (a Sefer Torah, in Hebrew) once belonged to a small 500-year-old Jewish community in Dolní Kounice, a town destroyed in 1940, in the former Czechoslovakia.
In 1980, the congregation formally adopted its present name, Bet Mishpachah, "House of Family", and co-founded the World Congress of Gay & Lesbian Jews at the Third International Conference of Gay & Lesbian Jews, in San Francisco, California. At the time, Bet Mishpachah had 80 members. Its services, led by lay leadership, were held in the basement of a United Methodist church called Christ Church. In 1985, the congregation hosted the Ninth International Conference of the World Congress of Gay & Lesbian Jews.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bet Mishpachah lost several of its members to AIDS. The congregation decided it needed to hired its first rabbi, in part in order to help with the pastoral needs of members with partners who were terminal or had died. Rabbi Robert Saks was hired as their first rabbi, on a part-time basis, in 1991.
In 1991, Bet Mishpachah purchased its second Torah scroll. Like the first one, this was an historic scroll. It was written in 1917 in Czarist Russia, but never mounted on Etzei Chaim, the wooden poles to which the parchment is attached, and never used in synagogue services.