From the Synagogue to the Streets

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. We have Law Professor Leah Littman digging into those four major Supreme Court decisions that came down last hour. And in about 20 minutes, she's gonna come on with us and give us some analysis. She's still picking through it, so we're gonna wait till Professor Littman has had a really good look. There's four decisions, and a few of them are complicated, and they have lots of consequences. So we want to get it right. She wants to get it right. So we're not jumping into a quick analysis. Professor Littman will be with us in about 20 minutes. With us now, just before this Sunday's Pride March, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum with her new book and social justice project. After 32 years, Sharon Kleinbaum is now Senior Rabbi Emerita at the largest LGBTQ plus synagogue in the world, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, on West 30th Street in Manhattan. Recent events, to give you an idea, included one last night called Jewish Drag Icons, then and now.
This being Thursday, they will have their weekly Thursday evening event in many different locations. This is her new social action project launched after the second Trump inauguration last year called Shine the Light, Beacon for Democracy. We'll talk about what these Thursday weekly events are. The book is called With All My Heart, Torah for Our Times. It's dedicated as the inscription in the book reads to Rabbi Kleinbaum's wife, Randy Weingarten, the American Federation of Teachers Union President. The inscription says in part, You have taught me again and again that justice is not an abstraction, but a daily practice. So we'll talk about Rabbi Kleinbaum's book and the Beacon for Democracy campaign.
But I will note that this is also a complicated time to be a Jewish leader of any stripe in New York or anywhere in the world. She was a Mamdani supporter in the mayoral election for that context, a Brad Lander supporter this week for Congress.
Just yesterday, Rabbi Kleinbaum was quoted in a New York Times article about New York primary winners who were critics of Israel. Her quote is basically to ask everyone to reach out beyond comfort zones and build coalitions will she would see what she thinks that means. So here on Pride Week, Primary Week and with the new book, there's a lot to talk about. Rabbi Kleinbaum, thanks for coming on. Welcome back to WNYC.

**Sharon Kleinbaum** (2:43)
So happy to be with you, Brian. Thank you for all that you do. You just make such a huge difference in the city, certainly in my life and in the life of so many of us who are your fans. So thank you.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:53)
That is way too kind. Thank you very much. That was a beautiful inscription to your wife, Sandy Weingarten. Thank you. It must be a kind of constant lesson in justice being not an abstraction, but a daily practice as you wrote it when you're married to a union leader.

**Sharon Kleinbaum** (3:10)
Indeed it is. Indeed it is.
She's really amazing.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:15)
For the-

**Sharon Kleinbaum** (3:15)
Great inspiration for me.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:17)
For the uninitiated, what does it mean when you refer to Beit Simchat Torah as the largest LGBTQ plus synagogue in the world? How big is it and what makes it an LGBTQ plus synagogue per se?

**Sharon Kleinbaum** (3:30)
So CBST started in 1973, a few months after the first synagogue started in LA.
And when it started, it was completely anathema to the Jewish community. None of the movements would accept it to join or affiliate. There were no rabbis who were openly gay that were being ordained.
Obviously, no same-sex relationships could be celebrated in synagogues. And this small group of people in 1973 rejected the idea that they had to choose between being either openly gay or deeply Jewish. And they insisted on something which continues to inspire me today, which is we don't have to accept what are considered intractable limitations and try to be creative about solving those problems. And that's what they did. They had no idea what it would grow into. It was a group of mostly men at that time. And they had no idea what they were building. They just took that first step, which is an important lesson for all of us. And now this 30-some years later, CBST, as you said, is the largest in the world. And we have gay and straight and trans and bisexual and asexual and all different gradations, which honors the God-given truth that we have all been created in God's image.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:53)
Is it possible to say in a radio soundbite length of time how the vibe is among your congregants, given all the progress in the 32 years, but also what's going on right now with respect to trans people and Trump and some other things?