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A New LGBTQ Jewish Group Launches in Houston

QJews kicks off with a Shabbat dinner on February 18.

Rabbi Kenny Weiss

There’s a new group being formed for Jewish young adults in the Houston area. QJews will fill a need for LGBTQ and Jewish 20- and 30-somethings, according to founder Rabbi Kenny Weiss. 

The organization “brings together young Jewish queer folk and their allies for initiatives centered around community, collaboration, and celebration,” Weiss says. “QJews programming includes Jewish initiatives like Shabbat dinners, Havdalah gatherings, Jewish learning and social justice engagement through a queer lens, in addition to social events.” 

The first QJews event is a Shabbat dinner on Friday, February 18 at Houston Hillel. The evening will provide an opportunity for queer and ally Jewish locals to get to know each other and learn more about the group while enjoying a Shabbat dinner together. As for the future, Rabbi Weiss says the organization plans to hold events and programs more focused on specific segments of the community. “There will be some that won’t be suitable for allies, and others that focus on queer advocacy.” 

Initially drawn to being a rabbi “by the learning and sense of community,” Weiss is a rabbi today because he really enjoys “bringing people together and helping them form relationships with each other.” In 1991, he received his master’s degree in Hebrew letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. In 1993, he received his Rabbinical Ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. 

And he adds that the best part of being a rabbi is that his wife is a rabbi as well. “We have some very interesting dinner-table conversations!” 

As the executive director of Houston Hillel, Rabbi Weiss traces the idea for QJews back to a number of Hillel participants in their 20s who expressed their disappointment that Houston did not have a dedicated space, program, or organization that engages or enriches the lives of queer Jews in their 20s and 30s. “I envisioned QJews as a natural extension of Houston Hillel’s work in this area at Rice University and the University of Houston, where we’ve earned a reputation as one of the most inclusive and affirming campus ministries,” he says. 

As luck would have it, a national queer Jewish-engagement organization called Keshet was, at that very moment, soliciting applications for its first cohort of Jewish nonprofit organizations to join the Keshet Leadership Project. “I applied for Houston Hillel’s inclusion in the Keshet Leadership Project with the specific goal of creating QJews. This year-long collaboration between Keshet and Houston Hillel, which began in October 2021, will not only lead to organizational LGBTQ+ equality at Houston Hillel, but also engage Houston Hillel’s lay and professional leadership in filling a clearly identified void in the Houston Jewish community,” Weiss explains. 

“I was also struck by the Pew Research Center report Jewish Americans in 2020 that found only 75 percent of Jews under 30 years old identify as straight. Put another way, one in four Jews under 30 identifies as LGBTQ+. There’s also a recent Houston Jewish community study that showed that 10 percent of Jewish households in Houston have at least one LGBTQ+ member.

“By welcoming people in their 20s and 30s, QJews will be open to those people who did not consider themselves part of this community during college, but will in the coming years. Some people need time to become comfortable with publicly sharing their newly embraced sexuality. Welcoming people through their 30s reduces the fear they will “age out” of QJews before they’re ready to become connected.”

Rabbi Weiss recognizes that embracing one’s queerness can be challenging and, unfortunately, often lonely. “Welcoming people in their 20s and 30s increases the possibility that those people who have newly connected with their LGBTQ+ selves will find others within QJews who can serve as mentors to facilitate this unique and uncertain journey. In addition, there’s a lot of data pointing to increased anxiety and depression among young queer and Gen Z people. I hope that QJews will provide community and support in these areas of need.”

The hope is that participants suggest events and gatherings, as well as take the lead “with most, if not all of the things on the QJews calendar,” Weiss says. “I’m happy and excited to provide some vision and lots of resources, including fundraising to ensure QJews’ sustainability. But I also know that it’s not appropriate for me, as a cisgender straight white male, to take the lead.”

What: QJews Shabbat Dinner
When: February 18 at 7 p.m.
Where: Houston Hillel, 1700 Bissonnet St.  
Info: qjews.org/support 

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Jenny Block

Jenny Block is a frequent contributor to a number of high-profile publications from New York Times to Huffington Post to Playboy and is the author of four books, including “Be That Unicorn: Find your Magic. Live your Truth. Share your Shine." She has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs from Nightline to BBC Radio to Great Day Houston and has performed and spoken at bookstores, events, conferences, and resorts in the US and Mexico, as well as on Holland America Cruise ships.
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