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Havruta is an organization of LGBTQ+ people who are on the religious spectrum. Havruta works both internally to support community empowerment, as well as outwardly to accept queer people in religious society and to strengthen the Jewish identity in the LGBTQ+ community.
We at Havruta believe in a religious life that matches our sexual orientation and gender identity openly, without a closet and without shame. We see ourselves and our families as part of religious society and believe in the reality and possibilities of living as religious people while also identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Our organization works to build a strong and united LGBTQ+ religious community that includes social groups throughout the State of Israel. These groups serve as a home and safe space for LGBTQ+ people on all sides of the religious spectrum, whether that be Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, converts, ex-religious people, or others. Havruta holds cultural and social activities within the Jewish Calendar, bringing a religious angle to the events of the queer community in Israel.
Havruta promotes an inclusive and accepting discourse within religious society through meetings with rabbis, key figures in religious media, and creating a lively and diverse Torah discussion on the LGBTQ+ topic. Havruta advocates for religious queer Jews by working to change public policy on queer individuals within the government, as well as to promote the recognition of same-sex relationships to raise families as a pillar of healthy life for religious LGBTQ+ people. Havruta is also the leading force in combating false and dangerous so-called conversion therapies for queer individuals within religious communities.
We work to promote the public discourse for the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in religious society on several levels:
The organization works to enable members of religious society or those with religious affiliation who also identity with the LGBTQ+ community to live in peace with their sexual and/or gender identity. Havruta works to maintain and create new structures for these individuals to assist them with integrating into general and religious societies. Additionally, we work hand in hand with other organizations with similar goals and values.
Havruta is a community for queer individuals with any religious affiliation and will respond to their unique needs, working to empower those individuals within their communities. Within this, the organization establishes frameworks for intra-community discourse and communication and works toward the existence of personal and familial religious ceremonies.
Our organization, in connection with professional institutions, assists and supports members of the queer religious community and their families and will work to promote and secure their rights, specifically with the unique needs of young queer individuals within religious communities.
Havruta promotes social awareness and encourages public discourse regarding the existence, acceptance, and needs of individuals with different sexual orientations and/or gender orientations. We hold unmediated meetings with religious leaders, educators, rabbis, and shapers of public opinion. Our organization works to dispel prejudices, change social attitudes, and promote tolerance and acceptance toward people of different sexual and/or gender identities within religious society and general society.
Havruta provides a center of reliable and up-to-date information and knowledge on issues and topics related to different sexual orientations and gender differences in general while also referring to the unique aspects of these issues faced by members of religious society or individuals with religious affiliation in particular. Additionally, Havruta will be a cultural and Torah network related to its goals and objectives.
