The Jewish Roundtable is a key component of The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion’s (CLGS) diversity outreach endeavor. The Jewish Roundtable joins the African American, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander and Transgender Roundtables in engaging in the work of exploring the critical intersections between race, ethnicity, class, culture, gender, sexuality and religion in order to better understand how communities of minority identities empower themselves and work together for social change.
The Jewish Roundtable brings together scholars, leaders and activists to develop strategic thinking toward building culturally-appropriate programs and coalitions that affirm the dignity and human worth of LGBTQI Jews and allies. Rooted in Jewish tradition, the Jewish Roundtable promotes the exchange of best practices, encourages LGBTQI Jewish leadership, and develops educational resources for Jewish and allied faith communities.
The Jewish Roundtable guides and provides assistance for work on creative ritual, liturgical innovation, theological exploration, and social justice programming. Its goal is tikkun olam in the classic sense of that term – the repair of a broken and benighted world – by giving support and affirmation to Jewish LGBTQI people and their allies as they engage in full and open participation in their local communities, the larger Jewish community, and society as a whole.