The Institute was gifted this beautiful PSA from The Righteous Conversations Project.

The Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) is the first and only institute of its kind in the Jewish world. The Institute was founded in 2000 to educate HUC-JIR students on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues to help them challenge and eliminate homophobia and heterosexism; and to learn tools to be able to transform the communities they encounter into ones that are inclusive and welcoming of LGBT Jews.

Over time, this mission of education and the creation of welcoming spaces has expanded to the larger community outside the walls of our four campuses in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, New York and Jerusalem. The Institute offers consultation to individual professionals, synagogues and organizations as well as seminars and workshops at HUC-JIR and at local, national and international conferences.

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 The Welcoming Synagogues Project
Introduction to the WSP

The long-term goal of the Welcoming Synagogues Project is to develop an LGBT Welcoming Movement across Jewish denominations ...Read More
The Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center (JHVRC) for Sexual Orientation Issues in the Jewish Community is a web-based educational environment for all those interested in learning about Judaism, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. It contains the largest online gathering of articles, texts, and websites on Judaism and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender topics in the world. The JHVRC also features answers to Frequently Asked Questions, case studies exploring how issues of sexual orientation and gender might be discussed in a Jewish context, and guides for studying biblical and rabbinic text.