Please join us Wednesday evening, June 2, 2010, at 7pm for the east coast launch of the new anthology, Balancing on the Mechitzah: Transgender in Jewish Community, edited by Noach Dzmura, an activist for transgender inclusion in the Bay Area Jewish communities and a consultant for Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity. 

Mr. Dzmura will introduce and read selections from the text to illustrate the celebrations and challenges of transgender Jewish life from all points on the gender spectrum, including work by

• a strictly observant Orthodox transsexual woman,
• a liberal Reform masculine-spectrum genderqueer rabbi,
• a secular FTM psychologist, and
• an MTF academic and ritualist who teaches at an Orthodox university.

As time permits, Dzmura will show how insight might be found in Jewish texts about how communities can begin to adapt to the changes required by genders and bodies that no longer fit a rigid two-gender system.

The event will be held at Congregation Rodeph Shalom (615 North Broad Street), beginning at 7pm, and will be of interest to Jewish and non-Jewish participants of all genders. 

Sponsors include Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Congregation Beth Ahavah, Congregation Mishkan Shalom, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the YES! Coalition, and TransFaith Online. 

The program is free and open to the public.