29/08/2023
Top LGBTQIA newswire based in London, Pink News, meets with the first trans man to be appointed head of a major congregation by a mainstream religious denomination. Elliot Kukla is a rabbi in the Reform Seminary at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. Mr Kukla said ‘tumtum’ and the ‘androgynos’, which are these non-binary characters in ancient Jewish holy texts. I had been studying them for many years and looking at all of the different references in Jewish holy texts to characters who are beyond male and female. And it was through this deep study that this recognition of seeing myself in these texts from 2,000 years ago became undeniable, and it became clear that I had to be ordained as my full self.” Mr Kukla goes on to discuss the increasing celebration of trans and non-binary lives in Judaism, saying " there’s been a “huge transition” in the 17 years since he was ordained, and he’s now hearing from rabbis worldwide asking for resources on how to “celebrate a non-binary b’nei mitzvah” in their synagogues.
