Honored to have my story mentioned among those of good friends and great leaders in this terrific article by Renee Ghert-Zand in the Times of Israel on the LGBT JFNA mission. And now back to NYC.
On May 31, 2016, Amichai Lau-Lavie posed for a photo at the Israeli President’s official residence in Jerusalem. Some 26 years earlier he had stood in the exact same spot, as a 21-year-old IDF paratrooper in an honor guard for Israel’s 42nd Independence Day.
For Lau-Lavie, the photo was highly symbolic. It signified the journey he has been on since 1990. Back then he was a closeted homosexual Orthodox Israeli Jew. Today he returned to the President’s Residence Tuesday an openly gay, newly-ordained Conservative rabbi and admired spiritual leader in the American Jewish community.
Lau-Lavie was joined at the President’s Residence by 104 fellow delegates to an LGBTQ mission organized by the Jewish Federations of North America. They were there to meet with President Reuven Rivlin, who gave them a warm welcome.
