CBI Blogs

When I arrived in Austin to serve as the associate rabbi of CBI, I was delightfully surprised to learn that I hadn’t missed Pride. Unlike the majority of other locations around the world, Austin has historically celebrated Pride in August, no matter how swelteringly hot, humid, or miserable it may be. It’s always been a blessing to celebrate Pride during a different month than others because it gave us a far more extensive list of guest speakers for Shabbat services and because it allowed us to see what others successfully did in their communities in the months prior.

Last summer, we were particularly interested to see how other cities navigated the growing security risks to Jews participating in public events. Sadly, we saw that Jewish communities faced many challenges, both from outside and within Pride settings. In an effort to ensure the safety of the Jewish communities participating in Pride (which included CBI), we reached out to Austin Pride to express our concerns. Unfortunately, this created a complex, difficult, and outright painful experience for us, making it challenging to march in the Pride parade last year and untenable for the Jewish community to participate in Austin Pride this year.

Earlier this week, Shalom Austin shared this statement with the Jewish community:

Pride organizers made it clear last year that Jewish Zionists have no place at their events. Last summer, Austin Pride adopted the discriminatory criteria of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — which has antisemitic roots and targets Israel alone as the world’s only Jewish state — and publicly severed ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), despite no formal collaboration between the two organizations. Additionally, the Pride parade and festival are annually held on a Saturday, meaning that these festivities conflict with Shabbat observance which have not allowed Congregation Agudas Achim and members of our community who keep Shabbat to participate.

While deciding not to join in Austin Pride this year comes with a myriad of emotions, we know just how important it is to celebrate Pride within the Jewish community. With that in mind, we are refocusing our efforts to celebrate Pride at CBI and all of Jewish Austin throughout June. We will continue to affirm that all people who enter our doors are welcomed and embraced, no matter their gender identity, sexuality, and more.

The Shalom Austin message also included the following information about upcoming events in our city:

We invite all Austinites who support the LGBTQ+ and allied communities to join us at one or more of the following events, each rooted in joy, inclusion, resilience, and justice, and none of which conflict with Shabbat observance:

• Queers Against Antisemitism: Jewish Queer Joy and Resilience Happy Hour with A Wider Bridge (June 4)
• Pride-Themed PJ Shabbat & Pizza Picnic (June 13)
• Pride Shabbat Service at Congregation Agudas Achim (June 20)
• Pride Shabbat Service Congregation Beth Israel & Temple Beth Shalom (June 27)
• Pride Scholar-in-Residence Weekend with Rabbi Steven Greenberg of Eshel, the Orthodox LGBTQ+ advocacy organization (June 28)

The CDC@CBI will also celebrate Pride on June 20, along with the ECP and J Camps. Please note that we will offer a joint Pride Shabbat with Temple Beth Shalom. CBI will host this Shabbat at our regular 6:30 time with a special guest speaker. More information about our Pride Shabbat service to come!

Join CBI and the Austin Jewish community in celebrating Pride as we continue to show our love for all people.