Nehirim West: a weekend of GLBT Jewish Culture & Spirituality

Nehirim West is an annual weekend of community-building, spirituality, culture, relaxation and fun for GLBT Jews, partners, and allies.  The LGBT Alliance partners with Nehirim West each year in order to support engagement of our diverse Jewish LGBT community together in a nondenominational context that is inclusive of all ages, families, gender and political identities. Rabbis, drag queens, professors, queer activists and teachers from a broad range of religious & secular Jewish backgrounds lead workshops on everything from Torah to drag performance.  Nehirim West is committed to a wide range of programs — some are spiritual, some are just good fun; you can stretch your mind or stretch your body; and of course there’s plenty of free time to relax and connect. The LGBT Alliance supported 10 Bay Area LGBT Jews to attend and participate in the workshops on full leadership scholarships. In embarking upon our third year of retreat programming in the Bay Area, Nehirim has now put down roots. We have established a vibrant community that holds all of the diversity, passion and excitement that the Bay Area usually offers--now all with a Jewish bent. And it is through this lens, and with this bent, that we are able to envision the next chapter of LGBT Jewish life for and with one another." Sasha T. Goldberg, Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture & Spirituality Assistant Director "In 2009 I came to Nehirim West still feeling new to the Bay Area Jewish LGBT community, and I left feeling newly enriched and connected. I am still good friends with the amazing teachers and participants I met at Nehirim last year, and I feel blessed to say I have met so many more this year. I am very appreciative of the Jewish Community Federation’s LGBT Alliance. They gave me an opportunity to return to the diverse, educational, welcoming, and amazing community that is Nehirim. Nehirim is a place where you are welcomed to come as you truly are, and are challenged to stretch to learn as much as possible. It provides connections locally and nationally, and brings together an amazingly wide spectrum of personalities – all of whom can get along and create community together." Margee Churchon, Program Associate, Legislative Affairs and Intergroup Relations Jewish Community Relations Council For more photos of Nehirim West 2010 visit the Facebook page.