Latest / Kvetch & Release / PRIDE SHABBAT at the Windsor Jewish Community Centre

Transcript

PRIDE SHABBAT at the Windsor Jewish Community Centre · Kvetch & Release

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're back.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: John Leckey here on AM eight hundred CLW. A little
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: bit of a VICI coming in from the commercial break,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Broken arrows producer Will throwing it back. I remember at
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: the University of Windsor they brought at vichy in. It
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: was a whole big deal one time. It was a
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: big showdown at the riverfront. Also big event coming up
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night you're going to want to know about. This
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: is the second annual community Pride Shabbat dinner. What the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: heck is Shabbat? What's a Pride Shabbat dinner? You're probably
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: thinking if you're not Jewish or aware of, you know,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: the Jewish faith and what some of the practices are.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Joining me in studio is a colleague of mine from
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: the Winter Jewish Federation and Community Center Board, Miriam Goldstein,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: so drony secretary, is joining us to discuss this.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: How you doing, I'm doing all right?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: How are you doing really well? Thank you for being here.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: What's Shabbat?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: What is Shabbat? That's a great question.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Shabbat is a week weekly holiday that Jews celebrate. It's
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: how we mark the end of the week. It's in
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: my family. It's really just coming together and taking time
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: to be in community with each other and a pause.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: More observant Jews will actually take all of Saturday off
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: and do no work. Sounds like a great time to me.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I think we should all have Shabbat all the time.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: But in this case, it's really just an opportunity for
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: us to get together and share community. And we're going
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: to light some candles and we're gonna eat rainbowjala, which
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I'm going home to make. Kala is the best invention
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: from Jews. Maybe it's an egg bread. It's sweet, it
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: makes excellent French toast. I make a rainbow holla for
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: preche Bot every year. I actually have to make I
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: think two or three this year because we have like
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: seventy people so far. Yeah, it's a lot of hola
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: and a lot of humans.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: So this is an official event of Windsor Pride Fast.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yes, so we've collaborated with Windsor PrideFest. We've collaborated obviously
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: with the Federation, and then a couple of years ago
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: we formed our own Jewish Queer Committee here in Windsor
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: and we're all working together and we have a lot
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: of community support, a lot of donors, and sponsors for
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: this event, and it's really great. It's this grassroots thing
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: where we get to celebrate queer community and Jewish community
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: and all of the ways that those identities intersect for
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: some of us in the community. And I use community
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a lot apparently in my speaking, but I think it's
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: really important. And what I was describing this event as yesterday,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: somebody was asking me, I said, honestly, it's pure joy.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Like last year, we had so much fun and it
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: was just love and joy and nonsense, and it was
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: like the best time that we'd had in a long time.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And I think this year we could all use more
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: of that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: More joy.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I agree with you on that one
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: hundred percent. And how could you not have some joy.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: You got a vegetarian dinner, cocktails, a special guest speaker.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Is there going to be gay Jewish trivia?
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Again? No gay Jewish trivia, But we did that last year.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: We did like five rounds of gay Jewish trivia. I
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: made all the questions for that. That was the most
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: niche niche research I had ever done in my life.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: We had a whole special category. Joe, who is the
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: program director at the Federation, told me I had to
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: have sports as a category. Try finding gay Jewish athletes
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: who are notable.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: It's very hard. I did find some.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: The joke about sports trivia is like try to find Jews.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And when I had that conversation with you, you were like, no,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that is like a well established thing. Now there's books
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: on it. You decided to go one about.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: One step further and find the gay Jews.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: But they exist, they.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Do in sports.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: In sports, some of them are Olympians actually very cool,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: so you can find some of them on equestrian teams
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: and they do all the things.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: There's also going to be a short Shabbat service that
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: cousin deverauh Fick from Congregation Bethel will be conducting. I guess,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, let's go to that community thing. It's obviously
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: been an till multuous time right now for a lot
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: of people in the community. This event bringing together both
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: the you know windsor Jewish community, the windsor two SLGBTQ
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: plus community as well, and then of course there's anyone
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: who wants to just show up and have a good night.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Community building is so important as sometimes there are external
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: forces that can pull us apart. It's it's really important
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: to try to keep the threads that do connect us,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and this is one of those events that does.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was I mean, I was raised in a
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: household where we all have different opinions, and we all
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: disagree on about a million things, but we have threads
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: that connect us, and we find that if you dig down,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: we actually have more in common than we don't. And
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: one of the important things about community building is finding
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: those connections and finding those ways where we can find
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: something we agree on, find a way to celebrate or
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: come together. And first of all, Shabbat is a political
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: being gay is a political It has no political associations whatsoever.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I know conservative Jews, I know liberal Jews, I know
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: conservative gaze, I know liberal gays. We can all come
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: together and eat some good snacks and have a great
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: time and have some cocktails and enjoy each other.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Chapata is it's literally breaking bread. Yes, like it's literally
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: about breaking bread. And when you take away the trapings
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: of our modern society, with all of our luxuries and
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: conveniences that we have the act of a Friday night
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: dinner with your family, maybe with your friends, having some wine,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: that's something that you look forward to the whole week.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: It is it's the it's the touchstone of you know,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: not just the weekend, but of the entire week itself.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And that's what this is.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's taking a moment to connect with one another
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: and to be together and to sort of get rid
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of all of the noise that everything in our world
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: brings to you.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: And it's it is constant.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, you and I are both perpetually online, and
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: I think we both could use more in our life.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: But what this is is really just coming together and
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: taking a couple of hours. You get to schmooze and
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: hang out and have a great time and make bad
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: jokes and then have a if you want it, a
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: little bit of spirituality at the end with Lezandovora, who
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: is lovely and very supportive. And it's it's Jews and
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: non Jews and queers and non queers and all of
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: us coming together. And I think that's really important in
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: these times. And I, you know, it feels like I'm
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: going to quot Rabbi Seth Goren, who I was just
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: on the phone with two days ago from Toronto, and
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: he described the way the world feels as being submerged
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: in a bucket of jello, and the jello is sort
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: of melting from being superheated on the outside, so you
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: can't get out, and it's sloshing around, and he.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Doesn't like it. We don't like it.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: No, But how do you climb out of that? You
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: find other people who are trapped in there with you,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: and you, I don't know, breathe a little air into
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: the world.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: So that's what we're doing.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: We're all just trapped in a bucket of jello, trying
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: to find the edge and get out. Well, unfortunately, the
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: flames are all around us, causing a simmering to begin.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: And that's a really really positive way to look at things, Mary, No,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: but it's true. It's the idea that we can all
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: use a hand from someone else.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Yes, and we can all use that company and that
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: point of connection and will make us feel less isolated
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: and less alone and bring us a little bit of
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: joy in a world that feels like maybe it's a
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: little bit on fire.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I just think it's really important.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: It's a really beautiful thing, and I'm super excited. This
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: is our second year and this is my baby. I
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: love this event.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so awesome, and this is the second year.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: We're all trying to still live in that mariecondo world,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: sparking joy a little bit, and this is one of
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: those things that does. Tickets are still available.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: They are still available eighteen bucks.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Where do they get the tickets?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: So you can buy them on event right, I believe.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: It's Windsor Pride Shabbat twenty twenty four dot event break
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: dot com.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Or you can buy them at the door. It's cash
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: at the door. But you're welcome to come. If you
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: want to make sure, you can always RSVP to Joe
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: at Jewishwindsor dot org or reach us out to us
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: on social media. We're happy to take an RSVP that way.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: But you can buy tickets at the door, buy them online,
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: just show up. And we believe that financials should never
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: be a barrier to access. So if you can afford
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: it and you still want to come, just let us know.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: We're happy to have you. We want everybody to be
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: there absolutely.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Hey, Miriam, thank you so much for your time today
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to chat about this. It sounds like it's gonna be
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of fun. I can't wait to see you
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you for having me. I'll see you tomorrow.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. That is Pride Shabbat taking place tomorrow five point
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: thirty at the Windsor Jewish Community Center restaurant space at
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: sixteen forty one oh Let Avenue, just across the street
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: from us here at am eight hundred CKLW. It's an
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: official event of the twenty twenty four Windsor Essex Pride Fest.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Miriam Goldstein Sodroni joined us in studio from the Windsor
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Jewish Federation and Community Center.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much again, thank you for having me.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: We're going to take