Author: Mel Weiss

There is no doubt that Jewish life is a hundred, a thousand times easier in Israel. That holds true, in a slightly different way, in New York, where I hail from. There is an insane array of options in both places—they’re veritable buffets of Jewish identities, experiences, organizations and resources.

As the unofficial members of the Lesbian Chabad of Mid-Maine (no copyright infringement intended!), R. and I have taken up the duty of demonstrating what a Jewish home looks like—to locals, to students, to anyone who wants to come see. And I think that’s what lights these students up from the inside—it’s that idea of home.

It was that moment—planning the next hospital visit as I cleaned the bathroom, waiting for the oven to pre-heat, that I understood that maybe there’s some feminist implication to my complicity in this whole Chabad joke. For that manic weekend, I would have dared anyone to say I didn’t have equal value, didn’t play an equal role. I am woman, and I can goddamn well do anything that needs doing.

Let me start by saying this: the whole Lesbian Chabad thing began as a joke.