B'nai Haskalah

Address: Inside Old West Church

Years: 1974–1976

Tradition: Judaism

B’nai Haskalah—Hebrew for “Children of Enlightenment”—was a self-described “Gay Jewish Group” founded in January 1974 by Satya Klein, following an ad she placed in Gay Community News looking for other local Jews interested in starting “a gay synagogue.” The impetus for B’nai Haskalah’s founding was that it was at the time difficult to be visibly queer in most Boston area synagogues. According to one account by a Black lesbian Jewish contemporary, “B’nai Haskalah comprised warm, friendly, and welcoming women and men.” The group held its first meeting on January 19 of that year at Boston’s Old West Church, billing itself in an August 1974 Gay Community News issue as America’s “third homosexual congregation” of Jews.

Soon after its founding, the members of B’nai Haskalah sought a physical synagogue to hold its gatherings. B’nai Haskalah initially reached (according to a contemporary document) “an agreement” with Boston University Hillel, which “fell through” shortly after. The Old West Church then offered to house B’nai Haskalah on the basis of a one-year contract. On June 20, 1974, B’nai Haskalah reached an agreement with Brookline psychoanalyst Dr. Joel D. Covitz to lend the congregation a “small Arc (which holds the Torah)” for their worship.

B’nai Haskalah’s members ran the gamut from wanting organized worship services to those who favored a lack of structure, though the group would still adhere to at least some Shabbat prohibitions; for example, in a Gay Community News advertisement for an August 1974 Saturday (Shabbat) service, it is noted that “the congregation will not be handling money” for meal tickets on the day of the service, thereby following a halakhic (Jewish law) prohibition against handling money on Shabbat.

Various contemporary sources give different locations for where B’nai Haskalah met: several documents note that they originally met in the Old West Church, but a directory of gay synagogues from September 1975 lists their address as in the Codman Square Neighborhood of Dorchester. (It is unclear when the Old West Church’s one-year contract with B’nai Haskalah started, so this latter address might reflect where the group relocated after the end of that contract. A “Happy Chanukah” Gay Community News article from December 6, 1975—written by B’nai Haskalah—notes that its holiday celebrations will take place at the Old West Church, which seems to suggest that, despite no longer being located there, B’nai Haskalah still held at least some services at the Old West Church.)

B’nai Haskalah disbanded three years after its founding, according to the website of Am Tikva, a Boston-area LGBTQ+ community formed in 1976 to “fill the void” after B’nai Haskalah stopped meeting. The last recorded event it held was a Purim celebration held on Friday, March 12, 1976.

Sources and Further Information:

https://archive.org/details/gaycommunitynews0223gayc/page/2/mode/2up?q=film&view=theater

"Calendar." Sister Courage 1, no. 5 (1976): 15+. Archives of Sexuality and Gender (accessed July 28, 2024). https://link-gale-com.revproxy.brown.edu/apps/doc/UFCOLX599452074/AHSI?u=prov98893&sid=bookmark-AHSI&xid=4d103399.

Conaway, Carol. “On my own terms.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 23:1 (2019): 68–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2018.1501244

"Gay Synagogues." The Advocate, Sep 10, 1975, 13, http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/magazines/gay-synagogues/docview/2242671394/se-2.

"The International Scene." Stallion, August 1974, 18-19. Archives of Sexuality and Gender (accessed July 28, 2024). https://link-gale-com.revproxy.brown.edu/apps/doc/EGVSHO414174056/AHSI?u=prov98893&sid=bookmark-AHSI&xid=dfb95b40.

"Jewish Gays to Convene." Gay Community News 2, no. 6 (1974): 6. Archives of Sexuality and Gender (accessed July 28, 2024). https://link-gale-com.revproxy.brown.edu/apps/doc/RSHFAS364836158/AHSI?u=prov98893&sid=bookmark-AHSI&xid=1a733549.

Landberg, Fern R. "Settling into Place: `People of Hope' Mark their 20th." Jewish Advocate, May 22, 1997. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/settling-into-place-people-hope-mark-their-20th/docview/205214214/se-2.

Parlin, Jan, and Paul Cahan. "Happy Chanukah from B'Nai Haskalah." Gay Community News 3, no. 23 (1975): 13. Archives of Sexuality and Gender (accessed July 28, 2024). https://link-gale-com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/apps/doc/WBBZDX877610362/AHSI?u=camb55135&sid=bookmark-AHSI&xid=4d7a7d76.

Relevant Pages:

Congregation Am Tikva

Old West Church