a pride coloring book

A Pride Coloring BookSharing LGBTQ+ history and stories of the CBST’s community

through archival photos to color

In the Beginning. On a cold evening in 1973, a small group of gay men gathered in New York City to celebrate Shabbat.

The synagogue born that night has become Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), a spiritual home where it became

posible to be both deeply Jewish and proudly gay. For the majority of the 1900’s, living openly as a LGBTQ+ person was

illegal and dangerous so this was a radical idea for its time.

1

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Protest and Pride. On the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Inn Riots, organizers began The Christopher Street

Liberation Day March in NYC. Now called the Pride Parade, this annual event brings LGBTQ+ people together to both

celebrate and protest the unfair treatment of gay people.This photo was taken in the 1970’s at one of the first marches. 3

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A Rabbi for CBST. For twenty years, CBST is a lay-led synagogue, run by volunteer members and congregants. Then,

in 1992, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum became CBST’s first Rabbi. In this photo, she is on the Bimah with Michael Levine

and Yolanda Potasinski, who is reading from the Torah.6

Beyond New York City. CBST members represent and protest at the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and

Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community goes beyond city lines and across borders.

CBST fights for justice wherever it is needed! 7

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Civil Disobedience. In 2006, as thousands of Satmar Chasidim opposed holding WorldPride in Jerusalem in front of the

Israeli Consulate in NYC, CBST organized a multi-faith counter-protest. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum was arrested, with

former Associate Rabbi Ayelet Cohen and Reverend Pat Bumgardner. CBST does not sit quietly in the wake of injustice!

We are ALL created in God’s image! 9

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Legal Marriage. Lesbian and gay couples could not legaly get married in the United States. New York State legalized

marriage on July 24, 2011. Four years later, the federal government legalized marriage on June 26, 2015. In this photo,

Erika Karp & Sari Kessler receive their marriage license from Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum; among the first to do so in 2011.

11

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Marching Forward. Even as we count all of our blessings and look back, at how far we have come, there is always

more work to be done in the name of Social Justice, Human Rights and tikun olam (repairing the broken world).

In this photo from WorldPride 2017, we remember those lives lost at The Pulse Nightclub Massacre in Orlando, FL.

13

and CBST families, members, and donors

The CBST Pride Coloring Book was generously funded by:

Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, D.D.

Rabbi Yael Rooks Rapport, Assistant Rabbi

Joyce Rosenzweig, Music Director

Rabbi Marisa Elana James, Director of Social Justice Programming

Sabrina Farber, President

Yolanda Potasinski, Executive Director

1.CBST Archives *p.14

2. CBST Archives

3.CBST Archives *p.17

4. CBST Archives

5. Susan Meyer *p.75

6. Tina Paul *p.109

7. Regina Linder (courtesy of) *p.252

8. CBST Archives * p.172

9. Changing Lives, Making History *p.271

10. Rabbi Rachel Weiss

11. AP/Tina Fineberg *p.205

12. CBST Archives

13. Rabbi Yael Rooks Rapport

Photo Credits*Most photographs were published in CBST’s 40th Anniversary Book: Changing Lives, Making History,

written by Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen with foreword by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (2014).

The CBST Pride Coloring Book Creative Team, June 2021

Project Director & Limmud Principal: Jennifer Kleinbaum

Coloring Book Lead: Arielle Lever

Project Support: Ben Weber, Stephen Figurasmith

a pride coloring book

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