The Changing Landscape of Jewish Organizations


Am Chofshi gay pride, Portland, 1990

Am Chofshi gay pride, Portland, 1990
Item 52664   info
Colby College Special Collections

After an advertisement calling for an alternative Jewish community was placed in the weekly newspaper The Maine Times, respondents gathered for a meeting at the Jewish Community Association in Portland.

Since almost all the people attending this meeting were gay or lesbian, they decided to organize as Maine's Jewish gay and lesbian group. Settling on the name Am Chofshi, or "a free people," because an Israeli visitor suggested the linguistic connection between chofesh (time of freedom or vacation) and Maine's tourism slogan Vacationland, the group gathered for social meetings a few times each year.

Food was always important to Am Chofshi's membership, and holiday observance became an important element of their organization as they provided an alternative group for celebration of Hanukkah, Passover and Purim.

They also marched in the Portland Gay Pride Parade, as pictured, and sponsored the oneg at the Reform synagogue Bet Ha'am for the Kedoshim service, whose the Torah portion from Leviticus refers to man laying with man as "abomination," making this service the annual gay service.

By 1998 when Am Chofshi disbanded, most members who were interested in Judaism had joined Bet Ha'am, which had been openly gay and lesbian friendly for years.
Am Chofshi provided a place for alternative Jewish traditions and alternative Jewish identities.

Even when the group was celebrating holidays, they remained independent from Judaism as religion, allowing members to hold on to familial and group traditions in a way that was culturally, not religiously, based.

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