A Queer Promised Land!? LGBTQ+ Jewish Immigration (Aliyah) to Israel
A Queer Promised Land!? LGBTQ+ Jewish Immigration (Aliyah) to Israel
Queer Jewish immigration to Israel does not necessarily present fulfillment of an ethnonational Zionist vision or religious/spiritual attachment to the “Holy Land”, but rather expresses the yearning for a Queer safe space. This talk will discuss what LGBTQ+ Jewish immigration to Israel tells us about Jewish immigration in general, and how LGBTQ+ Jewish immigrants illuminate trajectories and connections among transnational gay communities. Particularly, Queer Jewish immigrants' experiences will show how space and place are compelling ideas around which the political notion of citizenship, peoplehood, and belonging are developed.
Dr. Elazar Ben-Lulu is a lecturer (assistant professor) at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ariel University in Israel. He is an anthropologist of religion and gender with a particular interest in the intersection of LGBTQ+ identities and Judaism.