Why Abby Stein—a transgender rabbi raised ultra-orthodox—stands up for Palestine

Raised in an ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, Rabbi Abby Stein has had a long, painful, beautiful journey to coming out as a transgender woman and becoming a fierce opponent of Zionism and Israel’s Occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Rabbi Stein about her journey, and about the need to simultaneously fight Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the right’s fascist assault on the rights of LGBTQ+ people here in the US.Guest:

• Rabbi Abby Stein is the tenth-generation descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic movement. Raised in an ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, Stein came out as a woman in 2015 and now serves as a rabbi for Congregation Kolot Chayeinu, a progressive synagogue. In 2019, she served on the steering committee for the Women's March in Washington, DC, and she was named by the Jewish Week as one of the "36 Under 36" Jews who are affecting change in the world. She is the author of Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman.

Additional resources:

• Julia Jacobs, The New York Times, “From Hasidic Brooklyn to Off Broadway: The life of a trans rabbi”
• Abby Stein & Lily Greenberg Call, Autostraddle, “We spoke up for Palestine and got kicked out of the White House Pride party”
• Lisa Francois, ACLU, “The human toll of Trump's anti-trans crusade”

Credits:

• Studio Production: Cameron Granadino
• Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

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