Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality creates authentic spiritual community for GLBT Jews, partners, and allies. innovative programming, builds community, and offers authentic, life-affirming spiritual paths for Jewish members of sexual or gender minorities. At our retreats, as well as during occasional programming throughout the year, we create transformative, wonderful, and vital sacred space and a joyous community that changes lives. Through this work, we welcome GLBT Jews into the Jewish community, and in turn, build a more vibrant, diverse, and inclusive Jewish community by incorporating the gifts of GLBT people.

Nehirim is an independent national organization, not affiliated with any movement or ideology. We are a nonprofit organization under the fiscal sponsorship of the Jewish Funds for Justice.

What Does "Nehirim" Mean?

"Nehirim" means lights. More specifically, it is a word found in the Talmud and the Zohar, and refers to the radiant colors of the rainbow and the sky, like the brilliant lights of the sunset. The word thus represents not only the spectrum of queer sexual identities, as does the popular rainbow symbol, but the spiritual essences of those constituent parts as well: that all of us are made up of the ohr ein sof, the infinite Light, refracted in an infinite number of ways. Moreover, as the term 'nehirim' is not well known, yet is found in traditional Jewish mysticism, it is itself a symbol for how queer Jews can claim lesser-known aspects of the Jewish tradition as they articulate their own identities today.

Our supporters

In addition to our institutional supporters, Nehirim is supported by the generosity of those who have been touched by our work. Every year, our faculty donates thousands of dollars of teaching, and our participants donate time, money, and other resources to help our organization grow. We are very grateful to all of them for this support.

Nehirim is a non-profit organization under the fiscal sponsorship of the Jewish Funds for Justice.

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