Zayin Adar Queer and Trans Jewish End of Life, Death, and Grief Care Gathering

We’d like to extend a warm welcome and invitation to this community event to bring together queer and trans folks + allies participating or interested in Progressive Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Sacred Burial Community) and end of life, grief, and death support. This event will be held on Zayin Adar, the anniversary of the birth and death of Moses in the Jewish tradition, and a day traditionally for this focus.

This Community Chevra event is curated and facilitated by queer and trans Jews, and is free (you may support the event with a donation or volunteering at checkout if you wish to). All are welcome who are participating or wish to participate in this work. Our main goal for this event is to have everyone learn at least one new thing and meet at least one new person they want to stay in touch with. We want to build a network of people to lean on and support eachother, build a resource repository together, and answer the questions we have together in a supportive environment, which include topics such as "where do I start?", "building a taharah and shmira ritual manual", and "administration/organizational structures". We know that we collectively hold a lot of wisdom in both our unique questions and answers that can enable this work in a meaningful way and help us learn from each other's experiences. We are seeing this first year of the event as a learning space for us to continue to build on for next year!

2 pm PT // 5 pm ET
Welcome/Opening! - Syl

2:15 pm PT // 5:15 pm ET
Grounding facilitator and Guest Speaker - Anna Goodman Herrick
Guest Speaker - Lily Sage Weinreib (they/she) - funeral director and death doula based in New York City
Panel Q&A
Breakouts

Snack Break!

3:15 pm PT // 6:15 pm ET
Grounding with Herbalist Malka
Facilitated group conversation about what we're all up to and what this work means to us - led by Rae Gaines
4 pm PT // 7 pm ET 
Breakout rooms - Manuals, logistics, and unstructured breakout space
4:30 pm PT // 7:30 - Closing and how to stay in touch!

Speaker + Facilitator + Organizer Bios:

Lily Sage Weinrieb (they/she) is a funeral director and death doula  based in New York City. After studying bereavement trajectories and funeral rituals through the lens of anthropology, Lily decided to go back to school and get licensed as a funeral director. They have worked to create participatory models of grief work that are designed to interrupt cycles of generational trauma. Lily’s experiences as a queer Jew led them to ask where they, along with so many others, would fit in among the highly gendered Jewish funeral tradition. Their curiosity led them to help start New York’s first Reform Chevra kadisha. Lily works closely with clergy, community members, and allies to bring meaningful end of life rituals to as many folx as they can.

Anna Goodman Herrick חנה בתפנינה works at the intersection of spirituality, sacred words, and human rights. She is the author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken to Whole (Monkfish Book Publishing, 2024). Anna works on staff as Grief Support and Spiritual Counselor for hospices and is an educator and advocate for inclusive Jewish end-of-life practices. She has performed her poetry across the U.S., including at the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Artist Uprising
at the El Paso border. She has shared her work at the Library of Congress, Bloomsday on Broadway, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and in film, TV, stage, museums and galleries nationwide.
More: annagoodmanherrick.com

Rae is a queer, Jewish grief and death doula based in the Washington, DC area. Rae is currently in the process of building a chevre kaddisha with Rae's emergent shul, the New Synagogue Project. More about Rae at deathcaredc.com.

Syl  שפרה מלכּה studies Jewish end of life and death rituals with Kavod V’Nichum and is working to build Vancouver’s Progressive Community Chevra Kadisha and learning community @communitychevra, with the goal to make our rituals accessible to all within the Jewish community. They are also curating a book about using herbalism to support end of life and death (check out the open call for submissions - tinyurl.com/jewishherbalismsubmission!). They enjoy organizing with the Yiddish Collective Knobl un Honik Kollectiv, and practising their best broken Yiddish with anyone. Bisel a bisel mach de fulla schissela.

This event is sponsored by Community Chevra, home to Vancouver's Progressive Community Chevra Kadisha, and The New Synagogue Project. We are so grateful for everyone doing this work and are looking forward to hanging out, connect, support, and learn from each other.