What an honor to be here for MLC Pride Shabbat 2026. I look forward to hearing Kay’s remarks tomorrow.

          The book that I acquired this week, Two Minute Torah by my colleague Rabbi Perry Raphael Rank, contains two two-minute teachings for each day of the Hebrew year. In looking through the teachings for this month, Sivan, I came across this week’s portion.

The day the Tabernacle was erected, a cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of Testimony, and at night until the morning, a vision of fired hovered over the Tabernacle.[1]

On this topic Rabbi Rank writes the following:

The cloud and the fire, the one by day and the other by night, represent the eternal presence of God. They were both symbols of holiness. Both are as elusive and indeterminate as holiness itself. Neither substance can be held, neither one a solid, both move continuously, yet both were eerily stationed over the Tent of Testimony. The Israelites could not be certain that either were indicative of God’s presence. Sometimes a cloud is just a cloud and a fire is just a fire. And so the cloud and the fire are fitting, representations of holiness, because to sense God’s presence is a matter of faith. We are unable to grasp God, yet we are able to invite God into our lives…[2]

          This is a perfect message for Pride Shabbat. Rather than memorializing those who were injured on that fateful day at Stonewall in June 1969, we celebrate that they had the guts to fight back against injustice and outdated laws-and we see how the law has changed in the 57 years since. The same is true for all of us, whether we are part of the LGBTQ+ community or a dear ally. We do not know why God made us as we are, why we love who we love, why we are in the particular body we are in. Yet we have faith in who we are, and we use this month to celebrate it. We might never have the answers for which we are seeking, and it is a scary time for many in the LGBTQ+ community, some of whom are planning to leave the country because of safety concerns. Yet we know that who we are and what we stand for matters dearly, and cannot be taken away by outside forces. We are like the fire, burning brightly, and like the cloud, offering protection to those who have been marginalized. This weekend is the time to have Pride in who we are, both as Jews and as supporters of LGBTQ+ rights.

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[1] Numbers 9:15

[2] Rabbi Perry Raphael Rank, Two Minute Torah (Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing Co., 2025), pg. 71.