Aleph Melbourne is a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

organization located in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

History

Aleph Melbourne was founded in January 1995 for gay Jewish men. In the late 1990s bisexual men were also welcomed as members. In 2007 the group became inclusive of LGBTIQ Jews, families and allies. Aleph attempted to join the

Jewish Community Council of Victoria The Jewish Community Council of Victoria Inc (JCCV) is the main representative body for Victoria (Australia), Victorian Jews, Jewry, representing 52 Jewish community organisations and over 60,000 Victorian Jews. The JCCV's mission is to represen ...

(JCCV) in 1999, but was denied acceptance when

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

s threatened to quit the JCCV if Aleph was permitted to join. In 2015 the group celebrated their 20th anniversary by creating a documentary about themselves called "Aleph Melbourne- Celebrating 20 Years." The documentary was screened at the

St Kilda Film Festival St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km (4 miles) south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. St Kilda recorded a population of 19 ...

, the North Brisbane Film Festival, the Respect

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Human Rights Film Festival, the Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival, and the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

My True Colors Festival.

Events and services

Religious services

Aleph Melbourne is primarily

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

, but has hosted services and dinners for major

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

like Passover and Rosh Hashanah. The group has also celebrated

Hannukah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...

with other members of the Melbourne community. Aleph Melbourne and its coordinator Michael Barnett also speak out to end

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

in the Jewish community across Melbourne and Australia.

Pride March

Aleph Melbourne has participated in Melbourne's Pride festival "

Midsumma Midsumma Festival is an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ arts and cultures, held annually for 22 days across January and February in Melbourne, Australia. The festival began as a one-week celebration of gay pride in 1989. The festival has expand ...

" every year since 1997. In 2016 the group excluded themselves after the festival made a financial partnership with

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...

, which Aleph Melbourne believed had supported homophobic journalists.

Political involvement

Aleph Melbourne created and distributed Voters Guides for the 2013, 2106, 2019 and 2022 Federal elections, the 2018 and 2022 Victorian state elections and the 2020 Local Council elections, covering voting areas with large Jewish populations. These guides presented political candidates' views on LGBTIQ issues, including

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

References

LGBT organisations in Australia Organizations established in 1995 Jewish organisations based in Australia LGBT culture in Melbourne LGBT Jewish organizations Jews and Judaism in Melbourne Organisations based in Melbourne 1995 establishments in Australia {{LGBT-org-stub