Slay. Parshat Vayikra opens with sacrifices – moments that hold both loss and holiness at the same time.
And today, “slay” can mean a lot of things. It can mean harm. It can mean sacrifice. And it can also mean confidence, pride, and showing up unapologetically. Same word. Very different meanings.
Lately, it seems people have been trying to fix meaning in place – deciding what words mean, what identities mean, what’s allowed and what’s not. Like there’s only one correct definition, and everything else is wrong. But Jewish tradition doesn’t work that way.
It is said that the Torah has “shiv’im panim” – 70 faces. Seventy interpretations that can exist at once. Meaning isn’t owned by the loudest voice. It’s something we engage with, shape, and even reclaim. And we’re seeing that in real time.
As Riva Marker, JQY Trailblazer honoree, said, “The world does not need fewer queer stories. It does not need fewer Jewish stories. It does not need fewer complex, intersectional, messy, beautiful human stories.”
And as Brandon Uranowitz, Jewish Queer Icon honoree, said this week at the JQY gala, “When you spend all your energy trying to hide those pieces of yourself, you have no energy available for anything else – for creativity, connection, storytelling, and joy.”
Even in a moment when there are real attempts to limit, define, and erase, queer Jewish youth are still showing up. Still building community. Still choosing joy, visibility, and connection. Still refusing to let someone else decide what their lives are allowed to look like.
That’s not just resilience. That’s interpretation in action.
Your identity is not up for someone else to define. Your existence is not a problem to solve. And your truth is not something anyone else gets to diminish.
You can always take a word, a story, a moment, and make it yours. You can turn something heavy into something powerful. Something painful into something proud. Something meant to belittle into something that shines.
