Gay Pride -Tel Aviv Knows How To Throw A Party

I’m always proud to say I’m from Israel. Come June, my pride gets a little more colorful. Two hundred and fifty thousand people, one big party, and it all happened in my favorite city.

Israel is a speck on the world map. In that speck are Jews of every stripe on the rainbow plus some colors that can’t be seen with the naked eye. We bump up against each other a lot. We live on a tiny speck of land so it’s unavoidable. Add in Muslims, Druze, and Christians, also of different shades of rainbow colors. Try figuring out that seating chart!

Nothing about this tiny speck of a country would suggest that a pride parade would ever happen, let alone be so fabulous. It goes against conventional wisdom. So while yes, we are a thriving (read crazy) democracy, I would suggest something else is happening.

There is a spark of the divine in Tel Aviv. Something holy that is going on. What you just felt was what happens when every religious person reading this shudders in unison. It’s really very simple. Experiencing love is how we connect to the creator in this divinely inspired universe. People at the parade are showing themselves some love. Partners are expressing love. Parents are loving their kids. Some people are searching for love. Love is what being closer to God.the creator/source/the universe, is all about.

I’m clear about what it says in the Torah. I don’t know what it says in the Quran, but my conventional wisdom would say, sexuality is not fluid in that holy book. Jesus never discussed homosexuality so the Christian take on it boggles my mind a bit. Despite all the religious evidence to the contrary, I still have the chutzpah to see the divine on the streets of Tel Aviv. I see it anywhere I see love.