Join us for collaborative queer mikveh, a ritual bath of Jewish lineage. We hold this anti-capitalist, anti-zionist space during Pride month in the spirit of queer resistances and joyfully call in the world to come.
"...many of us are living as though our lives are someone else's occupied territories. We must decolonize our lives, for our bodies and dreams and passions are no one's occupied territories... None of us is just like everybody else: We don't have to be like everybody else to be gu...
Join us for collaborative queer mikveh, a ritual bath of Jewish lineage. We hold this anti-capitalist, anti-zionist space during Pride month in the spirit of queer resistances and joyfully call in the world to come.
"...many of us are living as though our lives are someone else's occupied territories. We must decolonize our lives, for our bodies and dreams and passions are no one's occupied territories... None of us is just like everybody else: We don't have to be like everybody else to be guaranteed the right to safe and whole existences. We want to create a world in which everyone is able to discover and define and live who they are, who they are becoming, with the option to change several times throughout their lives."
- Ibrahim Baba
We will begin the ritual at 5:00pm, it will be short and sweet, ending by 6pm (at the latest, but feel free to come before or after to enjoy the beach!). The first part of the ritual will be dry and involve an honoring of Lisjan (pronounced Lishahn) people (named Ohlone by European’s), and possibly: singing, eating pickles, burning of cedar, prayers, altar building and a collective meditation.
The mikveh (immersion in water) is completely optional (as is how much clothing you choose to keep on or take off). We will begin the mikveh with a “sound mikveh,” creating healing with the water in our breath to make healing sound. This will usher in those who wish to completely or partially immerse in the ocean (the ultimate mikveh that becomes a mikveh when we intend it to be so).
The mikveh will be the absolute last part of the ritual so you can get in warm clothes and cars immediately afterward. Please bring extra towels and warm drinks!
Object Mikveh, please bring an objects with you that you wish to cleanse, transform and wash away.
Lukaza will be collecting the object and a story that goes with it, transforming it and leaving it for the sea to cleanse.
We are MAKING A FILM! So this ritual will be filmed. If you’d like to come but don’t want to be filmed we can arrange that. We will have consent forms for the film. (more info on the film below)
Accessibility: Baker Beach has accessible by wheelchair parking and from there a sandy path to the beach. There are beach wheelchairs available. Here’s a link with more information regarding accessibility at Baker Beach. If you are interested in coming and need a wheelchair please be in touch with Rebekah Erev and they will help arrange it, we’ll need 5 days notice for this. There is a distance of 500 feet or so from the path to the beach where we will be meeting (the nude part of the beach) through the sand and dirt. If you need assistance joining the ritual please let us know and we will do anything we can to make sure you can join the ritual.
What is a mikveh?
A mikvah is an ancient Jewish ritual water immersion commonly used for conversion to Judaism, for brides, and for niddah, the practice of cleansing after menstruation. For Jews, water signifies the transformative movement from slavery in Egypt, through the parted Red Sea, and into freedom. Entering a mikvah is a transformative and healing experience and we have long wondered why it is not available to more people, including the significant transgender and queer populations in Jewish communities.
What is a queer mikveh? (working definition, we welcome feedback!)
A physical or spiritual space that uses the technologies of water and the Jewish practice of mikveh to mark transitions. Transition to be interpreted by individuals and individual ritual. Queer mikveh in it’s essence honors the story of the water. The historical stories of the water we immerse in, the stories of our own bodies as water and the future story we vision. Queer mikveh is accessible physically and spiritually to any and all people who are curious about it. You don’t have to be a practicing Jew to enter Queer mikveh. You don’t have to be Jewish. It is an earth and water honoring ritual. It honors the land it is on as intentionally using queer mikveh for healing colonialism. Queer mikveh is a ritual of Jews in diaspora. We believe the way we work for freedom for all beings is by using the gifts of our ancestors for the greatest good. We bring our rituals as gifts. It acknowledges that our path is to live on lands that are not historically our peoples and we honor the indigenous ancestors of the land we live on, doing mikveh as an anti-colonialist ritual for collective and personal liberation.
