If you live in the dorms you may have noticed bumper stickers reading “this is a safe space – Merchav Batuach” on a few doors around campus. If you aren’t in the dorms, then perhaps you’ve noticed the bumper sticker on a laptop, or maybe the recent Facebook attention found its way into your news feed. So you might be wondering “what exactly is Merchav Batuach?”
Merchav Batuach, in conjunction with Eshel, is a program designed to foster awareness for the LGBTQ+ community in undergraduate students. Their goal is to create a safe space where students who are struggling with their sexuality can feel secure and receive support from their peers.
The most recent seminar took place on December 12th, and was led in part by SCW student Dasha Sominski (‘15). For Sominski the seminars are vital, “it is inevitable that there will be individuals who will necessarily discover that their sexuality doesn’t fall within the binaries that are generally accepted and promoted in our community. That discovery shouldn’t infuse them with fear or a sense of isolation. But more often than not, it does…they feel that their peers will judge them, resent them, [and] despise them.”
At the seminars students learn language sensitivity and “active listening” via a combination of lectures, interactive activities, and moderated discussions. For one of the interactive activities two students enacted a “coming out” scenario for the group. The enactment was followed by a directed discussion to identify what actions and responses were done right and what was done wrong. The seminars also educate students on homophobia and micro-aggressions. These lessons are designed to familiarize student leaders with the struggles of queer students. That way they can adequately support their peers, and resist anti-LGBTQ+ behavior.
Although seminars are open to all young Jewish leaders in New York, the most recent seminar was attended almost exclusively by Yeshiva University students. Those who attended were both allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and all shared a strong passion for the cause.
According to Yeshiva College student Joshua Tranen (‘17) “Merchav Batuach is absolutely necessary, not only to educate people about how to be more inclusive and respectful, but ultimately for the members of the LGBT community that attend our university. Really, this program is for them. It’s important for them to know there is a community of students at YU who will support them, love them, and accept them for who they are.” Tranen highlights the principal goal of Merchav Batuch – that is to acknowledge the existence of queer students and afford them the same acceptance and care that heterosexual students receive.
At this point I would like to acknowledge the very prominent elephant in the room. Yes, that elephant that has been trumpeting and stomping all over this article. That is, everyone’s varying religious beliefs. I imagine that there will be individuals who upon reading this article will dismiss it because “being gay is against the Torah.” That being said, I am not writing to change anyone’s Halakhic beliefs, and neither is Merchav Batuach concerned with Halakhic discourse. I would rather speak to you as an emotional and social individual. Let us recognize that everyone has an individual Halakhic journey. We are not here to judge or to change one another. Rather, as is the mission of Merchav Batuach, we should offer support and assistance to our peers who may be suffering.
At the seminar YC alumnus Benjy Abramowitz (‘12) addressed the students. Abramowitz spoke of his personal experience as a gay student at YU and emphasized the critical role his peers played in his college experience, “I cannot sufficiently reiterate the exhilaration of my years at YU, notwithstanding the foul penumbra of the closet door. But I could not have so enjoyed myself without my close friends, my YU peers. Being gay at YU gives you lots of seemingly compelling reasons to be unhappy. But my friends’ support and love gave me a college experience that I’m proud to call formative.”
Abramowitz emphasized the power of the individual to bring change to our campuses, “You, and virtually no one else, have the power to create the positive experiences of YU that every single one of your peers deserves… It’s you, because you’re leaders…You’ve been cultivating your instincts for a long time now, and you’ve grown in wisdom, and you’re going to put it to practice.”
And so it is up to us as individuals, as peers, as friends. Together, as the students of Yeshiva University, we can form a conscious community and create safe spaces on both campuses.