Religion has always been a battle for me. My mother grew up strict Roman Catholic (Mexico) and my father was Christian (I seriously have no clue)? My grandfather, also Roman Catholic, would take me to Catholic churches every Sunday and holidays. But it was never really enforced on me. I have gotten into astrology, and more witchy type stuff, but my religion is pretty much up in the air all the time. I also, like many other queer people, distanced themselves from religion seeing as it is the main source of intolerance form our loved ones, associating religion with hatred.
My interviewee is someone who understands religion on a deep level while maintaining their queerness. Cooper Kaminsky is a non-binary queer individual who is also a spiritual worker and of the Jewish faith. Our discussion goes over how religion has played an apart in their life, their career, and their queernerss.
Q1. When did you realize that you were queer?
“I think I embraced my queer identity later, years after I had come out. When I came out initially, I was pretty young, I was in like 8th grade. I was in a small little Jewish day school, and I was the only out person in my entire school. That was a little weird. The queerness piece came later. My sister is also queer, and I feel like they embraced their queer identity before I did in a really full and robust way. I feel great being able to talk to them and relate but I think my queer identity came as a non-binary person. I never felt like ‘one of the guys’ ever. I was looking back on times and experiences, especially when I was in school, when I was realizing things about my identity, I always felt very queer. I have never felt like I really fit into any gendered box nor did I want to. I am also an actor, I do a lot of live theater, so I have always been around the theater community which is very queer. I feel like that was such an incredible community to grow up in. I had seen so many different of self and gender, and maybe I have always identified as queer just without the language for it. Now that I have the language, I very strongly identify as a queer non-binary person.”
Q2. What is it like being queer and Jewish and is there backlash?
“That’s a really good question. I am really grateful to be Jewish and to be less of a conservative Jew. The different sects of Judaism have been relatively progressive as far as queerness goes, which is cool. The more conservative sect of Judaism which is a little less than Orthodoxy. When I was growing up, they actually made a statement saying that they embraced LGBTQ+ Jews. I feel like I have always been exposed to that. I also feel that Jewishness in a lot of ways is very queer in itself. Jewishness and queerness have this narrative of asking questions and constantly figuring things out for yourself. So, I feel like my queerness and my Jewishness are aligned in that regard. To know yourself you have to constantly question everything and explore and develop ideas or truths about yourself. I think it is very interesting. We are kind of seeing it around different cultures and religions, things that have been traditionally gendered, we are at a place right now that collectively we know that some things don’t have to be gendered in that traditional way. It’s really cools figuring out what parts of more fem Jewish practices or how can I encourage Jewish women to embrace traditionally more masculine aspects of Judaism. I think that as a Jewitch and a spiritual worker and guide as a career, it's a big driving factor of mine to encourage that exploration of Jewishness a little bit more.”
Q3. How does religion intersect with your mediumship?
“The history and birth of astrology have been found in the sematic religions. Astrology initially was a really big part of that system. As far as my Jewish background and my work, to quote Michael from The Office, ‘I am not superstitious I am a little-stitious.’ That is kind of the rabbinical stance on connecting with different divination tools. It’s ok to use it as long as you are not completely ruled by it. It’s been really informative in my practice, the things that come through are hard and fast. I think to recognize that things like astrology and tarot are here to help inform but not rule your path/existence is super important. That opinion is something that I have adopted from my own religion and faith. I think that is the big thing. As I continue to walk my path and continue to study, I am very fascinated by the fact of the interception of magic and Judaism. Magic is very, very, connected to Jewish history and Jewish practices. That is something that has been lost because of persecution, anti-Semitism, and secular reform. To go back to the magical roots of Judaism is a huge part of my personal path and practice.”
Q4. What have been the biggest obstacle you’ve faced as a queer individual?
“I think our society and culture is still very hard wired to view everything within the binary. Even form our idioms, black and white, night and day, it is so binaries. The hardest obstacle is feeling so in the middle of that. There is a little bit of dissonance between people’s perception of who I am. I think that queerness is very liminal and very whole in a lot of ways. That still makes people uncomfortable. I was listening to Fran Lebowtiz and something that is really interesting is that the queer liberation movement has been so focused on gays getting married and gays going into the military. She said that she was happy to be gay because she didn’t have to do those things. I think recognizing that queerness doesn’t fit in any of those boxes, I think that even of the liberation level we have tried to fit and push ourselves into those heteronormative boxes. The obstacle is unlearning what our sense of what fitting in is.”
Q5. What is the biggest obstacle you’ve faced as a Jewish person?
“The anti-Semitism thing is huge. A lot of historic oppression, it is a thing of the past. The Civil Rights Movement was in the 50’s and the Holocaust was in the 30s and 40’s. But to recognize that marginal oppression is still very much a thing and has become clear in the years. It is among so many groups, but the difficult thing is not seeing antisemitism included in a lot of discussions about oppression right now. I also think as a Jewish people we have a responsibility; we should use our privileges to support and lift up people who are even more oppressed than us. Being Jewish is interesting because we are the middle, our identity is not skin deep. We can pass in a lot of ways, it’s like being queer, we can pass in the Cis- heteronormative world. We need to guide and be in solidarity with our other minorities.”
Q6. Any advice to those struggling with religion, gender identity, or queerness in general?
“I think on a spiritual level it is so important to recognize that we are divine beings. All of us. And to recognize the multiple of being and identity within each of us is huge. That is especially true for queer people, what is contained within in us is so vast and deep that we almost have no way to identify ourselves. Other than ourselves. I also think that spiritually too, there is this phrase in Hebrew, ‘Ein Od Milvado’ which means there is nothing but the one, and it’s not talking about the one God necessarily it’s much more metaphysical than that. We are all part of one source, and we are all part of this oneness. As an individual person, everything is a part of us. It is a tool to help connect with our humanity and faith, we are apart of everything as much as it is part of us."
Religion for me has been associated with hatred for a long time. However, people like Cooper, show me that there is more to religion than what other have preached. Their religion has been persecuted, and still is today, and so has their identity. Religion for many is a defining factor in their everyday life, sometimes it is the only thing we have. The Jewish people have faced hardships dating back centuries all for their religious beliefs. Cooper Kaminsky’s queerness and Jewishness go hand in hand, from the understanding of what it takes to be a minority, to questioning the world around you. Remember like Cooper said, we are apart of everything, just as everything is apart of us.
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