Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Careers in New York, NY

In 1973, Jacob Gubbay, a gay Jew from India living in New York, noticed a small ad for a gay ?Passover Seder to be held on the 30th of March at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea. ?There, Gubbay volunteered to lead the Seder, and that night--retelling the story of our liberation ?from Egyptian slavery--the idea of a gay synagogue was born.? Shortly after this first gathering, Jacob Gubbay succeeded in negotiating for permission to conduct ?weekly Friday night services in the church annex on West 28th Street. Nearly a year after the first ?Seder, a small ad appeared in the Village Voice announcing the gay synagogue’s first Friday night ?service. That evening in February turned out to be a miserable, freezing night, and barely a ?minyan attended. Someone carried a shopping bag with candles, wine, a kiddush cup, and ?challah. The synagogue, still unnamed, became known as “the shopping bag synagogue” ?because every week the synagogue’s belongings were brought to the service in a shopping bag.?