ABSTRACT
in 1986, the two of us first began to discuss the idea of putting together an anthology about lesbian and gay Jews, and in late 1989, Twice Blessed: On Being Lesbian or Gay and Jewish saw its way into print. Neither of us had ever edited or written a book before, and our desire to do so reflected some amount of chutzpah and naíveté. But it also reflected the need we, and many others, experienced at that time: to write our lives into visibility. We knew dozens of articulate lesbian or gay Jews around the country, many of whom regarded themselves as writers and/or activists. But at that time, very few of us had found contexts in which we could write candidly about our lives. We were making things up as we went along and had very little space in which to imagine what Jewish lesbian and gay cultures, religious practices, and politics might look like. Twice Blessed promised to give us that space.
