First Cup of Wine

The first cup of wine commemorates flamboyance. As queer and Jewish people, we're often taught to feel ashamed of making too big a deal out of our treasured identities. Marla Brettschneider says, in her essay about Jewish and queer fabulousness, that "it is often in the extreme that we encounter ecstasy, bits of the divine". While we drink this cup, we commit to being flamboyant in our Judaism and in our queerness tonight. There is nothing shameful in wanting to connect to the holy inside of us. 

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam borei pri hagafen. 

Blessed is the Eternal, determiner of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.


haggadah Section: Kadesh
Source: "When the Fabulous is Holy" by Marla Brettschneider in Torah Queeries