Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Rabbi Minna Brombergâs work addressing weight stigma in Jewish communal spaces took her to a lot of synagogues. She was often bewildered when organizers provided her a chair that was too small. Getting people to acknowledge her body and their discomfort with it is one reason she founded Fat Torah a year ago.
âBecause people are so uncomfortable with fat bodies, they donât see my needs â but it should be obvious,â she said. âThey can see my body but donât give me the right chair. Itâs literally a consciousness-raising need. People donât think about fat peopleâs needs.â
Minna Bromberg is founder and president of Fat Torah. She is passionate about bringing her three decades of experience in fat activism to writing, teaching and change-making at the nexus of Judaism and body liberation. Her forthcoming book is Belonging for Every Body: a Fat Torah Guide to Building Inclusive Spiritual Community. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and their children.
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I think he was accusing me of idolatry.
“What a sad sad situation when our hope is built on a small needle,” someone wrote in response to my recent piece about the joy (and other feelings) I experienced when I got my first Covid shot.
“Hope?!?!,” I wanted to snap back at him. “You’re the one who’s placed your hope in false idols! I’m not worshipping the needle the nurse put in my arm, but it sounds like maybe you’re worshipping your anti-science ideas.”