Every Sunday at Pastor Havens’ church they say to people, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey you are welcome here!” Havens believes, “we can disagree about how we practice our faith and still be for justice and against discrimination. That is the legacy of all faiths. If the business community can stand for justice and what is right, then the faith community should surely not lag behind.” That’s why he’s a “Straight Ally,” for the Human Rights Ordinance.
Rabbi Joshua B. Lief is the Senior Rabbi of historic Congregation Ahavath Chesed. He grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia where he was active in all sports, music, and was an Eagle Scout. He attended Princeton University, where he swam on the varsity squad, competed on the debate team, and graduated with a degree in History.
After Princeton, Rabbi Lief attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After living in Jerusalem for the first year of the seminary, he completed his studies at HUC-JIR’s campus in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was ordained as a Rabbi in May of 2003.
Prior to moving to Jacksonville, Rabbi Lief served as the Rabbi of Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, Tennessee where he helped grow the congregation and reached out to the larger community. Here in Jacksonville, he serves on the boards of ONEJAX, JCCI, and the Community Hospice. He is an avid athlete, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, member of the Downtown Rotary Club, a graduate of the Leadership Jacksonville New Leadership Summit, enjoys and supports the arts, and is honored to engage in civic activities.
Rabbi Lief is married to his beautiful wife Rebecca. They are delighted daily by their adorable daughters, Leah and Ellie, and are proud to make Jacksonville their home.
As a Rabbi, I am relieved that Judaism only demands of me that I make myself the best person that I can possibly be. I am not required to change anyone else to be more like me. Indeed, with my faith in a God who is wholly (and holy) beyond my comprehension, and a conviction that all people are made in the Divine image, how could I ask anyone not to be who they are? Many people are fond of taking Biblical verses out of context and frequently Leviticus 18:22 is cited as an injunction against homosexuality. From my perspective, the operative verse on the issue of civil rights is actually to be found one chapter later, at Leviticus 19:17, “Reprove your neighbor, but come to no guilt on his account.” The issue is not the perceived rightness or wrongness of any individual’s private behavior. Rather, the issue is the absolute wrongness of public discrimination against our fellow human beings for simply being who they are. It is quite fitting that the very next verse is Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord.” Would that we could all reach that level of holiness. Let’s keep trying.
Help us raise money for Equality with some Charity Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s JAX!
We have 50/50 raffle tickets and great door prizes provided by:
A weekend stay at Omni Hotels [downtown jacksonville]
Sweet Pete’s | Three Layers Cafe
WJCT | Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Equality Florida | CityXtra Magazine
Hosted by Karissa Wade
Brought to you by We Are Straight Allies, City Xtra Magazine and the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality
Come join us – this ain’t your grandma’s basement bingo!
Huge THANK YOU to Pat Geraghty, Florida Blue CEO, for his continued support of our “We Are Straight Allies” campaign!
“Honoring the dignity of every person is an ethic that I wholeheartedly believe in. In addition, respect is one of our core values at Florida Blue. The company is an inclusive organization that honors and draws upon the diverse experiences, abilities and backgrounds of our employees. This is what helps us attract the best talent and create an environment of teamwork.
In demonstration of this commitment – I have joined the We Are Straight Allies campaign as a Straight Ally in support of a Human Rights Ordinance in the City of Jacksonville…To reinforce the We Are Straight Allies message, “nothing is more important than our humanity,” and everyone has a right to the same opportunities.”
We Are Straight Allies would like to extend our gratitude to the 25 beautiful souls who attended our inaugural workshop at the Historic Springfield Learning Center (in partnership with Wells Fargo and the Jacksonville Urban League). We had a diverse group of people from small business owners to corporate executives, faith leaders to city council candidates, allies and members of the LGBT community, gathered together to create meaningful dialogue around what it means to be a better ally.
Attendees discussed the issues the LGBT community faces, learned more about inclusive language, proper pronoun usage and correct terminology. We shared stories about our own experiences with discrimination and how important it is that we practice everyday advocacy for those in marginalized communities. There were great questions posed by the group as to how we can all work together to insure passage of a comprehensive Human Rights Ordinance in the city of Jacksonville, and how we can go out in the community and empower others to join us as allies as well.
A very special thank you to City Xtra Magazine for sponsoring this event! and thank you for your valuable feedback on what additional workshops you would each like to see for future workshops as well! We are planning the next community workshop for September – date, time, location, and more information on that coming soon!
Rabbi Joshua B. Lief is the Senior Rabbi of historic 
We Are Allies 