Jewish Interest Book Club with Rabbi Panken

Past Sessions
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 • 10 Iyar 5782 - 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - TBD
Thursday, March 24, 2022 • 21 Adar II 5782 - 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - TBD
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 • 10 Sh'vat 5782 - 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - TBD
Thursday, November 18, 2021 • 14 Kislev 5782 - 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - on Zoom

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Wednesday, May 11, 2022 7:00-8:00 p.m. ZOOM

Once a Girl, Always a Boy: A Family Memoir of a Transgender Journey

By Jo Ivester

My son Jeremy is transgender. Thirty years ago, we welcomed him into the world as what we thought was our daughter. As a child, however, he preferred the toys and games our society views as masculine. He kept his hair short and wore boys’ clothing. We called him a tomboy. That’s what he called himself.

In his twenties, Jeremy had surgery to remove his breasts and began taking hormones to lower his voice and give him a beard. My book, Once a Girl, Always a Boy, is the story of Jeremy’s difficult yet joyful journey. It is told from multiple perspectives. Those of the siblings who struggled to understand the brother they saw as a sister, and of the parents who joined him in the battle against discrimination, beginning the day his father announced to seven hundred attendees at an ADL dinner that he has a transgender son, that he is proud of him, and that he loves him. This is a story of acceptance in a world not quite ready to accept.

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