Photos: Jewish drag artists raise money for Brooklyn and Gaza refugees

Last Sunday, a troupe of Jewish drag artists called Full Moon Drag came together to create a sukkah — a shelter made for Sukkot — at the Maple Street Community Garden in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, N.Y.

‘Under the overhanging willow tree, their sukkah adorned with poppies, keffiyehs, and a handpainted “FREE PALESTINE” banner set the stage for their production titled “HOT 2 ROT.” The troupe performed to an audience of 100 community members and successfully raised $2000 for a local mutual aid organization fighting for neighbors to stay in their homes and be free of police violence, Equality for Flatbush, and Denizen’s Society, an international mutual aid organization that supplies housing and food for Gazan refugees. By sunset, it was all taken down collectively by the troupe and audience members alike,” a press release from the event read.

Some drag artists reflected on their performances in statements provided in the press release.

“During Sukkot we welcome in the ushpizin, or supernatural guests, which is what my number was based on. I wore a dress made out of tissues and lip-synched to a mix of Kesha’s Blow and the voice of my recently deceased grandmother talking somewhat obsessively about how different people blow their nose. Including my grandmother in this way grounded me in my ancestry which in my family has always included silliness, play and fighting for a world in which joy is accessible to everyone,” Abbie Goldberg, who performs under the name Chava Goodtime, said.

“My act is an expression of grief, pain, rage, and defiance in solidarity with Palestinians. In the finale, I pour a silver plate of black ink all over my body – it stains my skin and clothes drawing drip patterns on my skin. I tried to channel the raw emotions and connect to the singers and audience to express how we’re feeling collectively. The show is among many things a call for Jewish people to create home, security, and safety with other marginalized people around us grounded in the places we live: a vision for what we could be. ” performer Zev said about their second time performing with Full Moon Drag as ZivZavZuv.

“To open the show, I performed “Come to Mama” by Lady Gaga as a way to welcome not only our spiritual ancestors, the ushpizin, into our space, but also what I see as our collectively created Jewish Community and what we stand for.” Ariel, a producer of the show and a drag queen who goes by the name of Harsh Babe, said. “The way I see it, proud anti-Zionist queer Jews like us represent the spaces that the Jewish Left is craving and actively creating. In my number, I brought audience members and troupe members alike onto the sukkah stage with me to wrap us in a shawl made of Jewish Voice for Peace shirts from an action many of my troupe members participated in at the New York Stock Exchange days prior, decorated with phrases such as “Not in Our Name” and “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel.” It was my goal to create an atmosphere that celebrated what it means to be in Jewish community centered around love and liberation.”