Rainbow-colored clothing and Pride-themed accessories helped transform Temple Am Echad’s Pride Shabbat service last Friday into a celebration of community, identity and belonging.
The focus of the evening was 9-year-old Michael Tiran, who celebrated his gender transition by receiving the Hebrew name Meechayel Avi in a naming ceremony attended by more than 100 congregants, family members and visitors. The name honors his great-grandfather Avraham Yafet Udi.
For Michael’s mother, Rachel Tiran, the ceremony represented both a religious tradition and a deeply personal moment. “In the Jewish faith, when our babies are born, we name them in Hebrew,” she explained before the service. “When he transitioned, he got to understand why he was named after my Grandma Maddie, and he chose to make his new name something that started with an M for Grandma Maddie.”
The idea for the ceremony arose after Michael attended a renaming ceremony for another transgender congregant about a year and a half ago. Rachel said her son immediately connected with the experience.
“Michael latched on to the idea that he was able to do something like this and say, ‘I am Michael. I am a boy,’” she said.
When temple leaders suggested holding the ceremony during the congregation’s annual Pride Shabbat celebration, Rachel said, Michael’s “face lit up” at the idea of celebrating with the broader community.
Temple Am Echad, a Reform congregation in Lynbrook, held the service there. The evening began with a parade into the sanctuary, where congregants wore rainbow colors, sunglasses and bracelets before gathering for worship and the naming ceremony. A festive Oneg, a social gathering with refreshments held after Jewish worship, followed the service.
For Senior Rabbi Caroline Sim, the connection between the naming ceremony and Pride Shabbat was especially meaningful. “Many Reform temples give a ceremony for a Hebrew name to honor that transition religiously as well as secularly,” Sim said before the event. “It was serendipitous to have it on Pride Shabbat.”
Sim said that Michael initially felt shy about publicly sharing his story, but the larger Pride celebration helped create a supportive environment. “It does fit very thematically, and it’s a wonderful way to celebrate Pride at large, our support for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies,” she said.
The rabbi added that the event reflected values the congregation strives to practice year-round. “A lot of people say they’re accepting and open, but we live our vision and live our values,” Sim said. “We want to make it tangible, and something that helps us practice what we preach.”
Temple Am Echad’s connection to the Tiran family stretches back generations. Rachel was born into the congregation, which her mother, Jean Marion, served as a youth leader while pregnant with her. Today, four generations of the family remain active in temple life.
“We have been very lucky that from the start, our family, friends and temple community embraced Michael’s transition,” Rachel said. “We’ve experienced nothing but love and joy, which is the point of Pride — to be happy with who you are and celebrate who you are.”
Watching her son be recognized by the congregation, she said, was especially meaningful at a time when many LGBTQ+ people continue to face challenges.
“It is amazing to be in this congregation I was born into and to see that what I was taught from a child — be your best self, help others, we accept everybody — and to watch my loved community do exactly that and accept my child for exactly who he is,” Rachel said.
Former Temple Am Echad President Andy Trevers, who co-chairs the congregation’s worship committee, helped organize Pride-themed decorations and displays. The service, he said, sent a message that LGBTQ+ individuals and families are welcome in the temple.
“There may be folks in the LGBTQ+ community who feel they aren’t welcome in a house of worship,” Trevers said. “The Reform movement in general, and our synagogue specifically, wants people to know that’s not an obstacle to participating in the Jewish community.”
Trevers described the service as emotional, noting that more than 100 people attended. “Seeing close to 110 people in the summer attend this brought tears of joy to everyone’s eyes,” he said. “I think they felt it. I know they felt it.”
The evening, Trevers said, demonstrated what Temple Am Echad strives to be. “It’s one thing to say you’re welcoming, but another thing to live it,” he said. “We are not just saying it. We are doing it.”
“I hope that Michael will be able to remember and hold onto how loved he is, supported, and the benefits of being brave and embracing his uniqueness,” his mother said. “My hope, not just for Michael but for anybody who hears our story, is that it will inspire others to be brave and feel proud of themselves and be uniquely them. You are not alone.”
