⁠Rabbi Louis Sachs⁠ explores what it means to build communities where queer Jews can bring their full identities and truly belong. Beginning with the story of officiating a same-sex Jewish wedding, he reflects on the pain experienced by LGBTQ Jews who have too often been made to feel that their Jewish and queer identities cannot exist together.

Drawing on Parshat Korach and the declaration that “the entire community is holy,” Rabbi Sachs argues that holiness is not a finished achievement. It is something we must continually work to create. He challenges both Jewish and LGBTQ spaces to move beyond proclamations of welcome and confront the ways exclusion still persists.

This is a sermon about belonging, responsibility, and the work still required to make inclusion real. Saying that everyone is welcome is not enough. We must create communities where people can bring their full identities and know that there is a place for them.

Delivered on Shabbat morning, June 20, 2026, at Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto.

Torah Outside the Box is a podcast from Rabbi Louis Sachs of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto, sharing sermons and teachings that bring Torah beyond the synagogue and into everyday life. With clarity and care, Rabbi Sachs explores how ancient Jewish wisdom speaks to the challenges and questions of the modern world. Each episode offers thoughtful, relevant, and tradition-rooted insights that invite listeners to reflect, feel, and live with greater intention. Honest and relatable, these teachings offer a spiritual lens through which to view our lives—because Torah belongs not just in the synagogue, but everywhere.