Film-maker Searle Kochberg gives his oral history: Jewish gay identity is big for me

Canadian-born Searle Kochberg talks about being Jewish & gay and his connection to ritual and spirituality.

‘A lot of my gay male friends who are totally secular, when they –when I started going back to Shul they thought they were going to see me with ringlets and a fur hat, you know, they didn’t really understand that I needed –I needed a kind of spiritual journey, a bit. I needed ritual and I needed things that were ….- I mean my gayness is pretty essential to me of course but the ritual is essential and it’s about continuity and, um, so in many ways as I’ve gotten older I feel my Jewishness is more essential to me than my gayness. Of course, you can’t say anything’s more essential than your sexual being but, actually I’ve sort of put that to bed, a long time ago. You know, I’m –I don’t think about it much, you know, as with my Jewishness I do think about.’

Read the full transcript: transcript Searle kochberg Interview

Produced by University of Portsmouth