A Blessing Before a Dyke March, by Anastasia bat Lilith

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7 June 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., demonstrations, LGBTQIA+, liberation

A poem / blessing made for the 2026 Pittsburgh Dyke March, framed with a Hebrew blessing for Lesbian Pride written by Rabbi Robin Podolsky.

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	We’re not here for equality, but Liberation.
	We march for solidarity, to pray with our feet,^[1] Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel on March 21, 1965 after returning from participating in the Selma-to-Montgomery March: “For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.” and put commitments to action. We march for our ancestors, finding joy in the world they bled for.
	Every dyke, trannie and freak beaten or jailed by The State is my comrade. Every queer killed for their identity is my sibling, their loss my own. Will we be mere allies, or accomplices to their memory?
	We march knowing our liberation is bound up in each other. We march not merely as friends, but lovers.
	Where do we belong, love? WE BELONG TO THE FUTURE! Let us make ourselves holy, and live like that better world is here for the taking!
בְּרוּכָה אַתְ יָהּ אוֹהֶבֶת הָעוֹלָם הַלֵב הַפּוֹעֵם שֶׁל כֹּל הָעוֹלָמוֹת בּוֹרֵאת צְחוֹקָן שֶׁל כַּלּוֹת וּשְׂשׂוֹנָן שֶׁל שֻׁתָפוֹת לְמַאֲבָק^[2] Hebrew blessing as written by Rabbi Robin Podolsky in Mishkan Ga’avah Where Pride Dwells (CCAR: 2019).	Brukhah ăt Yah ōhevet ha’ōlăm halév hapō’ém shel kōl ha’ōlamōt borét ts’ḥōqăn shel kalōt us’sōnăn shel shūtăfōt l’maăvăq. Blessed are You, Yah, Lover of the universe, Heartbeat of the worlds, who has made the laughter of brides and the joy of comrades.

This prayer was offered by Anastasia bat Lilith at the Pittsburg Dyke March on 6 June 2026 in Friendship Park. The concluding blessing, by Rabbi Robin Podolsky, was first published in Mishkan Ga’avah Where Pride Dwells (CCAR: 2019).

Notes

Notes
1	Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel on March 21, 1965 after returning from participating in the Selma-to-Montgomery March: “For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.”
2	Hebrew blessing as written by Rabbi Robin Podolsky in Mishkan Ga’avah Where Pride Dwells (CCAR: 2019).

Anastasia bat Lilith

Anastasia bat Lilith (אַנאַסטאַסיאַ בת לילית) is a transfemme Jewish Anarcha-Feminist living in Diondega, so-called "Pittsburgh, PA". Zine queen, librarian and one-time exorcist, she helps organize the Pittsburgh Jewish Zine Fest and Ratzon: Center for Healing and Resistance. She loves long walks on the beach, and unicorns.

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Pittsburgh Dyke March (photo credit: Hope Anne Nathan, 6 June 2026)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

A Blessing Before a Dyke March, by Anastasia bat Lilith

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