Beys Feygelekh – בית פייגעלעך

Beys Feygelekh – בית פייגעלעך*

*Naming Note-

In the time between submitting the tittle and finishing the artwork, there has been a realization that this piece should instead be called Beys Feygelekh. Feygele’s Plural. It is the Home of many fairies, not just one 🙂 It is written correctly on the sculpture, but not in your gallery guides.

Huge thanks to Jake Schneider for his work correcting my spelling and teaching me about plurals and vowel usage in Yiddish to be able to write this sign!

Materials:

Aluminum foil

Tape

Air-dry clay

Paper

Streched out paperclips

Acrylic Paint

Varnish

Baking Tray

Short Description in English and German:

Beys Feygelekh is a fantasy model of a Trans Queer Jewish Community Center. Inspired by the Institute of Sexual Science, founded 1919 by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in Tiergarten – an oasis for LGBTQIA+ until it was stolen from us in 1933. The new structure is barrier-free, and every queer person respectful of Jewish-led spaces is welcome to the food, library, healthcare, and community.

Beys Feygelekh ist das Fantasiemodell eines trans-queeren jüdischen Gemeindehauses, inspiriert vom 1919 von Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld gegründeten und 1933 zerstörten Institut für Sexualwissenschaft im Tiergarten. Beys Feygele bietet einen barrierefreien Raum für Queers, die jüdische Orte respektieren – mit Essens- und Gesundheitsangeboten, Bibliothek und Gemeinschaft.

Long Description:

With friends and alone in moments of stillness, chaos, and inspiration, we have imagined the layout and resources available inside Beys Feygelekh, a still incomplete list! Every queer person respectful of Jewish-led and organized spaces is welcome to access the food, treatments, and healthcare on a by donation basis.

My bright pink 3-story building decorated with graffiti tattoos and overgrown with vines has a ramp with a handrail and an elevator to every floor, and the rooftop garden to provide barrier-free accessibility. Every floor has a large wheelchair accessible bathroom with a changing table. There is a raised map with Braille at the entrance and integrated access features into every floor and space. The flagpoles carry the trans flag, intersex flag, Gilbert Baker’s orginal pride flag with a Jewish star, and the progress pride flag with a trans Jewish star.

On the ground floor is a big kosher vegan kitchen where everyone always has enough food and seasonal veggies are on the counter for anyone to take. A Fermentation pantry is open to anyone with pickles made from vegetables grown on the rooftop garden. A window to the street provides free fresh babka and bagels. Down the hallway, a salon with a variety of treatments is available. An electrologist, laser technician, tattoo artist, hairdresser, nail artist, and waxing specialist. Facing the East is the prayer room with a hand carved wooden Ark and community led egalitarian services. There is a ramp to the bemah and a variety of seating options.

The first floor is the Queer and Transgender Healthcare Center with doctors and therapists offering free non non-gatekept gender affirming care. One will be able to see their endocrinologist for hormone levels, surgeon for operations, and pick up their prescriptions and needles on the same floor. Trans kids can receive hormone blockers and support to become Trans adults. Birth control, Abortions, STI treatment, and testing are provided upon request with respect, confidentiality, and no waiting lists. There are rooms to recover from surgery where friends or family can also stay with you. A physical therapy team offers trans affirming exercises, lymph drainage, and manual therapy. Trans and Queer community peer counselors as well as trained psycotherapists are bookable for sessions each week.

The second floor is apartments for permanent residents and guests. There are also many art studios facing the river where artists can reserve space to create on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. An art closet is close to the elevator, where artists can donate, collect, and trade supplies. Of course, Dogs, Cats, and Bunnies are welcome. Birds are not allowed to be caged inside. They must fly free! Pigeons are fed every morning from the balcony in honor of Dora Richter, and there are many bird bath fountains made by community sculptors in the garden.

The third floor has a balcony coming off the library where people can sit to read in the sun. At the library, one can browse books, donated handwritten memoirs, and photographs. Breastplates, packers, padding, and a huge room of clothing and wigs are available to borrow or keep. There is a makeup room with new brushes, eyeshadow palettes, graphic liner, and foundations in every shade that one can take home. A door from the fashion and makeup styling center leads to the dining and dance area. The club room has UV murals, couches to lounge, a serve-yourself non alcoholic drink and snack bar, and a great dj every party.

On the roof, there is an apple tree with a snake wrapped around. People can lounge on the roof and watch the sunset and the stars come out. At night the arches glow neon rainbows. The gardening team grows fruits and veg for eating and ritual. Grapes grow off the side of the roof become kiddush grape juice. This is where we do Havdala every week and build our Sukkah.

In the garden downstairs close to the food window are chairs and tables for people to dine in the sunshine close to the spree. Access Mats make it possible for everyone to be able to walk or roll through terrain with ease. Further down the path outside are big Rhododendron bushes and soft secluded places in the garden for Queer + Jewish cruising

I chose the name Beys Feygelekh, meaning something like the House of Fairies. Referencing a holy place like the Beit Midrash. This is a place where Queer Jewish people can find a home, where they can feel free like a little bird. It is the home of Fairies, Faggots, Migrants, and those of us who fly far from where we grew up to build a life somewhere where we can finally become and find our true selves. I first came to know the word Feygele to lovingly describe the employee of my Great Grandmother who worked at her hotel gift shop. I always thought it was a fun word, never something negative. As I have grown older, I have come to claim it for myself and explore how Feygele has been used as both a slur and as a word of strength. It still is used to put us down, make fun of our community, music, and fashion. I am proud to be a Feygele, and making this dream space to dwell in was a balm my Queer Jewish soul needed. Because if we dream it, sketch it, sculpt it, it may be closer to existing in Tiergarten in our collective future.