L ifestyle /C ulture
Philly Faces: Elijah Tomaszewski
little overlap in those parts of
my identity and kept my transi-
tion to myself, but nowadays
I enjoy connecting with other
trans Jews.

P H I LLY FACES
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
ELIJAH TOMASZEWSKI,
29, began his Tribe 12 fellow-
ship in January. Tomaszewski’s
project is a little different
than that of the typical Tribe
12 fellow; it doesn’t revolve
around mentorship for his new
business or nonprofit.

Instead, Tomaszewski is
being mentored through the
process of writing a series of
novels. Tomaszewski, who is trans,
lives in West Philadelphia.

He studied creative writing
at Susquehanna University
and Rosemont College, and
contributes to several local
literary magazines while he
works his day job. In between,
Tomaszewski, who also writes
poetry and essays, is trying
to craft stories about trans
characters, people with “the
sort of lives that I really didn’t
see in regular, contemporary
fiction,” he said.

“I went through several
years of not really wanting to
talk about it, or feeling like it
was too difficult to talk about,”
Tomaszewski said of his own
identity as a trans man. “But
as I’m opening up more and
more, I’m realizing that this is
what I want to contribute to the
literary world.”
What do you write about?
What are you interested in?
Right now I’m finishing
up a novel about a trans
Jewish father who returns to
his southern hometown after
a decade-long absence, but
overall, my intent is to write
characters who are trans,
Jewish, or both. My under-
standing is that outside of YA
(young adult) fiction, there
aren’t a lot of trans charac-
ters outside of the standard
nonfiction transition narra-
tive, and not many of them
are Jewish as well. I’m writing
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Ari Wexler, is trans and Jewish,
and has to choose between
being comfortable and taking
a leap of faith — something I
feel we can all identify with at
I’m finishing up a novel about a trans Jewish
father who returns to his southern hometown ...

but overall, my intent is to write characters who
are trans, Jewish, or both.

Elijah Tomaszewski
characters who have that whole
life experience — being trans
is a big, intersecting part of
these characters’ lives, but it’s
only a portion of what makes
them who they are. After I
graduated with my MFA and
began seriously writing fiction,
including my novel-in-prog-
ress, I realized that I was
writing the sort of characters
and narratives that I didn’t
often see while navigating the
literary world, and I found
fiction to be a slightly better
outlet for writing parts of
my own trans and/or Jewish
experience. That representa-
tion could be what it takes for
someone to feel a little less
alone. Photo by Yael Pachino
in my joy. And in a way, my
transition gave me a different
perspective on being Jewish. I
view my transition as an act of
creation — similar to how we
make bread from wheat, I used
what I was given to change my
life for the better. Initially I saw
What are you reading these
days? As a recommendation from
my mentor from the Tribe
12 fellowship, I just finished
reading a novel by Dov Zeller,
“The Right Thing To Do At
The Time,” which is described
as, “If Jane Austen and Sholem
Aleichem schemed in an
elevator, this might just be
their pitch.” The protagonist,
some point in our lives. When I
first was starting the fellowship
back in January, I was unsure
if my work would be a little too
niche for the literary market,
but this “Pride and Prejudice”
retelling made me confident
that audiences for my work are
definitely out there. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Those two identities —
existing as a trans person and
as a Jewish person — how
do they affect or reflect one
another? Does one complicate
your expression of the other?
They do occasionally compli-
cate each other, especially in
gendered environments where I
can’t rely on the social reflexes of
my upbringing, and the fact that
I didn’t have a Jewish identity
when I was young. Both are parts
of my lifelong journey, which can
sometimes mean awkwardness
and uncertainty, but no human
experience is exempt from these
feelings, and I’m lucky to have
supportive friends and family
who both comfort me and share
JEWISH EXPONENT
MAY 6, 2021
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