Welcome to Buttmitzvah, London’s most radical queer Jewish experience

Published: 6 October 2023

Last updated: 5 March 2024

The UK club night was created for those who feel too gay in Jewish spaces, yet too Jewish in gay spaces.

“The emotion that sums up my first Buttmitzvah is disbelief. I thought: Am I really in an East London nightclub where instead of dancing sweaty and shirtless, I’m doing a hora and watching a niche sketch comedy on British-Jewish culture?” – Benji Schaan

LONDON – Buttmitzvah is not your average bubbe’s night out. It features hundreds of people clad in skimpy, camp costumes embellished with Jewish insignia, rhythmically grinding to Middle Eastern hits by the likes of Sarit Hadad, Gad Elbaz and Tarkan.

But for Benji Schaan, this party night – founded in 2016 by a group of young, queer British Jews – represents much more than a big evening out. The 31-year-old Canadian-Israeli, who works in TV production, became involved with Buttmitzvah’s stage production in 2021, two years after moving to London from Tel Aviv.

“It was very communal and welcoming, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

Founder Josh Cole says Buttmitzvah was created to solve the problem of feeling too gay in Jewish spaces, yet too Jewish in gay spaces. “I think that all queer Jews can relate to a sense of isolation when they were younger, and that can potentially continue into adult age – and those feelings can be especially strong around bar or bat mitzvah age [12 for girls; 13 for boys],” he says. “Buttmitzvah is an attempt to reverse that and welcome everyone regardless of gender, age, race or sexuality, or religion to one big party.”