Ms Cohen said participants ranged from teenagers to people over the age of 60 and included the profoundly religious as well as secular Jewish people. They will be joined by Israeli DJ Shahaf Moran who will perform at the Mardi Gras' closing party, The Laneway, on Sunday.

It will be the 14th time the Jewish group has participated in the parade and Ms Cohen said the theme of their float is Ahava, the Hebrew word for love.

"We need to love each other and love together and I wanted to create something that had the symbol of love inside our actual Jewish symbol," she said. "It's a metaphor to say we can love from within whoever we are."

Another member of Dayenu, Odi Reuveni, said: "It's important to us to show our presence, to show that to be Jewish and gay is not contradictory."

The co-chairman of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Paul Savage, said a number of religious groups were participating in the parade, including the Catholic group Acceptance Sydney, the Metropolitan Community Church and 100 Revs, a group of Christian ministers and pastors. Past parades have featured Anglican groups, The Wayside Chapel and Muslims Against Homophobia.