Rabbi Jay Michaelson

Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson is an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and a visiting scholar at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion. He holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University, a J.D. from Yale Law School and nondenominational rabbinic ordination. His new book, The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Antinomianism to Esoteric Myth, is published by Oxford University Press. Outside the academy, Dr. Michaelson is the author of nine books, including Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism and God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. He is a columnist for New York magazine, and an editor and podcast host at Ten Percent Happier. Previously, Jay was an LGBTQ activist for 10 years. And this winter, he will again be directing the Hazon Meditation Retreat after a two-year hiatus.

Essays

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

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The Reconstructionist Network