press coverage
of jay michaelson
Forbidden Fruits: The Queer Shabbaton celebrates a pair of not-so-strange bedfellows: Judaism and gayness
Time Out New York October 18, 2007 ...“I think a lot of us are told we have to fragment ourselves in order to be in the world,” Michaelson adds. “We try to create a space where people can be their whole selves.” 
25 rabbis walk into a room...The Advocate September 17, 2007 ...says Jay Michaelson, a gay observant Jew whose most recent book, God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice, explores the intersection of sexuality and religion. “The idea that the ‘somewhat religious’ people now say it’s OK to be gay, and that God doesn’t hate fags after all,” he says, sends a powerful message to all faith communities... 
Jewish Book World Review of God in Your Body (pdf)Fall, 2007 
White Crane review of God in Your Body
July 12, 2007 "God in Your Body embodies mindfulness within the body; and this is wonderful. In our age of unmindfulness, of vapid entertainment instead of real exploration, of non-communication with others and ourselves, mindfulness in any form, especially mindfulness leading to compassion, is needed urgently..." 
Velveteen Rabbi Review of God in Your BodyMarch 5, 2007 
Sacred Sexuality: An Interview with Jay MichaelsonJVoices.com February 20, 2007 "...What we’re about is this: how you love matters to how you do religion, and so queers are going to be Jewish in ways that are new, different, and enriching for everybody. We want to figure out what those are..." 
If the spirit moves youBay Area Reporter February 15, 2007 Review of Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling 
Publishers Weekly Review of God in Your Body
December, 2006 
Newspaper interview with Trouw newspaper in Amsterdam (in Dutch)
August 8, 2005 
Report by NPR on Sexuality and Scripture workshop in Albany, NY. (mp3)
May 24, 2005 
What's between a sauna and a mikva: It's possible to combine Judaism and Queerness
Nana.co.il, October 14, 2004 (Hebrew) 
Going to the mat for God: Working out to find Judaism
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 11, 2004 (Also in the Jewish Week). "...In Embodied Judaism, Michaelson draws upon his yeshiva background to teach Jewish concepts streaming from the Torah, psalms, Jewish mysticism and Chasidic texts to get people to experience the truth at the core of each person, which he says is God. The core teaching that animates this practice is the very traditional Jewish teaching that God surrounds and fills the universe, Michaelson says. God absolutely fills the universe, not sort of, but 100 percent. Its an easy logical syllogism that if God is infinite and fills the universe, then everything is God and this moment is God." 
God is in the Deltoids
New York Magazine, May 31, 2004 "...While the class does upper-body work, Michaelson draws the Sefirot, the Kabbalistic map of the body, on a white board. He points out Hesed and Gevurah, the energy on the right and left arms, respectively, which symbolize loving-kindness and judgment. The point is to make the students aware of the concepts associated with the various body parts so that they might understand their humanity more fully. The body is the metaphor to understanding the map of the soul, says Michaelson. After taking his class, he notes, you also start to understand Madonna songs better." Recent coverage not available online:
Rob Sherman show interview on "A Jewish Critique of Bushism"
WRPI Radio interview with John Stasio on spirituality and politics
SomethingJewish.uk interview with Dan Sieradzki on New Jewish Culture
For articles written by Jay Michaelson, for the Forward, Jewsweek, Zeek, and other publications, click here.
|