Jay Michaelson

Last updated

Jay Michaelson (born May 5, 1971 [1] ) is an American writer, journalist, professor, and rabbi. He is a commentator on CNN, [2] and a columnist for Rolling Stone , [3] and other publications, having been the legal affairs columnist at The Daily Beast [4] for eight years. He is the author of ten books, and won the 2023 National Jewish Book Award for scholarship [5] and the 2023 New York Society for Professional Journalists Award for Opinion Writing. [6]

Contents

Since 2013, Michaelson's journalistic work has focused largely on the Supreme Court, [7] religion, [8] and LGBT issues. [9] Michaelson has won the New York Society for Professional Journalists award for opinion writing three times, [10] most recently in 2023, for his article "There are a lot of Jews in Hollywood. Let a Rabbi Explain Why. [11] In addition to covering the Supreme Court, [12] [13] he has written on climate change, [14] antisemitism, [15] [16] voter suppression, [17] [18] judicial nominations, [19] [20] and other subjects, and has been featured on CNN, [21] MSNBC, [22] [23] and Meet the Press . [24]

In 2013, Michaelson wrote the first long-form report on the right-wing religious exemptions movement, Redefining Religious Liberty: The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights. [25] Michaelson's work on this issue gained prominence a year later after the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case [26] and he has written many articles on religious liberty in Reuters, [27] The Washington Post [28] and other publications.

From 2004 to 2017, Michaelson was a columnist and contributing editor to The Forward [29] newspaper. In 2009, his essay entitled "How I'm Losing My Love for Israel" generated substantial controversy in the Jewish world, including responses [30] from Daniel Gordis, [31] and Jonathan Sarna, [32] and prefigured the estrangement of progressive American Jews from the government of Israel. Michaelson was listed in the Forward 50 list of the most influential American Jews in 2009.

Meditation teaching

Michaelson is an ordained rabbi, and teaches meditation in Buddhist, Jewish, and secular contexts. [33] His books on meditation and spirituality include Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment [34] and Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism. [35] From 2018-22, he was a teacher, editor [36] and podcast host at Ten Percent Happier, [37] a meditation app and podcast network. He is also a teacher of jhāna meditation in the Theravādan Buddhist lineage of Ayya Khema and Michaelson's teacher Leigh Brasington [38] and co-leads Jewish meditation retreats at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. [39]

LGBTQ Activism

Michaelson is a rabbi and openly gay. He was a professional religious LGBTQ activist from 2004 to 2013. [40] [41] He was the founder and executive director of Nehirim , an LGBTQ Jewish organization, from 2004 to 2013. His 2009 book God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality was an Amazon bestseller and Lambda Literary Award finalist, [42] and Michaelson spoke at over 100 places of worship during the 2009–15 debates about same-sex marriage. Michaelson was called one of the "Most Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders" in 2011 by The Huffington Post [43] and one of "Our Religious Allies" by the LGBT newspaper The Advocate. [44]

In 2014, Michaelson co-directed a project at The Daily Beast entitled Quorum: Global LGBT Voices, which features TED-style talks by LGBT leaders from the Global South. [45] Other LGBTQ-focused work includes the chapter on Exodus in the Queer Bible Commentary [46] (2022)

Academic work

Michaelson holds a PhD in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he wrote his dissertation on the antinomian heretic Jacob Frank. His 2022 book on Frank, The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth, was published by Oxford University Press and won the National Jewish Book Award for scholarship. [47] He is an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and a visiting fellow at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion. [48] He previously held teaching positions at Boston University Law School and Yale University. Michaelson graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1993, and from Yale Law School in 1997.

Michaelson's academic work in religious studies includes "Queering Martin Buber: Harry Hay's Erotic Dialogical" (Shofar, 2018), [49] "Conceptualizing Jewish Antinomianism in the 'Words of the Lord' by Jacob Frank" ( Modern Judaism , 2017); [50] "The Repersonalization of God: Monism and Theological Polymorphism in Zoharic and Hasidic Imagination" (Imagining the Jewish God, 2016), [51] "Queer Theology and Social Transformation Twenty Years after Jesus ACTED UP" (Theology and Sexuality, 2015), [52] and "Kabbalah and Queer Theology: Resources and Reservations" (Theology and Sexuality, 2012). [53]

Michaelson was a visiting assistant professor at Boston University Law School in 2007-08 and is the author of several legal-academic articles including "Rethinking Regulatory Reform: Toxics, Politics and Ethics" ( Yale Law Journal , 1996), [54] and "On Listening to the Kulturkampf, Or, How America Overruled Bowers v. Hardwick , Even Though Romer v. Evans Didn’t" ( Duke Law Journal , 2000). [55] and "Hating the Law for Christian Reasons: The Religious Roots of American Antinomianism" [56] (Jews and the Law, 2014). [57] His 1998 Stanford Environmental Law Journal article [58] [59] on geoengineering and climate change, described as "seminal" by Salon [60] was the first legal analysis of geoengineering in legal academic literature. [61]

Books

Related Research Articles

Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. The view that various Bible passages speak of homosexuality as immoral or sinful emerged in the first millennium AD, and have since become entrenched in many Christian denominations through church doctrine and the wording of various translations of the Bible.

Deism is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are exclusively logical, reliable, and sufficient to determine the existence of a Supreme Being as the creator of the universe. More simply stated, Deism is the belief in the existence of God, solely based on rational thought without any reliance on revealed religions or religious authority. Deism emphasizes the concept of natural theology—that is, God's existence is revealed through nature.

Within the Muslim world, sentiment towards LGBT people may vary between societies and individual Muslims, but is largely negative. The Quran mentions the "people of Lot" and, echoing the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, describes how God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their residents' engagement in homosexual acts. However, modern historians from the Western world have argued that Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet, never forbade homosexual relationships outright, although he disapproved of them in line with his contemporaries. At the same time, "both the Quran and the hadith strongly condemn homosexual activity" and some hadith advocate the death penalty for people who engage in any homosexual acts. To this end, anything other than heterosexual activity — chiefly vaginal intercourse between a biological man and a biological woman — is eligible for punishment under Islamic law. Sexual activity between women is generally viewed as a significantly lesser offense than sexual activity between men, and this is reflected in the laws of some Muslim-majority countries; there are typically harsher punishments for male offenders than for female offenders or, in some cases, bias in the form of legalizing lesbian activity while criminalizing gay activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish views on homosexuality</span> Subject of homosexuality in Judaism

The subject of homosexuality and Judaism dates back to the Torah. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) is traditionally regarded as classifying sexual intercourse between males as a to'eivah that can be subject to capital punishment by the current Sanhedrin under halakha.

The relationship between religion and homosexuality has varied greatly across time and place, within and between different religions and denominations, with regard to different forms of homosexuality and bisexuality. The present-day doctrines of the world's major religions and their denominations differ in their attitudes toward these sexual orientations. Adherence to anti-gay religious beliefs and communities is correlated with the prevalence of emotional distress and suicidality in sexual minority individuals, and is a primary motivation for seeking conversion therapy.

Antinomianism is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms, or is at least considered to do so. The term has both religious and secular meanings.

A Jewish Buddhist is a person with a Jewish background who believes in the tenets of a form of Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surya Das</span> American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition

Surya Das is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chantmaster, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, meditation teacher and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the developing world and in interfaith dialogue.

Homosexuality in India has been a subject of discussion from ancient times to modern times. Hindu texts have taken various positions regarding homosexual characters and themes. The ancient Indian text Kama Sutra written by Vātsyāyana dedicates a complete chapter on erotic homosexual behaviour. Historical literary evidence indicates that homosexuality has been prevalent across the Indian subcontinent throughout history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT-affirming religious groups</span> Religious groups that affirm LGBT rights and relationships

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) affirming religious groups, otherwise referred to as gay-affirming religious groups, are religious groups that welcome LGBT people as their members, do not consider homosexuality as a sin or negative, and affirm LGBT rights and relationships. They include entire religious denominations, as well as individual congregations and places of worship. Some groups are mainly composed of non-LGBT members and they also have specific programs to welcome LGBT people into them, while other groups are mainly composed of LGBT members.

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Israel. The government has registered same-sex marriages performed abroad for some purposes since 2006. However, marriages performed in Israel are only available from one of the 15 religious marriage courts recognized by the state, none of which permit same-sex marriage under their respective auspices. Consequently, Israelis who desire to have their same-sex marriage recognized by the government must first marry outside Israel, in a jurisdiction where such marriages are legal, and then register upon returning home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankism</span> Jewish religious movement created by Jacob Frank

Frankism was a heretical Sabbatean Jewish religious movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, centered on the leadership of the Jewish Messiah claimant Jacob Frank. Frank rejected religious norms and said that his followers were obligated to transgress as many moral boundaries as possible. At its height it claimed perhaps 50,000 followers, primarily Jews living in Poland, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Nepal</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Nepal have evolved significantly during the 21st century. In 2007 Nepal repealed the laws against gay sex and introduced several laws which explicitly protected "gender and sexual minorities". The Nepalese Constitution now recognizes LGBT rights as fundamental rights. On 28 June 2023, a single judge bench of Justice Til Prasad Shrestha issued a historic order directing the government to make necessary arrangements to "temporarily register" the marriages of "non-traditional couples and sexual minorities". The government has not responded yet. If Nepal fully legalises same-sex marriage, it will become the first least developed country to legalize same-sex marriage. Nepal has not yet passed a national same-sex marriage law.

The relationship between transgender people and religion varies widely around the world. Religions range from condemning any gender variance to honoring transgender people as religious leaders. Views within a single religion can vary considerably, as can views between different faiths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Mauritius</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Mauritius have expanded in the 21st century, although LGBT Mauritians may still face legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Prior to 2023, sodomy was criminalized by Section 250 of the Criminal Code. However, Mauritius fully decriminalized homosexuality in October 2023. Although same-sex marriage is not recognized in Mauritius, LGBT people are broadly protected from discrimination in areas such as employment, the provision of goods and services, etc., making it one of the few African countries to have such protections for LGBT people. The Constitution of Mauritius guarantees the right of individuals to a private life.

Joy Ladin is an American poet and the former David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. She was the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution.

Nehirim was a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) Jews, families, students and allies that was founded in 2004. The organization ceased operations at the end of 2015.

Hinduism and Judaism are among the oldest existing religions in the world. The two share some similarities and interactions throughout both the ancient and modern worlds.

This is a timeline of LGBT Jewish history, which consists of events at the intersection of Judaism and queer people.

References

  1. ↑ ""Jay Michaelson" born – Google Search". www.google.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Trans Activist Banned from White House: CNN commentator Rabbi Jay Michaelson responds". YouTube .
  3. ↑ "Jay Michaelson". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Jay Michaelson – The Daily Beast". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  5. ↑ "72nd National Jewish Book Award Winners | Jewish Book Council". January 18, 2023.
  6. ↑ "2023 Awards Finalists – Deadline Club".
  7. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (June 23, 2022). "The Supreme Court Has Endangered the Future of Gun Control". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  8. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (December 8, 2021). "The Supreme Court Is Ready to Make Taxpayers Fund Religious Schools". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  9. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (July 7, 2022). "Why Same-Sex Marriage May Not Be Doomed at the Supreme Court". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Congratulations to the 2014 Deadline Club Award Winners". Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  11. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/jews-in-hollywood-kanye-west-dave-chappelle-rabbi-explains-1234645366/
  12. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (February 27, 2019). "Supreme Court Could Bury Separation of Church and State Under a Maryland Cross". Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  13. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (October 5, 2018). "Kavanaugh Doesn't Belong on the Supreme Court, But It Will Survive Him". Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  14. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (September 16, 2019). "Why Your Carbon Footprint Is Meaningless". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  15. ↑ The Daily Beast's Jay Michaelson Talks About Trump's Role In The Recent Rise Of Anti-Semitic Tweets, archived from the original on July 24, 2022, retrieved March 7, 2019
  16. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (October 28, 2018). "Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Is a Moment of Reckoning for American Jews". Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  17. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (October 12, 2018). "Republicans Have a Secret Weapon in the Midterms: Massive Voter Suppression". Archived from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  18. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (June 11, 2018). "The Supreme Court Just Let Ohio Commit a Massive Purge of Its Voters". Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  19. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (November 19, 2018). "He Kept Black People From Voting. GOP Wants Him as a Judge". Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  20. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (October 4, 2018). "The Right Thinks Toxic Masculinity Is Just 'Being a Man'". Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Does Donald Trump Bear Responsibility for Pittsburgh? | jaymichaelson.net". October 30, 2018. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  22. ↑ Jay Michaelson (April 5, 2018), Is EPA Chief Scott Pruitt "Too Corrupt to Fire"? Katy Tur & Jay Michaelson, 4/4/2018, archived from the original on September 25, 2019, retrieved March 7, 2019
  23. ↑ "Gays under attack over Ebola". MSNBC. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Prayer Breakfast Dispute: Christianity and the Crusades". NBC News. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Redefining Religious Liberty The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights". Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Why corporations don't deserve religious freedom". Reuters. March 24, 2014. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision puts faith in compromise". Reuters. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014.
  28. ↑ Jay Michaelson – Religion News Service (April 6, 2015). "A 'religious freedom' proposal that I can agree with (COMMENTARY)". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Jay Michaelson". The Forward. March 13, 2016. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  30. ↑ "Where Is the Love for Israel?". The Forward. October 21, 2009. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  31. ↑ Daniel Gordis (October 12, 2009). "No Right to Exhaustion". The Forward. Archived from the original on October 17, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  32. ↑ Jonathan D. Sarna (September 30, 2009). "After Utopia, Loving Israel". The Forward. Archived from the original on October 5, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  33. ↑ Noah Shachtman (June 18, 2013). "In Silicon Valley, Meditation Is No Fad. It Could Make Your Career". WIRED. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment by Jay Michaelson". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  35. ↑ "Everything is God".
  36. ↑ "Meditation and Pride". Ten Percent Happier. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  37. ↑ "10% Happier". Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  38. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (2013). Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment. North Atlantic Books. p. 244. ISBN   9781583947159.
  39. ↑ "Why a Jewish Meditation Retreat?". Hazon. October 11, 2019. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  40. ↑ Rock, Ben (May 1, 2012). "'God vs. Gay?' author comes to Nashville". Out & About Newspaper. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  41. ↑ "Jay Michaelson". LGBTQ Religious Archives Network. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  42. ↑ Reese, Jenn (April 16, 2012). "24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists And Winners". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on February 16, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  43. ↑ Raushenbush, Rev Paul Brandeis (October 20, 2011). "Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  44. ↑ "An Easter Treat Christians on Your Side - Advocate.com". April 6, 2012. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  45. ↑ "Quorum: Global LGBT Voices – Alice Nkom". Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  46. ↑ West, Mona; Shore-Goss, Robert (September 30, 2022). The Queer Bible Commentary, Second Edition. SCM Press. ISBN   9780334060789.
  47. ↑ "72nd National Jewish Book Award Winners | Jewish Book Council". January 18, 2023.
  48. ↑ "Resource Speakers Jay Michaelson - CLGS". April 24, 2014. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  49. ↑ Jay Michaelson (2018). "Jay Michaelson, "Queering Martin Buber: Harry Hay's Erotic Dialogical"". Shofar. 36 (3): 31–59. doi:10.5703/shofar.36.3.0031. JSTOR   10.5703/shofar.36.3.0031.
  50. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (2017). "Conceptualizing Jewish Antinomianism in the "Words of the Lord" by Jacob Frank". Modern Judaism – A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience. 37 (3): 338–362. doi:10.1093/mj/kjx031.
  51. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (January 2016). "The Repersonalization of God: Monism and Theological Polymorphism in Zoharic and Hasidic Imagination". Imagining the Jewish God (Graven Images). Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  52. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (2015). "Queer Theology and Social Transformation Twenty Years after Jesus ACTED UP". Theology & Sexuality. 21 (3): 189–197. doi:10.1080/13558358.2015.1222675. S2CID   151477639.
  53. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (2012). "Kabbalah and Queer Theology". Theology & Sexuality. 18: 42–59. doi:10.1179/1355835813Z.0000000003. S2CID   142104995.
  54. ↑ "Yale Law Journal – Archive". Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  55. ↑ "Duke Law Journal". Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  56. ↑ Michaelson, Jay (2012). "Hating the Law for Christian Reasons: The Religious Roots of American Antinomianism". doi:10.2139/ssrn.2150722. SSRN   2150722.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  57. ↑ "Jews and the Law|Hardcover".
  58. ↑ http://elj.stanford.edu/elj/public/archives/author.shtml#m Archived July 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Stanford Environmental Law Journal
  59. ↑ Online : http://www.metatronics.net/lit/geo2.html Archived May 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  60. ↑ Elizabeth Svoboda (April 2, 2008). "The sun blotted out from the sky". Salon. Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  61. ↑ Graeme Wood (July 1, 2009). "Re-Engineering the Earth". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  62. ↑ "God in Your Body". www.goodreads.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  63. ↑ "Another Word for Sky". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  64. ↑ "Everything Is God". www.shambhala.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  65. ↑ "God vs. Gay?". www.goodreads.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  66. ↑ "Evolving Dharma". North Atlantic Books. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  67. ↑ "Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment by Jay Michaelson". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  68. ↑ "The Gate of Tears by Jay Michaelson". Ben Yehuda Press. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  69. ↑ "Is: Heretical Jewish Blessings and Poems | jaymichaelson.net". November 8, 2017.
  70. ↑ "Enlightenment by Trial and Error". Ben Yehuda Press. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  71. ↑ The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2022. ISBN   978-0-19-765102-5. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.