Jay Michaelson at BHA

The complexity of spiritual life can often be expressed more fully through poetry, which engages the heart, than prose, which engages the mind.

This Saturday night, we’ll be welcoming poet and thinker Jay Michaelson to BHA, where he’ll be reading from his newest collection of poetry, “Is,” a powerful, mystical, and personal collection of confessional poems, aphorisms, and blessings in dharmic and Jewish modes.

I first got to know Jay when we were both working to change the policy regarding gay and lesbian students at the Jewish Theological Seminary about 15 years ago, and he, and now his partner Paul, have been dear friends since then. He has spoken and taught at BHA a number of times in recent years, and we are always grateful for his insights.

If you aren’t familiar with Jay, he is a prolific writer and teacher, focusing on legal affairs, religion generally, Judaism in particular, and LGBT issues. He is a legal affairs and religion columnist at The Daily Beast and a contributing editor to The Forward newspaper. Jay has twice won the New York Society for Professional Journalists award for opinion writing, most recently in 2014. You can read more about him here, or better, come and learn with Jay on Saturday evening!