Everything is God

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Campaniolo, 617-424-0030 ext 232
[email protected]
This Press Release is God
*
'Everything is God,' New Book by Leader of "New Jewish Culture" phenomenon,
Brings Radical Kabbalah Down to Earth
September 18, 2009 -- Jay Michaelson is among the most widely-read Jewish writers of his generation.
A columnist for the Huffington Post, the Forward, and Tikkun, Zeek, and Reality Sandwich
magazines, Michaelson is credited as a co-creator of the "New Jewish Culture," the phenomenon of
independent, non-denominational Jews creating new forms of music (Matisyahu, Balkan Beat Box),
spirituality (BuJus - Buddhist Jews, independent prayer communities) and culture (Heeb, Zeek). Now,
Michaelson has written the first major book of Jewish theology and philosophy of his generation,
Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism.
"Nondual" simply means "not-two" -- but its true meaning is far deeper. Usually it refers to Eastern
religions or philosophies which say that "All is One." But it is also a central teaching of the Kabbalah,
the Jewish mystical tradition. For 700 years, Kabbalists have insisted that God is not some old man in
the sky, but is everything we see and everything we are. According to the Kabbalah, this press release
is God -- and so are you.
For Michaelson and spiritual innovators like him, this view is the basis of a total transformation of
religious life. Religion is not about belief -- in God, myth, or fundamentalist ideas of scripture -- but
love, and the obligations which spring from it. Meditation is not about cultivating special states of
mind, but learning to accept everything in life -- even suffering, pain, and injustice -- as God. And the
call to justice becomes essential to the religious life; even if everything is perfect, it's up to you to
make it better.
Everything Is God is both a scholarly work, with over 200 footnotes (Michaelson is completing his
Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and a remarkably accessible one, with practical advice
and contemporary anecdotes that illustrate how these ancient ideas transform the spiritual life, how
God is present at CBGB's (where Michaelson once played with his rock band) and Burning Man
(where he teaches every year) as much as at the holiest of sacred sites. Bringing together Jewish,
Buddhist, postmodern, and even pop cultural sources, Michaelson explains what this mystical nondual
view means in our daily ego-centered lives, for our communities, and for the future of religion in an
increasingly technological and multicultural age.
* and So Are You
2
Jay Michaelson is a noted writer, scholar and activist whose
work focuses at the intersection of spirituality, sexuality,
Judaism, and law. He is a recent visiting professor at Boston
University Law School, and has taught Kabbalah at Yale
University, City College of New York, Burning Man, the
Open Center, and dozens of other institutions. He is
completing his Ph.D. in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, but in 2008-09 spent five months on
silent Buddhist meditation retreat, mostly in Nepal. His
previous books include God in Your Body: Kabbalah,
Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice and Another
Word for Sky: Poems. Michaelson is a columnist for the
Huffington Post, Forward, Zeek, Tikkun, Hadassah, and
Reality Sandwich magazines, and is an award-winning poet
and fiction writer as well as essayist. He is also founder and
executive director of Nehirim, a national organization of
GLBT Jews, partners and allies, and his work on the subject
of sexuality and religion has been featured on NPR, and in
the New York Times, Duke Law Review, Michigan Journal
of Gender & Law, and several anthologies including The Passionate Torah: Jews and Sex and
Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.A. in
Religious Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. Magna Cum Laude from
Columbia. Thirty eight years old, Michaelson lives near Garrison, New York. Author website:
www.jaymichaelson.net. Twitter: @jaymichaelson
Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
By Jay Michaelson
Judaism | US $17.95 CAN $22.00 | Paperback Original | ISBN: 978-1-59030-671-0 |
On Sale: October 13, 2009 | Trumpeter, a division of Shambhala Publications, Inc.
For questions or excerpt and interview requests, please contact:
Jennifer Campaniolo
Publicist
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
[Tel] 617-424-0030 ext 232
[E-mail] [email protected]
###
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Praise for Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism by Jay Michaelson
Jay Michaelson has written a book for serious Jewish cosmologists. It takes the contemporary Jew -- and
one who wants to understand Jewish religion in its depth -- through a mind laundry. Stripping away the
barnacles of outdated concepts, he aligns the best non-dual thinking in Judaism with the best the non-dual
thinking in other profound systems. Everything is God is a timely and necessary contribution."
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of Jewish Renewal, co-author of Jewish With Feeling
EVERYTHING IS GOD by Jay Michaelson is a brilliant discussion of a challenging paradox that could be
stated as a koan: “What is Not One, Not Two, Not Zero and yet One and Two, but still Nothing?” This wide
spectrum of possibilities is about the divine sparks that not only fill our reality, but go beyond it; not limited
by infinity. Mystics acknowledge that ordinary words cannot capture the full scope of these teachings; yet
Michaelson finds a way to blaze a path through a primordial forest of ideas. This is an awesome, highly
recommended presentation of crucial mystical concepts.
Rabbi David A Cooper, author of God is a Verb
Jay Michaelson has written a poetic, detailed, and radical book expressing a Jewish language of oneness:
not the oneness of a bearded man in the sky but the Oneness of a universe not divided against itself.
Fittingly, Michaelson's book is neither universalist nor particularist but a refreshing combination of both.
He moves among kabbalists, Hindu and Buddhist philosophers, Western thinkers and psychologists,
Chasidic masters, and examples of daily experience to clarify what non-dual thinking is and how humans
achieve it in the midst of the maelstrom of ego-based life. Michaelson gives the reader a gift of selfbeyond-the-self, a gift that cannot be owned but is well worth having.
Rabbi Jill Hammer, Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy of Jewish Religion
Jay Michaelson is a compelling thinker who possesses the rare ability to transmit the most esoteric of
teachings into accessible ideas for the contemporary reader. His new book ought to be required reading for
anyone with an interest in Jewish mysticism or theology--or simply in God. Michaelson washes away the
false dichotomy between divine immanence and transcendence and instead conveys the profound reality
that the patriarch Jacob expressed when he exclaimed: 'God is in this place, and I, I did not know it.'
Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein, author of Gonzo Judaism
Fantastic! A book that offers a compelling theology for thinking Jews! The fundamental challenge facing
Jews and Judaism over the past few decades has not been anti-Semitism or assimilation, but the absence of
a powerful, intellectually rigorous, and spiritually transformative notion of God capable of capturing the
hearts, minds, and imaginations of educated Jews. Jay Michaelson’s book meets that challenge head on.
Drawing from a centuries-old yet today rarely articulated understanding of God, Michaelson offers Jews an
alt-neu (old/new) way to think about God, woman, man, nature, and Judaism. Read this book. And buy a
copy for your rabbi as well.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Author of The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness
Michaelson uses his erudite command of an impressive range Jewish texts to demonstrate that far from
being a recent borrowing, nondual Judaism is an ancient and broadly held Jewish approach. He patiently
explains truths that are beyond words. Clearly, he cares deeply about the transformative power of the
nondual perspective. He shares this treasure generously and passionately.
Rabbi Jacob Staub, Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Selected Articles by Jay Michaelson
A 'New Jew' Goes to Auschwitz
Forward, August 14, 2009
http://www.forward.com/articles/111883
Allowing the Yetzer Tov To Win
Forward, July 10, 2009
http://www.forward.com/articles/108769
G-dcast: Parshat Shelach Lecha (animation)
G-dcast, June 17, 2009
http://www.g-dcast.com/shelach-lecha
Rethinking Jewish Spirituality
Zeek, May 20, 2009
http://www.jewcy.com/post/rethinking_jewish_spirituality
Hot is the New Cool
Shma, February, 2008
http://www.shma.com/reflecting_cool.phtml
Gedaliah in the Eye of the Beholder
Hadassah, September, 2009
http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2009/09_Sep/commentary.asp
Is Guilt a Good Thing?
The Huffington Post, August 24, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/is-guilt-a-good-thing_b_266948.html
Free Will: The Last Gasp of the Unenlightened Mind
Reality Sandwich, July 20, 2009
http://www.realitysandwich.com/free_will
Why Straight People Go to Gay Synagogues -- and What We Can Learn From Them
Forward, June 3, 2009
http://www.forward.com/articles/107069
Transformation of Consciousness as Messianic Age: A Kabbalistic View
Reality Sandwich, March 20, 2009
http://www.realitysandwich.com/transformation_consciousness_messianic_age_kabbalistic_view
Loneliness and the Sanctuary of Spirit
White Crane, Winter 2008/09
http://whitecrane.typepad.com/journal/2009/04/wc79-jay-michaelson-on-the-sanctuary-of-spirit.html
Environmentalism: Good for the Jews
Forward, February 5, 2009
http://forward.com/articles/15092/
Is happiness worth losing your memory?
Slate, October 4, 2005
http://www.slate.com/id/2127351/
Eating Meditation for Passover
Ein Shemesh, April, 2005
http://telshemesh.org/nisan/eating_meditation_for_passover.html
Jay Michaelson
Sample classes, courses, and institutions
Exploring the Zohar: Real Kabbalah, No Red Strings Attached
The Open Center, The National Havurah Institute, JCC in Manhattan, Skirball Center
Kabbalah and the Erotics of the Infinite
Pincus Lecture at Drew University
Everything is God: An Introduction to Nondual Judaism
Elat Chayyim, The Open Center
YHVH Means "Is": Integrating Buddhism and Judaism
Limmud UK (invited presenter), Limmud New York (invited presenter)
God in Your Body: Body-centered spiritual practice in the Jewish Tradition
Wexner Heritage Institute, Cong. Dorshei Emet (Montreal), Elat Chayyim, 14th Street Y, JCC of
Greater New Haven, Cong. Kol Ami (Tampa), Cong. Bet Haverim (Atlanta)
Vedanta and Neo-Hasidism
American Academy of Religion
The Political Meaning of Homosexuality
Boston University Law School, Cong. Shaar Zahav (San Francisco), Nehirim Retreat
What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality
Limmud UK, Easton Mountain, Temple Emanu-El (Tucson), Temple Israel of Natick, Empire State
Pride Agenda
Poetry Readings
92nd Street Y, Bowery Poetry Cafe, JCC of Manhattan
Introduction to the Zohar
Nat'l Havurah Institute, Open Center
Anti-Legalism and Anti-Judaism
Conference on Jews in the Law, Cardozo Law School, Oct. 2006
What is Spirituality?
Easton Mountain (keynote), Palm Beach JCC (keynote-Jan. 2010)
God does not Exist - God is Existence Itself
Nishmat Hayyim (Boston), Nehirim Queer Shabbaton New York
Academic Teaching Positions
Boston University Law School (Visiting Assistant Professor)
City College of New York (Adjunct Professor)
Yale University (College Seminar Faculty)
Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Vice Principal, Ivry Prozdor School, Brooklyn)