I have spoken and published over the years about the history of Jewish liturgy; challenges and creativity in creating new liturgy for communal prayer and life cycles; the place of LGBTQ Jews in the rabbinate and the Jewish community, spirituality, theology; and other issues. Besides the selections below, additional writings, talks and essays are downloadable here.
The Three Blessings: Boundaries, Identity and Censorship in Jewish Liturgy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). To purchase, please contact me directly.
According to the Talmud (Menahot 43b), a Jewish man should give thanks each day “not having been made a gentile … a woman … nor a slave.” This study traces the history of this text in the Jewish Morning Blessings (Birkhot ha-shachar) across two thousand years of history. Marking the boundary between “us” and “them,” marginalized and persecuted groups used these lines to affirm their own identity and sense of purpose. Seeking to be recognized as modern and European, early modern Jews rewrote the liturgy to fit modern sensibilities while contemporary Jews continue to wrestle with how their multi-faceted identifies can be reflected in liturgical text.
The Kedusha of Homosexual Relationships, CCAR Yearbook XCIX (1990); reprinted in Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con (Vintage, 1997)
This talk at the 1989 convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis was key to following year’s vote to endorse the ordination of openly gay and lesbian rabbis. “God summons us to affirm the proper and rightful place of the homosexual Jew—and her or his family—in the synagogue and in the Jewish people.”
Va’yeitzaei Ya’akov: And Jacob Came Out in Gregg Drinkwater, ed. Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible (New York University Press, 2012)
How do we find ourselves in the Torah? This midrash tells the story of Jacob and Esau through a queer lens. “Jacob understands that he himself, as he is, reflects the Divine Image that was his birthright all along. Va-yei-tzei Ya’akov: Jacob came out as his authentic self.”
A short reflection on the importance of naming and embracing grief.
“The ocean of grief is beside us and around us; and a wave of grief can arrive unexpectedly, at any moment.”
What does it mean to “pray for healing”? This Yom Kippur sermon asks how we can bring our modern sensibility to ancient texts and practices.
“I enjoy praying so much, I forget I don't believe...”
Additional writings, talks and publications are downloadable here.
