Jay Michaelson is an American writer, journalist, professor, and rabbi. He is a visiting scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality[1] and was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in Spring 2025.[2] Dr. Michaelson is a frequent commentator on CNN,[3] and a contributor to Rolling Stone[4] and other publications, having been the legal affairs columnist at The Daily Beast[5] for eight years. He is the author of ten books, and won the 2023 National Jewish Book Award for scholarship[6] and the 2023 New York Society for Professional Journalists Award for Opinion Writing.[7]

Journalism

Michaelson's journalistic work has focused on the intersections of religion and law. He has written on the Supreme Court,[8] the legal recognition of psychedelics, LGBT issues,[9] climate change,[10] antisemitism,[11][12] voter suppression,[13][14] judicial nominations,[15][16] and other subjects, and has been featured on CNN,[17] MSNBC,[18][19] and Meet the Press.[20]

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.[21] Michaelson's work on this issue gained prominence a year later after the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case[22] and he has written many articles on religious liberty in Reuters,[23] The Washington Post[24] and other publications.

From 2004 to 2017, Michaelson was a columnist and contributing editor to The Forward[25] newspaper. In 2009, his essay entitled "How I'm Losing My Love for Israel" generated substantial controversy in the Jewish world, including responses[26] from Daniel Gordis,[27] and Jonathan Sarna,[28] 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.

Academic work

Michaelson's scholarly work in religious studies has focused on mystical experience, antinomianism, and sexuality. 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.[6] He was an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and a visiting fellow at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion[29] and has 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.

Since 2021, Michaelson's work has focused on the intersection of psychedelics, law, and religion. In March, 2025, he co-organized the first-ever conference on the legal recognition of religious psychedelic use in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities.[30] He has written[31] and spoken[32] widely on the religious significance of psychedelic practice in Judaism. Michaelson is an affiliated researcher of Harvard Law School's Program in Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience.[33]

Michaelson's other academic work in religious studies includes "Queering Martin Buber: Harry Hay's Erotic Dialogical" (Shofar, 2018),[34] "Conceptualizing Jewish Antinomianism in the 'Words of the Lord' by Jacob Frank" (Modern Judaism, 2017);[35] "The Repersonalization of God: Monism and Theological Polymorphism in Zoharic and Hasidic Imagination" (Imagining the Jewish God, 2016),[36] "Queer Theology and Social Transformation Twenty Years after Jesus ACTED UP" (Theology and Sexuality, 2015),[37] and "Kabbalah and Queer Theology: Resources and Reservations" (Theology and Sexuality, 2012).[38]

Michaelson is also the author of several legal-academic articles including "Rethinking Regulatory Reform: Toxics, Politics and Ethics" (Yale Law Journal, 1996),[39] and "On Listening to the Kulturkampf, Or, How America Overruled Bowers v. Hardwick, Even Though Romer v. Evans Didn’t" (Duke Law Journal, 2000).[40] and "Hating the Law for Christian Reasons: The Religious Roots of American Antinomianism"[41] (Jews and the Law, 2014).[42] His 1998 Stanford Environmental Law Journal article[43][44] on geoengineering and climate change, described as "seminal" by Salon[45] was the first legal analysis of geoengineering in legal academic literature.[46]

Meditation and spirituality

Michaelson is an ordained rabbi, and teaches meditation in Buddhist, Jewish, and secular contexts.[47] His books on meditation and spirituality include Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment[48] and Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism.[49] From 2018-22, he was a teacher, editor[50] and podcast host at Ten Percent Happier,[51] 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[52] and co-leads Jewish meditation retreats at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.[53]

LGBTQ activism

Michaelson is a rabbi and openly gay. He was a professional religious LGBTQ activist from 2004 to 2013.[54][55] 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,[56] 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[57] and one of "Our Religious Allies" by the LGBT newspaper The Advocate.[58]

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.[59] Other LGBTQ-focused work includes the chapter on Exodus in the Queer Bible Commentary[60] (2022).

Books

  • God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice (2006)
  • Another Word for Sky: Poems[61] (2007)
  • Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism[62] (2009)
  • God vs. Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality (2011)
  • Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment[63][48] (2013)
  • The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path[64] (2015)
  • Is: Heretical Blessings and Poems (as Yaakov Moshe) [65] (2017)
  • Enlightenment by Trial and Error[66] (2019)
  • The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth[67] (2022)
  • The Secret that is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales (forthcoming 2023)

References

  1. ^ "Jay Michaelson, PhD, JD". Retrieved April 17, 2025.
  2. ^ "Jay Michaelson". Harvard Law School. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  3. ^ "Trans Activist Banned from White House: CNN commentator Rabbi Jay Michaelson responds". YouTube. June 15, 2023.
  4. ^ "Jay Michaelson". Rolling Stone. Archived July 12, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  5. ^ "Jay Michaelson". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  6. ^ "72nd National Jewish Book Award Winners". Jewish Book Council. January 18, 2023.
  7. ^ "2023 Awards Finalists – Deadline Club"
  8. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2022-06-23). "The Supreme Court Has Endangered the Future of Gun Control". Intelligencer. Archived July 12, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  9. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2022-07-07). "Why Same-Sex Marriage May Not Be Doomed at the Supreme Court". Intelligencer. Archived July 12, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  10. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2019-09-16). "Why Your Carbon Footprint Is Meaningless". The Daily Beast. Archived October 28, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  11. ^ "The Daily Beast's Jay Michaelson Talks About Trump's Role In The Recent Rise Of Anti-Semitic Tweets", archived July 24, 2022 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved March 7, 2019
  12. ^ Michaelson, Jay (October 28, 2018). "Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Is a Moment of Reckoning for American Jews". The Daily Beast. Archived March 23, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  13. ^ Michaelson, Jay (October 12, 2018). "Republicans Have a Secret Weapon in the Midterms: Massive Voter Suppression". The Daily Beast. Archived March 7, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  14. ^ Michaelson, Jay (June 11, 2018). "The Supreme Court Just Let Ohio Commit a Massive Purge of Its Voters". The Daily Beast. Archived August 8, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  15. ^ Michaelson, Jay (November 19, 2018). "He Kept Black People From Voting. GOP Wants Him as a Judge.". The Daily Beast. Archived December 7, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  16. ^ Michaelson, Jay (October 4, 2018). "The Right Thinks Toxic Masculinity Is Just 'Being a Man'". The Daily Beast. Archived November 9, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  17. ^ "Does Donald Trump Bear Responsibility for Pittsburgh?". jaymichaelson.net. October 30, 2018. Archived March 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  18. ^ Jay Michaelson (April 5, 2018), "Is EPA Chief Scott Pruitt "Too Corrupt to Fire"? Katy Tur & Jay Michaelson, 4/4/2018", archived September 25, 2019 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved March 7, 2019
  19. ^ "Gays under attack over Ebola". MSNBC. Archived November 12, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  20. ^ "Prayer Breakfast Dispute: Christianity and the Crusades". NBC News. Archived March 4, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  21. ^ Michaelson, Jay (March 21, 2013). "Redefining Religious Liberty The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights". Political Research Associates. Archived November 10, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  22. ^ "Why corporations don't deserve religious freedom". Reuters. March 24, 2014. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014.
  23. ^ "Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision puts faith in compromise". Reuters. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014.
  24. ^ Jay Michaelson – Religion News Service (April 6, 2015). "A 'religious freedom' proposal that I can agree with (Commentary)". Washington Post. Archived October 4, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  25. ^ "Jay Michaelson". The Forward. March 13, 2016. Archived October 16, 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  26. ^ "Where Is the Love for Israel?". The Forward. October 21, 2009. Archived October 26, 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  27. ^ Daniel Gordis (October 12, 2009). "No Right to Exhaustion". The Forward. Archived October 17, 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  28. ^ Jonathan D. Sarna (September 30, 2009). "After Utopia, Loving Israel". The Forward. Archived October 5, 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  29. ^ "Resource Speakers Jay Michaelson - CLGS". April 24, 2014. Archived May 17, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  30. ^ "Psychedelics and Monotheistic Traditions: Sacramental Practice and Legal Recognition"
  31. ^ "Psychedelics and Judaism: New Skin for the Old Ceremony". December 12, 2024.
  32. ^ "Are Psychedelics Theologically Significant for Judaism?". YouTube. June 8, 2023.
  33. ^ "Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) Affiliated Researcher". October 28, 2024.
  34. ^ 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
  35. ^ 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
  36. ^ Michaelson, Jay (January 2016). "The Repersonalization of God: Monism and Theological Polymorphism in Zoharic and Hasidic Imagination". Imagining the Jewish God (Graven Images). Archived July 24, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  37. ^ 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
  38. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2012). "Kabbalah and Queer Theology". Theology & Sexuality. 18: 42–59. doi:10.1179/1355835813Z.0000000003. S2CID 142104995
  39. ^ "Yale Law Journal – Archive". Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  40. ^ "Duke Law Journal". Archived September 20, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  41. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2012). "Hating the Law for Christian Reasons: The Religious Roots of American Antinomianism". doi:10.2139/ssrn.2150722. SSRN 2150722
  42. ^ "Jews and the Law|Hardcover"
  43. ^ http://elj.stanford.edu/elj/public/archives/author.shtml#m Archived July 9, 2010 at the Wayback Machine Stanford Environmental Law Journal
  44. ^ Online : http://www.metatronics.net/lit/geo2.html Archived May 19, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  45. ^ Elizabeth Svoboda (April 2, 2008). "The sun blotted out from the sky". Salon. Archived May 24, 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  46. ^ Graeme Wood (July 1, 2009). "Re-Engineering the Earth". The Atlantic. Archived January 4, 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  47. ^ Noah Shachtman (June 18, 2013). "In Silicon Valley, Meditation Is No Fad. It Could Make Your Career". WIRED. Archived January 20, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  48. ^ "Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment by Jay Michaelson". Publishers Weekly. December 8, 2013. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  49. ^ "Everything is God"
  50. ^ "Meditation and Pride". Ten Percent Happier. Archived July 12, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  51. ^ "10% Happier". Archived March 27, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  52. ^ Michaelson, Jay (2013). Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment. North Atlantic Books. p. 244. ISBN 9781583947159.
  53. ^ "Why a Jewish Meditation Retreat?". Hazon. 2019-10-11. Archived April 11, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  54. ^ Rock, Ben (May 1, 2012). "'God vs. Gay?' author comes to Nashville". Out & About Newspaper. Archived July 24, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  55. ^ "Jay Michaelson". LGBTQ Religious Archives Network. Archived July 24, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  56. ^ Reese, Jenn (April 16, 2012). "24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists And Winners". Lambda Literary. Archived February 16, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  57. ^ Raushenbush, Rev Paul Brandeis (October 20, 2011). "Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders". The Huffington Post. Archived July 5, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  58. ^ "An Easter Treat Christians on Your Side - Advocate.com". April 6, 2012. Archived October 4, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  59. ^ "Quorum: Global LGBT Voices – Alice Nkom". Archived October 4, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  60. ^ West, Mona & Shore-Goss, Robert (September 30, 2022). The Queer Bible Commentary, Second Edition. SCM Press. ISBN 9780334060789.
  61. ^ "Another Word for Sky". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. Archived March 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  62. ^ "Everything Is God". www.shambhala.com. Archived March 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  63. ^ "Evolving Dharma". North Atlantic Books. Archived December 28, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  64. ^ "The Gate of Tears by Jay Michaelson". Ben Yehuda Press. Archived March 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  65. ^ "Is: Heretical Jewish Blessings and Poems | jaymichaelson.net". November 8, 2017.
  66. ^ "Enlightenment by Trial and Error". Ben Yehuda Press. Archived November 28, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  67. ^ 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 July 12, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 12, 2022.