Nehirim in the News (Old version)

Retreat a guiding light for LGBT and queer Jews

J., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, April 23, 2009
…”All Jews have this task — to engage with our tradition in ways that speak to our lives. And for queer people, that need is more front and center,” said Dev Noily, coordinator of the West Coast retreat…

My Teacher is a Rabbi (Profile of Julia Watts Belser)
The California Aggie, January 17, 2008
…They bring people together from all spectrums of Jewish life, some are very religious, some have nothing at all to do with religion, some are students and some are in their 50s. This diversity is one of the hallmarks of community…

Forbidden Fruits: The Queer Shabbaton celebrates a pair of not-so-strange bedfellows: Judaism and gayness
Time Out New York, October 18, 2007
…”I think a lot of us are told we have to fragment ourselves in order to be in the world,” Michaelson adds. “We try to create a space where people can be their whole selves”…

25 rabbis walk into a room…
The Advocate, September 17, 2007
…says Jay Michaelson, a gay observant Jew whose most recent book, God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice, explores the intersection of sexuality and religion. “The idea that the somewhat religious people now say its OK to be gay, and that God doesnt hate fags after all,” he says, “sends a powerful message to all faith communities”…

Sacred Sexuality: An Interview with Jay Michaelson
JVoices.com, February 20, 2007
…”What were about is this: how you love matters to how you do religion, and so queers are going to be Jewish in ways that are new, different, and enriching for everybody. We want to figure out what those are”…

Report on Sexuality and Scripture workshop in Albany, NY (mp3)
NPR, May 24, 2005