Jay Michaelson
Writer, Journalist, Rabbi, Meditation Teacher & Scholar of Religion
Jay Michaelson
Writer, Journalist, Rabbi, Meditation Teacher & Scholar of Religion
Biography
Jay Michaelson is the author of ten books, a journalist (CNN, Rolling Stone), a rabbi, and a professor of religion and law. He holds a JD from Yale Law School and a PhD from Hebrew University, and will be a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in Spring, 2025. Jay is particularly interested in the intersections of spirituality, religion, politics, and law. In his book and his popular Substack newsletter, Both/And with Jay Michaelson, he explores how our inner lives shape our world on issues ranging from climate anxiety to LGBTQ equality, the rise in nationalism to psychedelics in society. Jay has spoken at numerous Fortune 50 companies, hundreds religious institutions and universities, and at conferences from Shanghai to Black Rock City.
After graduating from law school, Jay clerked for Judge Merrick Garland, founded a successful open source software company, and proceeded to work as an LGBTQ activist for ten years, writing the bestselling book God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality in 2011. Along the way, Jay spent many weeks – and, at one point, three months – on silent meditation retreat, and began teaching meditation in Buddhist, Jewish, and secular contexts.
Since 2013, Jay’s work has focused on journalism and spirituality. On the journalism side, he has written over 1500 articles for publications including Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and The Daily Beast, where he was the Supreme Court columnist for eight years. Jay broke the story of right-wing extremist Leonard Leo, wrote the first long-form report on emerging conflicts between religious liberty and civil rights, and has twice won the New York Society of Professional Journalists award for opinion writing, most recently for an article entitled “Yes, There are a Lot of Jews in Hollywood. Let a Rabbi Explain Why.”
As a teacher and rabbi, Jay has led meditation for Delta Airlines and Apple, performed a Bar Mitzvah at Burning Man, and taught for the Ten Percent Happier meditation app for five years. Jay’s books on contemplative practice include The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path and Everything is God.
Most recently, Jay has turned his attention to the rapidly evolving world of psychedelics. He is a field scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality and will be teaching on psychedelics and law at Harvard Law School in 2025. He continues to appear regularly on CNN, and often speaks on the intersections of our inner and outer lives.
Speaker Videos
The Jew in the Lotus: 25 Years After the Journey
Rabbi Jay Michaelson on Schools Removing Bibles from Libraries
Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment by Jay Michaelson
Jay Michaelson + Noah Feldman on Jewish Crises and Counter-Theologies at the Vilna Synagogue
Rabbi Jay Michaelson - Pride Shabbat
Spiritual Practice and Political Activism in the Age of Fake News | Jay Michaelson
Dan Ehrenkrantz and Jay Michaelson: Nonduality and "Advanced" Spirituality | B'nai Keshet 2022
Enlightenment by Trial and Error: Dan Harris and Jay Michaelson at the Rubin Museum of Art
What’s New about the New Jewish Spirituality?
Religious Refusals: The New Front in the Culture War | Yale Law School
Rage in America: Jay Michaelson, Coleman Hughes, and Sara Sidner discuss the Montgomery, AL, brawl.
Speech Topics
The Meaning Crisis: What It Is, Why It Matters & What We Can Do About It
As an award-winning journalist for Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, and CNN, Jay Michaelson has spent twenty years covering politics and religion in America. But Jay is also an ordained rabbi, and obsessed with what philosopher John Vervaeke has called the ‘Meaning Crisis’: the erosion of the structures and stories that used to hold us together. In this keynote, Dr. Michaelson explains what the meaning crisis is, how it is affecting every family in America (including yours), and most importantly, what we can do about it.
How to Not Freak Out: Meditation & the News
Have you felt a little stressed, anxious, or mad about the news lately? If you haven’t, you’re probably not paying attention. But is it possible to ‘pay attention’ without freaking out? Jay Michaelson has taught meditation for twenty-five years – at Fortune 50 companies, Buddhist retreat centers, and even Burning Man – and brings that experience to this accessible, humorous, and down-to-earth talk, geared especially for people who think that meditation is not for them.
Should You Try Psychedelics?
In the last decade, psychedelics have gone from taboo drugs associated with Sixties hedonism to promising medicines with proven mental health benefits. But are they safe? Should you give them a try? Dr. Jay Michaelson, a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School and a field scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, will answer these questions and more in this provocative yet down-to-earth introduction.
Does Gen-Z Have ‘Climate Anxiety’?
Jay Michaelson has been writing about climate change since 1998, and despite a quarter century of technological progress, we are no closer to addressing the crisis. And, studies tell us, young people know it. In this talk, Dr. Michaelson will dive into the sobering data on the mental health crisis in America, in part driven by profound anxiety about the environmental future, and offer evidence-based solutions to break through denial, manage “climate anxiety,” and bridge partisan divides on an issue that is not going away.
Antisemitism 101: Navigating the Minefield
The last decade has seen an explosive rise in incidents of antisemitism in America. Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson is an expert on the subject, having written extensively about it (and experienced himself) for decades. In this ‘AMA’ – Ask Me Anything – style talk, Rabbi Michaelson defines the phenomenon, debunks myths, and offers concrete guidelines for more productive conversations and understanding.
Beyond the Headlines, Behind the Taboos: Understanding Transgender History & Science
Based on his bestselling book God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson offers a no-holds-barred, honest conversation about the science and history of gender diversity, from the Bible and Ancient Greece to today’s bathrooms and sports fields. No one will be canceled for asking questions! Rather, we’ll take on this exploration in the spirit of curiosity and personal growth.
Testimonials
Books & Media
Books
The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales
Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
God vs. Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality (Queer Ideas/Queer Action)
The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path
God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice
Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment
The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth
Media
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Emmy-Winning CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent, NOVA Host & Former New York Times Columnist