Limmud Toronto 2016

Authentic spiritual practice embraces sadness and joy, spirituality and social justice, equanimity and emotion, seriousness and play. Living in the dynamic tensions between them is the subject of the sixth book by Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, a book called The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path. The Gate of Tears is both a personal chronicle of Dr. Michaelson’s coming to terms with the loss of his mother, and a heartfelt spiritual teaching about the happiness that can coexist with the full range of human experience. Drawing on Jay’s fifteen years in Jewish, Buddhist, and LGBTQ spiritual communities, Jay's teaching is infused with a contemporary sensibility, skepticism, and, yes, even humor. And as a public figure who regularly appears on national media, Jay argues for an integration of political engagement and spiritual vulnerability