A Book of Songs and Blessings (Az Yashir Moshe) is an exquisite and complete book of traditional Jewish songs and blessings, perfect for the sabbath or holiday table. Unlike other "benchers," Az Yashir Moshe contains full translation and linear transliteration of every word of every song and blessing. Originally created by students at Yale University this revised second edition also contains the most extensive set of traditional "zmirot" available in any bencher, musically notated niggunim, and 25 pages of Israeli songs. It is also set in custom-made fonts with attention to detail, readability, and beauty. In sum, Az Yashir Moshe is the most complete "bencher" available today.
Jay Michaelson is the author of three books and two hundred articles on the intersections of religion, sexuality, and law. Jay is a contributing editor to Religion Dispatches, the Forward, and Tikkun, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. His work has been featured in the New York Times and NPR. Jay is the author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality (2011), God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice (2006), Another Word for Sky: Poems (2007), and Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism (2009). In 2009, he was included on the "Forward 50" list of the fifty most influential American Jews.
Jay is a longtime advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people, particularly in religious communities. He has taught for the Human Rights Campaign, Empire State Pride Agenda, and many other organizations, and founded Nehirim, the largest national provider of community programming for GLBT Jews, partners, and allies. His work on this subject has been published in anthologies including Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice (2007), The Passionate Torah (2008), and Queer Religion (2011).
Jay holds a J.D. from Yale, an M.A. in Religious Studies from Hebrew University, and an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. He is currently completing his Ph.D in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Jay teaches across the country, and has held teaching positions at Boston University Law School, City College of New York, and Yale University.
A practicing Buddhist in the Theravadan tradition as well as a student and teacher of Kabbalah for fifteen years, Jay lived in Jerusalem for three years, and in 2008-09 spent five months on silent meditation retreat, mostly in Nepal. In 2011-2012, he is crisscrossing the country and appearing on national media to combat the devastating and false dichotomy of "God vs. Gay."
