I grew up in a very participatory, grassroots Jewish community in St. Paul, Minnesota, which shaped me before coming to the northeast for college, rabbinical school, and most of my adult life. I was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the center for Conservative Judaism, in order to have a good grounding in both Talmudic halacha (Jewish law and processes of interpretation) as well as a modern, historical approach to Judaism. During my studies and after, the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and the teachers and peers I have learned from gave me an even broader perspective on Jewish community and pluralism, and what it means to belong and move from "accepting" to true partnerships with everyone who wants to be part of Jewish community. I taught high school after JTS and have continued to work with teens in a variety of programs ever since. Young people have helped me learn about LGBTQ+ experience as much as anything, by talking to me about their own lives and steering me toward things to read and teachers to learn from. Members of the congregation I serve, whether queer individuals or parents of gay and lesbian young adults, have helped me see farther than just questions of formal equality and banal acceptance. With what learning I have, and as a cisgender male, I don't think of myself as an expert but hopefully a good listener with an open ear and an open door, looking for chances to help people explore and celebrate, navigate relationships, and hear an ally speak Torah.
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