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Rabbi Mychal Copeland (she)
Rabbi, Congregation Sha'ar Zahav
Reconstructionist;Reform
California
United States

About

Rabbi Mychal Copeland (she/her) speaks and writes about the inclusion of LGBTQI people and interfaith families in religious life. She serves as the rabbi at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, a Jewish, LGBTQI community in San Francisco. Rooted in her passion for opening the doors of religious communities wider, her book, Struggling in Good Faith: LGBTQI Inclusion from 13 American Religious Perspectives, leads individuals towards a profound spiritual and religious life that embraces all their disparate identities. Her children’s book, I Am the Tree of Life: My Jewish Yoga Book (Apples & Honey Press, 2020) earned the Sydney Taylor Honor and her forthcoming book is called I Am the Circle of Life: My Jewish Holiday Yoga Book.

Listing Details

Clergy answered "Yes" to the following

  • Trained on LGBTQ+ identities within past five years
  • Experience officiating conversions for transgender and nonbinary individuals with a sensitivity to the wide range of relationships to gender and embodiment that transgender and nonbinary individuals may have
  • Experience in end-of-life care for LGBTQ+ individuals
  • Experience officiating gender-expansive b-mitzvah
  • Familiar with gender-expansive Hebrew liturgical and linguistic options
  • Approaches the presence of LGBTQ+ people as the norm rather than an exception in Jewish communal life
  • Experience celebrating LGBTQ+ specific life-cycle rituals such as coming out and renaming
  • Person-centered and LGBTQ+ positive approach to Jewish law and tradition
  • Comfortable consistently using they/them pronouns and neopronouns
  • Speaks or writes regularly on LGBTQ+ themes
  • Experience in pastoral/spiritual care of LGBTQ+ individuals
  • Experience officiating LGBTQ+ weddings