Rabbi Irwin Keller, at his family grave in Germany

Dear New School Friends:

Many of you know that just over six months ago I had a life-saving surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. The six-month recovery was often arduous. The whole experience catapulted me into a new stage of life. I am grateful to be alive. I am grateful for the new stage of life. I am grateful for it all.

I recently did a spiritual biography conversation with New School Host and Rabbi Irwin Keller, just after he was ordained as a full-fledged rabbi. I have always considered myself half Christian on my mother’s side and half Jewish on my father’s side. I sometimes describe myself as a Jewish Christian Buddhist Yogic Sufi with Taoist influences. The spiritual biography with Irwin helped me change something deep in my spiritual identity. I came to understand myself as fully Jewish and fully Christ centered. Both sides of my heritage are now complete rather than being half and half. Continue reading →