According to a Hebrew glossary at the end of the book, a Shechinah is “the immanent presence of the Divine, also the Divine Feminine.” His feminine side as it relates to his Judaism is but one of the topics that Irwin Keller explores in his new book, “Shechinah at the Art Institute,” now out in paperback and Kindle.
Reb Keller (Reb being the Hebrew word for Rabbi) has worn many hats over the years. He felt the call to be a rabbi at a young age, but when he came out as gay in the early 1980s, no Rabbinic school was open to him. Instead, he became a lawyer, becoming the primary author of Chicago’s first gay rights law.
For 21 years he toured with the Kinsey Sicks, the performance troupe known as “America’s favorite dragapella beautyshop quartet.” He performed in drag as Winnie with the Kinsey Sicks, but the call to become a rabbi continued to burn within him.
Today he is the spiritual leader at Congregation Ner Shalom (Light of Peace) in Sonoma County, having finally become ordained a few years back. He was still performing with the Kinsey Sicks when he moved to Sonoma and joined what would become his congregation. His journey to becoming the congregation’s leader began in 2008 when the interim rabbi quit right before the High Holy Days.
From Kinsey to cantor
“The board went into a panic,” Keller recalled in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I suggested to them that I could lead the Holy Days and they could return to their search (for a new Rabbi) afterward. I had a range of skills, certainly stage skills among them. But I had never stopped my Jewish studies, and I had done a few years of working as a cantorial soloist out of town on the High Holy Days. I brought to those days all my skills and my love. I wrote music, I wrote sermons, I recruited musicians and poets in the congregation. Afterward the board asked me to come on staff as the spiritual leader, even though I was unordained.”
For the next six years he did double duty, serving the congregation when he wasn’t on the road as Winnie. His presence brought growth to the congregation. Many people who had felt alienated from their Judaism looked at him and thought that, if Ner Shalom could have a singing drag queen as a spiritual leader, then there was a place for them as well. The congregation grew from 38 households to its current count of 200.
Keller has since been ordained, and continues to lead Ner Shalom. Judaism being so important to him, he felt he had to share his stories, and so he wrote the book.
“Shechinah at the Art Institute” is a delightful collection of memoir pieces, essays and poetry. He wrote about a variety of topics, such as his mom, Hasidic Jews, ancient rabbis, his exploration of his feminine side, a trip to Israel to take care of his in-laws during the Gaza war, a trip to Paris with his family, and a trip to a cemetery in Germany, where many of his ancestors are buried.
In his writing he often refers to characters from ancient Hebrew text, like David and Jonathan, who were purported to have been lovers. Keller explained what went into his process of choosing which stories to tell.
“Certainly, I mined things I had written to bring together the pieces I remembered liking the most, or pieces that had gotten strong reaction,” he said. “But once they were together, I realized that some felt alive and some didn’t. And some things still needed to be written. Slowly, I realized that this was a book about being alive to the wonder, aware of the unseen, living in depth and in celebration. Slowly the pieces that weren’t pointing in that direction fell away.”
Politics also found its way into Keller’s book. On August 19, 2019, Donald Trump said that Jews who vote for Democrats are guilty of either ignorance or “gross disloyalty.” Two days later Keller wrote the poem “Oath of Disloyalty,” a response to Trump’s statement.
“I am a disloyal Jew,” he wrote. “I am not loyal to a political party, nor will I be loyal to dictators and mad kings. I am not loyal to walls or cages, I am not loyal to taunts or tweets, I am not loyal to hatred, to Jew-baiting, to the gloating connivings of white supremacy.”
Powerful words. But then, the whole book is powerful. Keller assured us that “Shechinah at the Art Institute” has universal appeal.
“So far, the book has been shared well beyond synagogue goers and well beyond the Jewish community,” he said. “I know some Christian ministers who use the book for their daily devotion.”
‘Shechinah at the Art Institute’ by Irwin Keller, Blue Light Press, 144 pages, paperback, $20.
https://www.bluelightpress.com/index.php
https://www.irwinkeller.com
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