Jay Michaelson is an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and a visiting scholar at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion, as well as a bestselling author and journalist. He is the author of nine books, including Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism and God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Outside the academy, Michaelson is a columnist at New York magazine and an editor at Ten Percent Happier, having previously been a columnist at The Daily Beast for eight years and at the Forward for many years before that. He is a frequent media commentator on issues of law and religion, has twice won the New York Society for Professional Journalists Award for opinion writing, and has been featured in the 'Forward 50' list of the most influential American Jews.
Jacob Frank, one of the most unexpected, shocking, original, and misunderstood figures in Jewish history, stirred up the Jewish world from the margins of heresy to the center of broad messianic movement that engaged thousands of followers in the mid-eighteen century, by crossing every traditional border of the Jewish community. Now, for the first time, The Heresy of Jacob Frank provides a groundbreaking book-length analysis of Frankas outrageous and innovative religious ideas, based on close readings of his recorded oral teachings. Dr. Michaelsonas brilliant work is a major achievement in the scholarship of Frankism, Sabbateanism and Jewish mysticism, as well as an engaging and surprising tale of a man who transgressed every boundary he came across. Highly recommended. -- Rachel Elior, John and Golda Cohen Professor Emerita of Jewish Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem