“There’s a longing that runs through our species. People are so hungry for belonging and recognition.”

Irwin Keller was in third grade when he knew he wanted to be a rabbi, but it would be many years before he would heed his calling. Along the way he became a lawyer and gay rights advocate and a marginally famous singing drag queen for 21 years with America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, the Kinsey Sicks.

With war raging in the middle east and a fractured world around us, we talk about the desire to find connection to something greater than ourselves, a way to lean into a sense of compassion and kindness and the courage to sit with uncertainty. 

Rabbi Irwin Keller is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California. The author of Shechinah at the Art Institute, a collection of memoir, essay and poetry that aims to bring the reader closer to the divine.

As you listen to this interview, consider:

• The last ten years or so have brought some significant challenges to many of our lives. Where do you look to find peace in times of profound distress? 
• Many of us have had religious experiences that have caused us deep pain and yet, we long for sense of spiritual connection, something that touches us and gives us a connection to something bigger than ourselves.  Where do you find that in your life? What, if any, role does religion or spirituality play in that?
• How might we reinvent old practices, rituals, and ceremonies to allow us to find new meaning in them, changes that might create the possibility of seeing ourselves more deeply in the practice?

To learn more about Rabbi Keller, visit his website.
You can read more from Rabbi Irwin here.
You can purchase Shechinah at the Art Institute here.

Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to [email protected]. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.

To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.

To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago

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