A long-awaited collection of essays, memoir, and poetry by rabbi, former drag queen, and self-proclaimed "hope-monger," Irwin Keller. In Shechinah at the Art Institute, the author leads us on dazzling journeys into Jewish mysticism, love, loss, memory, gender, AIDS, and the Milky Way itself. Buckle your seatbelts.

Podcast Appearances

Upcoming Events

  • A conversation hosted by Rabbi Jill Zimmerman for the Hineni “Path with Heart” Community. At 4:30pm Pacific time. To register for the Zoom link, click here.

  • Friday, March 14. A short book event before the Kabbalat Shabbat, which will include a drash from Reb Irwin. 290 Dolores Street, San Francisco.

Book Reviews

“Shechi­nah at the Art Insti­tute is part mem­oir and part poet­ry col­lec­tion, all imbued with a sense of won­der about the uni­verse. Keller is a rab­bi, and his writ­ing often sounds like para­bles or ser­mons — but instead of preach­ing to us, he tells us sto­ries that reveal his attempts to learn from his lived expe­ri­ences. . . . Keller’s writ­ing is clear, engag­ing, and reflects the wis­dom of a learned rab­bi.” Stuart Florsheim, Jewish Book Council, Dec. 9, 2024. Read the review here.

“The Shechinah dances her way through this dreamy, mystical, nonlinear memoir filled with stories and poems about angels, ancestors, coincidences, music and prayers. Along the way, [Keller] folds in his insights into Jewish life with the aim of helping us heal our damaged world.” Eli Ramer, JWeekly, Nov. 19, 2024. Read the review here.

“[Keller] takes an incident and expands it, rabbinic-style, into a parable, a moral lesson, a life lesson. They are mini-essays. They are sermons. Throughout, he explicitly invites comparisons with the funny and wise Chelm stories from European Chassidic Jewish shtetl life: there’s an element of the fanciful, myth and enchantment. There is wisdom.” Charles Rammelkamp, CompulsiveReader.com, October 21, 2024. Read the review here.

Advance Praise


  • It has been said that God made people because God loves stories. In which case Irwin is one of God’s most beloved. The stories in Shechinah at the Art Institute have many sources. Some are from the life experience of the  author. Others  have been passed from hand to hand for a thousand years. Still others are familiar as they are kin to the stories which shape our own lives. The wisdom, humor, and perspective in them all will enrich you and gently bind you to other lives both ancient and modern. A good story heals the loneliness which is the hidden wound of our time. Bravo Irwin. What a gift you have offered  to us all.  –Rachel Naomi Remen MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings

  • I am not religious. But this book makes my heart sing. There’s music in Irwin’s words. Wisdom, too. He reminds us that in this darkened world, there is still light. And there is love. It’s what makes this book not just entertaining, but important. –Linda Ellerbee, journalist and author of And So It Goes

  • Quirky, playful, steeped in classical Jewish learning, Keller unveils long-suppressed queerness in Jewish tradition and encounters the sacred miraculously appearing in the secular world. –Rabbi Dr. Rachel Adler, author of Engendering Judaism and Tales of the Holy Mysticat

  • A few pages into reading Reb Irwin Keller’s luminous book, Shechinah at the Art Institute, I began mentally compiling a list of people I wanted to give a copy to. My father. My stepmother. My sister. My aunt. This friend who is Jewish. That one who is not. This is what Irwin does in his writings and in his life; he enlarges the circle, invites everyone in, mingling the secular with the spiritual with the skeptical with the bawdy with the beautiful. It’s all there in this book, a record of a spiritual being having a very human experience and savoring the all in all of it. Pull up a chair, feast, enjoy. –Alison Luterman, author of In the Time of Great Fires and Desire Zoo.

  • In these beautifully written meditations, Irwin Keller records his dialogue with sacred texts of his Jewish tradition. Ay, absolutely wonderful, so refreshing, hopeful in a world so desperate for peace. –Greg Sarris, author of Grand Avenue and The Forgetters. 

  • Irwin Keller, his ear trained on “the crosstalk of the Universe,” knows when angels are about: in  chance encounters, odd coincidences, dreams, and memories; even in the teeth of a vicious dog or the barrel of a gun. In Keller’s luminous writings, these divine messengers reveal both the radiance within the everyday and the clouds that subdue the sacred. With this dazzling book, Keller takes his place among the messengers. –Esther Schor, author of Emma Lazarus and The Bridge of Words

  • In Shechinah at the Art Institute, the wondrous Rabbi Irwin Keller inhales all the world he inhabits and savors the details of all the miracles and realities of life. Rabbi Keller is one of the most kind, compassionate, brilliantly philosophical, thoughtful and hilariously funny human beings. –Lily Brett, author of Too Many Men and Lola Bensky


Cover design and Shechinah Emblem by Sasha O’Malley.