Patrick Aleph

Patrick Beaulier (born January 4, 1983, Atlanta, Georgia), known professionally as Patrick Aleph, is an American writer, blogger, podcaster, non-denominational rabbi and spiritual leader, educator, and retired punk musician. He has been the lead vocalist for the bands The Love Drunks, Can Can, and Ice Bats. He is also the co-founder and creative director of PunkTorah, a non-profit website and Jewish outreach organization, and its subsidiaries OneShul.org and Darshan Yeshiva, an online synagogue and yeshiva, respectively. He has written for Jewcy, The Atlanta Jewish Times, and The Times of Israel, and hosts the semi-weekly Rabbi Patrick Podcast.

Patrick Aleph
Birth namePatrick Beaulier
Also known asPatrick A., Rabbi Patrick
Born (1983-01-04) January 4, 1983
Atlanta, Georgia
GenresPunk rock, garage rock
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, writer, rabbi
Years active2006–present
Associated actsThe Love Drunks, Can Can, Ice Bats
Websiterabbipatrick.com

Early life

Aleph was born in 1983 and grew up in Atlanta. His parents came from a Christian background but raised him without religion.[1] Despite this, he became interested in faith on his own and converted to Judaism through the Reconstructionist movement in his early 20s.[2][1] He later said that his "decision to become a Jew was about ethical monotheism. God demands of us a righteous life."[2]

Music career

One of Aleph's first bands was The Love Drunks, which released their self-titled debut album through Alive Records in 2006.

In 2007, Aleph formed the punk band Can Can with guitarist Mary Collins and drummer Josh Lamar, whom he met through the local music scene. As the band's songwriter, Aleph incorporated subtle lyrical references to his Jewish faith. The band released two albums, All Hell (2009) and their JDub Records debut Monsters & Healers (2010), before going on hiatus in 2011.

During the hiatus, Aleph and Collins formed a no wave side project called Ice Bats.

PunkTorah

In April 2009, after an unpleasant experience at a synagogue in Atlanta, Aleph began recording his own divrei Torah on the weekly parsha and posting them on YouTube under the name PunkTorah, referring to his background as a punk singer.[3] Following the popularity of the videos, he co-founded PunkTorah with Michael Sabani as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, under which he created PunkTorah.org, a combination blog, multimedia network, and online community aimed at disaffected Jews.

Aleph and Sabani started a fundraising campaign in August 2010 to create OneShul.org, an expansion of the online distance minyanim they had been hosting via PunkTorah.[4] That same year, they founded another PunkTorah subsidiary, NewKosher, through which they published Birkat Hamazon, a bentcher incorporating recipes, essays, and poetry from Jewish writers like Matthue Roth, Leon Adato, and Michael Croland.[5]

Aleph is the founder and rosh yeshiva of Darshan Yeshiva, a virtual school training students for Jewish spiritual leadership. The yeshiva currently includes an online Jewish conversion course.[2]

In January 2019, Aleph became the director of innovation for Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary, an online rabbinical school. The school includes Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbis educating and ordaining post-denominational rabbinical students.[6]

Bibliography
  • Birkat HaMazon: A Community Bencher (2010) (with Michael Sabani)
  • NewKosher Jewish Vegan Cookbook (2011)
  • Ahava Rabbah: The OneShul Community Siddur (2011)
  • PunkTorah: The First Anthology (2012)
  • Choosing To Be Chosen: Essays By Converts to Judaism (2012)

Discography

With The Love Drunks
  • The Love Drunks (Alive, 2006)

With Can Can
  • All Hell (Self-released, 2009)
  • Monsters & Healers (JDub, 2010)

References
  1. Michael Croland (Apr 30, 2016). Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk. ABC-CLIO. p. 129. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  2. Renee Ghert-Zand (Dec 13, 2013). "To convert to Judaism, click here". The Times of Israel.
  3. Jessie Miller (Aug 13, 2012). "Q & A: Patrick Aleph". The Atlanta Jewish Times.
  4. Sue Fishkoff (Aug 20, 2010). "New sites make shul and online-only experience". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  5. Itta Werdiger-Roth (Dec 23, 2010). "The Vegetarian Bentsher From the South". The Forward.
  6. "Educational and Administrative Team". jewishpluralism.org. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
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