i do not exist to be likeable
i am not speaking
to keep things in line
i do not offer insulation
for your home school or business
and i may not make you laugh
but i should like to show you
the unexpected sources of illumination
the beauty of being surprised
the value of everything we’ve been nervously hiding
or throwing away
to make room for fancy emptier things
that are sometimes not things at all but are still empty
and the feel of change on the wind overcoming your lowered face
together, i should like to look around but never over or through and up
from time to time, i should like us to look up
– Devon Spier
Devon Spier invites the entire self into Jewish living.
With bottomless loving-kindness, she welcomes you just as you are and amplifies people at the margins to create a Judaism that raises life and community to what it ought to be;
Utterly Jewish and undeniably human.
A compassionate listener, conscious co-creator, and unconventional meaning-maker – and now a bestselling author – Devon cultivates powerful and encounter-based Jewish art, education and ritual with North American individuals, institutions, communities and groups.
Her projects and programs are highly sought after by questioning students, gobsmacked board members, stuck entrepreneurs, conflicted octogenarians and political hopefuls. And her Jewish liturgical poetry is used by emerging, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and transdenominational communities around the world.
A government-recognized supporter of women and girls, Devon believes that the personal is political and provides proven policy, procedure and engagement advice for community groups to include the unincluded and centre the most vulnerable.
A public and visual theologian, she combines art, writing, music, speaking and teaching to locate and punctuate the power of who we are within the messy and miraculous lifespans of our ancestors in order to demonstrate that the secrets of the universe are unfolding every moment of our lives within Judaism and within us.
Finding a life worth knowing and valuing in every person, Devon is eager to discover you and your community and share the real moments of being human that fill up our beating hearts.