RABBI DAVID DUNN BAUER

RABBI DAVID DUNN BAUER has served as a congregational rabbi, a college administrator, an activist for social justice, an international opera director, a sex educator and a spiritual erotic body worker, and Queer spiritual counselor. Along the way he also proofread the Avon Catalog, shelved books at the Yale Mathematics Library, and in 1987 was the worst stage manager in Metropolitan Opera history. The author of many articles on Queer theology, Jewish ritual, and BDSM-informed readings of Torah, at the end of 2024 David will have served five years as a prison chaplain for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

David served from 2013-2017 as the Director of Social Justice Programming at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York City's LGBTQ synagogue, under the mentorship of Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum. There he was the Rabbinic Director of Talk to Me About HIV, a program funded by the NYC Department of Health to educate New York area Jewish clergy and professionals about HIV. David remains one of very few rabbis in the world who is out as HIV+.

David's background and training includes 12 years serving congregations in New York, Massachusetts, and California; a 20+ year career in opera, theatre, dance, across the USA, Europe, Israel, and Canada. He has studied yoga for 30 years; and devoted many years of academic study to the intersection of sexuality and spirituality. The blend of influences makes David a unique touch healer, ritual leader, scholar, artist, writer and Queer spiritual counselor who works with people of all faiths, ages, and ethnicities, all gender identities and expressions.

He earned his BA in Theatre Studies and English Literature at Yale University, studied Talmud at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and received his rabbinical ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. In 2011 he became the first Jew to earn the Certificate in Sexuality and Religion from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. He has done intensive study with Dr. Betty Martin of "The Wheel of Consent," as part of his ongoing commitment to the spiritual study and life practice of sexual ethics. His essay "Man-Boy and Daddy-God: The SM Dynamic in Ezekiel's Call and Commissioning" was published in 2011 in Queer Religion, Vol. 2, edited by Donald Boisvert and Jay Emerson Johnson. David speaks English, German, French, Hebrew, and Italian.

With Michael Cohen he co-created Celebrating the Body Judaic – a Body Electric retreat for Gay and Bisexual Jewish men. For many years a leading educator in the United States on the topic of safe and sacred anal sex, David has taught his signature workshop, The Art of B*tt Whispering, at colleges and retreat and community centers around the country.

To get in touch with David to set up counseling or coaching please email QueerCoachCounselor@gmail.com. To talk about bodywork services please email DavidButtWhisperer@gmail.com.