A bit more than 10 years ago an Oracle showed up out of the ether via email. What we knew about the Oracle wasn’t much: a rabbi with no congregation, a long list of books we had never heard of, and a vague affiliation with an academic institution in Tennessee, where he never seemed to be. But our book editors at the time, Fred and Maryanne Brussat, who have read every significant religious/spiritual book ever written, wrote this: “Ask Rami anything!”
So we did.
(Over time, we learned to pronounce his name. Ra rhymes with Ah! or Awe, depending on the circumstance. Ra me.)
People ask questions, Rami answers, and we don’t edit them (except occasionally for space) because the answers speak for themselves. Our Oracle lives in the real world (which is billions of years old), yet he is not of it (any more than anything else is, according to physics). And (so far as we can know) his answers are honest, true, helpful, and entertaining. We have readers who gleefully try to trip or trick the Oracle, and we wish them luck.
The rabbi’s dream is to have a bus and travel the country …
Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award-winning author, essayist, poet, and teacher. In the print version of our magazine, he has an advice column, “Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler,” addressing reader questions pertaining to religion, spirituality, faith, family, God, social issues, and more. His latest book is Surrendered—The Sacred Art. Rabbi Rami hosts our podcast, “Essential Conversations.”