Rachel Barenblat's Profile

It’s Elul, the month that leads us up to the Days of Awe. The busiest time of the year for pulpit clergy. Also the most spiritually intense time of year, when we’re supposed to be engaging in an accounting of... Continue reading

Posted 3 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi

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אני לו יכולה

It is always humbling to read my words translated into another language -- especially into this language that I so deeply love. And I'm moved to know that this particular poem, a cry from my heart, reached one of my... Continue reading

Posted 6 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi

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Three Practices for Now (Shoftim 5784 / 2024)

I want to look at three verses from tonight’s Torah portion. One of them is big and systemic, while the other two are more intimate and personal. Each one suggests a spiritual practice to me – something we can actively... Continue reading

Posted Sep 6, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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A love poem for Elul

From Texts to the Holy, Ben Yehuda Press. Here's the poem in plaintext for those who need it that way. Pray Sometimes I manage formal conversation, a love letter evening and morning and afternoon but most of the time I... Continue reading

Posted Sep 4, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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I can't

How can we approach a new year when time stopped on Shemini Atzeret -- "the pause of the 8th day," when God beseeches, "linger with Me a little longer," and we relish the sukkah's peaceful fragility for just one more... Continue reading

Posted Sep 3, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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If We Listen: Ekev 5784

In last week’s parsha we found the verses we now recite as the Sh’ma and V’ahavta. In this week’s parsha, Ekev, we read the verses that make up the next paragraph of the Sh’ma, the one that begins v’haya im... Continue reading

Posted Aug 23, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Hear, Right Here

In this week’s Torah portion, Va’ethanan, Moses continues his long swansong, his final speech to the children of Israel at the edge of the Jordan river. In just a few weeks’ time (sooner than we think!) our reading of Torah... Continue reading

Posted Aug 16, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Eikhah for Israel and Gaza

Walls burned or broken Peacemakers kidnapped and slaughtered Children terrorized Buildings bombed to rubble Hospitals destroyed Cisterns emptied Everywhere pictures of the hostages Everywhere reminders of the martyrs Everywhere parents burying children Our grief and fury could wash away creation.... Continue reading

Posted Aug 8, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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What it's like

Last night as I was driving my teenager to a rehearsal, we listened to some of an audiobook of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, his summer reading assignment. The writing is stunning. Every time I heard the narrator offer a... Continue reading

Posted Aug 1, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Chord

And here's the poem in plaintext for those who prefer it that way: Chord Grief hums constantly like cicadas. It's silt clogging the storm drains. It's a bad penny landing same side up. Grief says the poem ends here. And... Continue reading

Posted Jul 30, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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The red heifer, and gentleness amidst grief

This week’s Torah portion, Hukat, begins with the parah adumah. The Israelites are instructed to bring a red heifer who has never borne a yoke. The priest takes it outside the camp and offers it, burning it along with hyssop,... Continue reading

Posted Jul 12, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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A Week of Building With the Bayit Board

How to describe the particular joy of convening with fellow-builders and friends? The annual Bayit board retreat is a time for brainstorming, visioning, looking back and looking forward, adjusting course. Conversations weave and flow. We riff off of each other,... Continue reading

Posted Jul 8, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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A new book of high holiday art

The High Holidays aka Days of Awe aka Yamim Nora'im are meant to be a pinnacle of the Jewish spiritual year. But what if the words in the mahzor (high holiday prayerbook) don't move you? Or what if you're not... Continue reading

Posted Jun 29, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Peak

We've reached light's peak but that doesn't mean everything is downhill. The riverbed to loss is well-carved. Keep your cup brimming. Even if you can't name the tree of white blooms it flowers anyway. Volunteer wildflowers take defiant root. Learn... Continue reading

Posted Jun 24, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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The next best time: B'ha'alotkha 5784

Reading B’ha’alotkha this year, what jumps out at me is Pesah Sheni. God spoke to Moses saying, the children of Israel should make the Passover offering at the appropriate time. Except there were some people who couldn’t make the offering... Continue reading

Posted Jun 21, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Recommending these blues

I just finished Hijab Butch Blues by the pseudonymous Lamya H, and it's honestly dazzling. Hijab Butch Blues is a queer coming-of-age memoir interwoven with global immigrant story interwoven with verses from the Qur'an and rich, meditative midrash thereupon. The... Continue reading

Posted Jun 19, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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A barukh she'amar for Shavuot morning

The Torah of knobby roots protruding from sandy earth. The Torah of watch your step in every language at once. The Torah of Duolingo lessons teaching me to praise God for Duolingo lessons. The Torah of my heart, a fragile... Continue reading

Posted Jun 12, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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One drop

"A Drop in the Ocean" by David Parker. I talk to friends in Israel. They tell me everyone knows someone who is connected with the hostages. About the protests outside the Prime Minister's house. How the hostages are on posters... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Exodus

Trudging on treadmills and surrounded by vacuum, tired of freeze-dried anything we'll kvetch: why did you bring us out here to die? Was the climate crisis really so dire? Like our ancient ancestors craving cucumbers and melons, the thirsty tastes... Continue reading

Posted Jun 5, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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If: Behukotai 5784 / 2024

If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit…you shall eat your fill of bread... Continue reading

Posted Jun 1, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Body

Dinner table conversation about the vast currents that warm European waters slowing. I imagine great swaths of American south so hot a fall on asphalt burns while Britain ices over. The second one, at least, hasn't yet come to pass.... Continue reading

Posted May 27, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Dissonance

A colleague mentioned that they are taking time away because of the particular exhaustion and grief of trying to serve a divided community after October 7. I wonder how many of us can relate to that. There's the pain of... Continue reading

Posted May 21, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Dissonance

A colleague mentioned that they are taking time away because of the particular exhaustion and grief of trying to serve a divided community after October 7. I wonder how many of us can relate to that. There's the pain of... Continue reading

Posted May 21, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Translation

This translation algorithm must be an angel: it does not speak Aramaic. But is it not true that angels can learn anything? Say rather: Aramaic is the language of the street, tongue of trade and commerce, and angels can't be... Continue reading

Posted May 14, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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After a week

After a week of Covid, small victories loom large. Like standing in the shower, or staying awake for a few hours without needing a nap. After a week of Covid I'm extra-grateful for the slow cooker I picked up for... Continue reading

Posted May 10, 2024 at Velveteen Rabbi

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