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Rachel Barenblat

Rachel Barenblat became a rabbi in January of 2011, and has been blogging as The Velveteen Rabbi since 2003.

Interests: Judaism, religion, ecumenism, poetry, motherhood, Christianity, Islam, liturgy, prayer, midrash, fandom.

Recent Activity

To Be In Community: Vayakhel-Pekudei 5783 / 2023

This week's Torah portion, Vayakhel-Pekudei, brings us to the end of Exodus. The first part, Vayakhel, begins: וַיַּקְהֵ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶֽת־כּל־עֲדַ֛ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל - And Moshe yak’hel / convened the whole edah / congregation of the children of Israel... (Ex. 35:1)... Continue reading

Posted 3 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi

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Not standing idly by

Art by Steve Silbert. ... In Torah’s time we built the mishkan with our own hands, following divine instructions to create something holy. Today we build our systems of צֶדֶק / tzedek (justice) and צדקה / tzedakah (righteous giving) when... Continue reading

Posted 6 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi

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be a prayer wheel be a bicycle, playing cards tucked between the spokes reciting endlessly please God please tick tick whirr be the ocean waves rushing out and surging in undertow pulling prayer to the depths and back tumbled like... Continue reading

Posted 7 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi

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These are not our books. But they could be. Miles of books. Paper bags full of books. Boxes full of books. Loaded one by one into a car and driven away, or in some cases stashed in the cupboard labeled... Continue reading

Posted Mar 9, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Absence and Presence: Tetzaveh and Shabbat Zachor 5783 / 2023

This week's Torah portion, Tetzaveh, contains instructions from God about all kinds of sacrificial practices. Here are instructions on how to anoint Aaron and his sons as priests, how to make their special garments, and how to ordain them. There... Continue reading

Posted Mar 4, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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"What did we even do for Purim last year?" I wonder aloud to a friend. It's disconcerting. Purim happens every year. Surely last year I must have celebrated it in some way! But I can't remember a thing. It's as... Continue reading

Posted Feb 27, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Dear Anonymous Stranger Who Called Me A Kapo This Time, Thank you for inspiring me to write more today! It's never news that someone's wrong on the internet, and I know there isn't any merit in engaging with your note.... Continue reading

Posted Feb 23, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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(Reproductive) Justice and the dream of sky: Mishpatim 5783 / 2023

This week's Torah portion, Mishpatim, is full of justice-related mitzvot. Like: if you dig a pit and you don't cover it, and somebody's animal falls in and dies, you’re responsible because your negligence caused its death. And: do not wrong... Continue reading

Posted Feb 17, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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I had forgotten about South Pacific -- yes, that was absolutely my parents' vintage. I remember Mom singing "I'm Gonna Wash that Man (Right Outta My Hair)"...

Commented Feb 17, 2023 on Music, music, music at Velveteen Rabbi

1 reply

My mom was born in 1936, and those were very much "her" songs, so we all grew up on them! I loved "A: You're Adorable," and we used to sing that to my son when he was a baby too...

Commented Feb 17, 2023 on Music, music, music at Velveteen Rabbi

1 reply

Music, music, music

Every night I tuck my teen in bed and close his door, humming the lullaby you used to sing. Most kids of his generation don't know "A Bushel and a Peck." 1950: you were glamorous, flirting with the bugler you... Continue reading

Posted Feb 17, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Oh you are so dear, Aunt Jeannie!! We'll be fine -- I've rented a car, we have an AirBnB, Drew's already excited about pancakes at Panchito's on McCullough. (Did you know they make pancakes there?) I send love to you and Uncle Alvin.

Commented Feb 9, 2023 on From a distance at Velveteen Rabbi

1 reply

From a distance

In the photograph attached to the email that I just got, they're both in the living room. Sitting comfortably, talking with family. It's an action shot, not a candid, which makes it seem all the more real. I can hear... Continue reading

Posted Feb 9, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Welcome aboard! I do see comments on old posts -- all comments are emailed to me. Thank you for the link. You might find this meaningful as well https://yourbayit.org/mlktub/ -- excerpts from Letter from a Birmingham Jail set to haftarah trope. There are a lot of creative haftarot at Bayit's Builders Blog; go to https://yourbayit.org/blog/ and search "haftarah"...

Commented Feb 9, 2023 on Children at Velveteen Rabbi

1 reply

Thanks for subscribing! I've fixed the link at the top (now there are two -- one to subscribe via email, the other via RSS).

Commented Feb 9, 2023 on Children at Velveteen Rabbi

1 reply

our children have to learn we need libraries we accept children I felt so bad for that boy taped to the cross with duct tape God keep us safe from people whose parents ban books Amen. I am new to... Continue reading

Posted Feb 8, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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A Song For Those Coming Through the Sea: Beshalach 5783 / 2022

The Song at the Sea is one of the oldest poems in Torah, and its beauty in the scroll is like nothing else. Some see brickwork, an echo of the labors of slavery. Some see waves rolling in and receding,... Continue reading

Posted Feb 4, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Can't force a poem, only invite it. Like spring. Keep the door propped the circuits open bag packed for when Elijah arrives, singing better days coming. Build a perch for the goldfinch from painted willow. Even if it's hard to... Continue reading

Posted Jan 30, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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The hills are dressed for morning prayer shoulders wrapped in wool. Their winter tzitzit are made of ice, turn to tchelet after the last snows. Do our houses serve as their tefillin? We're the tiny scrolls tucked safe inside. Continue reading

Posted Jan 23, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Opening Heart and Soul: Vaera 5783

Early in this week's Torah portion, Va'era, God makes four promises to us: I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm; I will take you to be My people and... Continue reading

Posted Jan 20, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Our Cup Undrunk

... Understood this way, the fifth promise is transformed from a divine promise we await, to a divine promise that if we ourselves act, then the fifth promise will be fulfilled. That clarion call is the modern message of the... Continue reading

Posted Jan 18, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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The soup my ancestors made was not like this. Beets withered from cold storage haven't changed, nor the sharp bite of cabbage, potatoes blinded by a paring knife but who had tomato paste in Stolpce or in Krasnopol? They didn't... Continue reading

Posted Jan 11, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Finding The Missing Jew anew

I don't have a copy of the original 1979 edition, alas. When I saw the words "Jews do not come from heaven" in the table of contents of The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022 by Rodger Kamenetz, unbidden my mouth said... Continue reading

Posted Jan 10, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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The Promise of Becoming: Vayechi 5783 / 2023

This week's Torah potion, Vayechi -- "He lived" -- is bookended with a pair of deaths. We begin with Jacob. He offers blessings and curses to his children and grandchildren. He makes Joseph promise to bury him in the Cave... Continue reading

Posted Jan 7, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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Left: photograph by Leah Millis, part of this series. Right: poster for today's Stand Out for Democracy. Two years ago today an armed mob, fueled by lies of a stolen election, violated the United States Capitol. Some carried Confederate flags;... Continue reading

Posted Jan 6, 2023 at Velveteen Rabbi

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