This is Rachel Barenblat's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Rachel Barenblat's activity
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
Hair
The alligator clips for holding a hank of hair while the rest is blown dry wait patiently for you to return and need them again. In your last years you joined the ranks of little old ladies who let the... Continue reading
Posted 3 days ago at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
Tisha b'Av, and parenting, and responsibility, and change
Posted Aug 11, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Return
Not sure what I fear more: that your house will feel the same or that it won't. The wheelchair and hospital machines will be gone, but the books in the library will still be arranged by color, abstract modern art... Continue reading
Posted Aug 8, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
2
New on Builders Blog: building lessons from D'varim
Posted Aug 4, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
All our vows: on making promises, seeking justice, and taking refuge
Posted Aug 3, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
A new prayer for Tisha b'Av
I've curated a new prayer for Tisha b'Av that interweaves quotes from Lamentations with quotes from migrants and refugees on the United States' southern border today. In reading the prayer aloud, we put the words of refugees -- parents separated... Continue reading
Posted Jul 30, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Light
Posted Jul 28, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
From Tents to Dwellings - at Builders Blog
Posted Jul 14, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Water from the living well
Posted Jul 13, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
Postcard
This is a postcard -- oversized, five by seven and glossy. On the front a photo of my garden: look, the half-dead bushes are gone, and the tangle of wild mint and weeds. In their place tall purple astilbe, silver-leafed... Continue reading
Posted Jul 11, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Watch me
"Watch this, Mom, watch me." My son jumps into the pool, surfacing to ask "was that a perfect pencil dive?" Or "look at this, do I look like a dolphin," wiggling through the water, "or more like a whale?" breaching... Continue reading
Posted Jul 9, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
3
I do remember seeing her post about this! Thank you for that reminder. Thinking of her, and of you.
Commented Jul 3, 2019 on Chrysalis at Velveteen Rabbi
Chrysalis
On my Italian parsley plant: a fat green stripey caterpillar. It's a black swallowtail in fourth instar, readying for its chrysalis. Unlike the monarch, predictable in its cycle of rebirth, these take an indeterminate time encased in green or brown before emerging wet-winged. Growth has its own ...
Chrysalis
On my Italian parsley plant: a fat green stripey caterpillar. It's a black swallowtail in fourth instar, readying for its chrysalis. Unlike the monarch, predictable in its cycle of rebirth, these take an indeterminate time encased in green or brown... Continue reading
Posted Jul 2, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
3
Boundaries and forgiveness
Posted Jun 28, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
Sun
Best hours for sun: ten until two. You taught me that, sunbathing on the flat woven chaise by the pool straps pulled down so you wouldn't mar any off-the-shoulder blouse with lines. No one thinks like that anymore. Here and... Continue reading
Posted Jun 27, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
2
The Slonimer on serving, even from within the cloud
The mishkan (the dwelling place for God) wasn't just an external thing our ancestors built in the wilderness way back when. It's also something we're each called to build and maintain in our own hearts. And just as the mishkan... Continue reading
Posted Jun 20, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
In your shoes
When I shot up like a weed our feet stopped matching. Our tastes diverged too: once I moved out I chose Docs, clunky Mary Janes. When you got sick your shoes languished, replaced by scuffs and slippers. Two days after... Continue reading
Posted Jun 19, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
And our faces, my heart, brief as photos
Posted Jun 16, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
1
Blackbird
My son's dance performance opens with a song you used to play. I weep for how you rolled these chords. I can still hear you singing "I need someone to love and understand me," the way you'd slow for emphasis... Continue reading
Posted Jun 13, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Revelation
On the night before Shavuot I fall asleep thinking about revelation. In my dream you give me a necklace, a cluster of charms on a long chain. Some are golden plates engraved with the words we'll say about you at... Continue reading
Posted Jun 8, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Fragments: digital ghosts, gratitude, and grief
Posted Jun 7, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
See you at Sinai
Posted Jun 6, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
You're welcome to use any of my poems (by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat), and I'd love to see your oratorio setting when it's complete.
I don't know about the other authors whose work appears in this handout; presumably you'd need to reach out individually to each of them.
Commented Jun 3, 2019 on Poems of Ruth - for Shavuot at Velveteen Rabbi
Poems of Ruth - for Shavuot
Chag sameach! I hope you're having a wonderful Shavuot so far. I promised I would share the poems I taught last night at the tikkun leil Shavuot co-created by my shul and the shul up the road in Bennington. Here you go -- enjoy! Poems of Ruth woodcut by Jacob Steinhardt Shavuot 5772 / 2012 Po...
Making Everyone Count at Builders Blog
Posted Jun 2, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
Walking in God's Paths, Everywhere We Go
Posted Jun 1, 2019 at Velveteen Rabbi
Comment
0
More...
Subscribe to Rachel Barenblat’s Recent Activity
0 Favorites
Blogs and Sites