"Time waits for no one,” quips the adage, but maybe that’s backward. Maybe the soul of healthy waiting is cultivating a healthy sense of timelessness that we don’t try to control. Easier said than done. One challenge of waiting is precisely that we wait inside time. The longer our wait, the more our impatience and… Continue reading The Soul of Waiting
Author: velveteenrabbi
R. Rachel Barenblat has been blogging as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2002.
Waiting to Exhale
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. "Waiting to Exhale." No, not the 1995 Whitney Houston movie hit. I mean life's occasional sense of waiting – waiting with anticipation, waiting with diminishing patience, maybe even Waiting for Godot. When we must wait, how can we wait with inner healthfulness, even resilience? We moderns… Continue reading Waiting to Exhale
What Counts? – A tribute to Israel
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. I just returned from two weeks in Israel, in the days preceding the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The country felt consumed by this momentous occasion – recounting Israel's history, counting Israel's blessings, and counting… Continue reading What Counts? – A tribute to Israel
There is no “I” in Team
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. Here's a true confession of a self-described "Resilience Rabbi" spending a year writing about resilience: sometimes I don't feel very resilient. Sometimes I feel tired, drained, even hopeless. I suspect we all have those moments when we don't seem to bounce back from adversity,… Continue reading There is no “I” in Team
“Say No to Non!” – Let’s Ban the Phrase “Non-Jew”
To all who care about the Jewish community and the Jewish future, let’s ban the phrase “non-Jew.” Let’s never again speak this phrase or even think it. People in spiritual life are too important to describe in negative terms. Like any broad-brush label, the phrase “non-Jew” evokes inclusion by implication (“Jew” is the in-group) and… Continue reading “Say No to Non!” – Let’s Ban the Phrase “Non-Jew”
See Different: Don’t look now, but Passover’s not over.
Actually, scratch that. Please look now – right now – and see this: the point of Passover isn’t the Seder. Yes, Passover’s symbols, stories, foods and traditions can be highlights of the year. For millions, that’s what a Seder is, and with good reason. Passover is a Jewish birth certificate – the story of Jewish identity birthed from exile,… Continue reading See Different: Don’t look now, but Passover’s not over.
Resilience After the Seder
Part of a yearlong series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. This year's Passover seder is history. Cups were filled and drunk and filled and spilled and drunk and filled again. Matzah was broken, crunched and crumbled. Soup was slurped. Stories were told. Songs were sung. A marinade of elation, pride, afterglow, exhaustion and indigestion… Continue reading Resilience After the Seder
The Koan of Shrunken Silence
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. The teacher of my teachers, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z"l, recounted that one of his children asked him about waking and sleeping. The child asked, "If we can wake from sleeping, why can't we also wake from waking?" In essence, can we wake more? What might it… Continue reading The Koan of Shrunken Silence
Target the Heart
How should I respond to my congregants who express fear, helplessness, and hopelessness about school lockdowns and assault weapons in the hands of crazy people?” I asked this question after an “active shooter” school lockdown in my New York county. I directed my question to my 1,500 Facebook friends – not a scientific sample, but… Continue reading Target the Heart
Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Purim Tribute for Women’s History Month
Just in time for Purim comes this resource offered on the Bayit Builders' Blog: Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Purim Tribute for Women's History Month. This trope mash-up of Esther and the 2/7/2017 Congressional Record (“nevertheless she persisted” silencing of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren) commemorates Purim and Women’s History Month at a time when society especially… Continue reading Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Purim Tribute for Women’s History Month
Nu, What’s New?
What’s new? No, not the colloquial “What’s up?” but rather “What’s new in your life?” Like a Russian matryoshka doll, this question contains other questions that telescope toward a central core: “How well do I notice my life?” “How do I make new in my life?” “Can anything really be new?” “Why does any of this… Continue reading Nu, What’s New?
The Sapphire Path
Part of a yearlong series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. Long before Frank Baum imagined Munchkins and "The Yellow Brick Road," Jews had a "Sapphire Path" that, according to Torah, Moses and 70 elders saw ascending skyward (Exodus 24:10). While mystics and rationalists might part ways about these kinds of visions, the hope of… Continue reading The Sapphire Path
Connecting to the Tree of Life
By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and Rabbi David Markus Originally published as part of the Auburn Voices series at Auburn Seminary. Tu b’Shevat, the “New Year of the Trees,” is coming at the next full moon, the night of January 30. We honor Tu b’Shevat to renew our spirits and prepare ourselves, and the world, for spring’s… Continue reading Connecting to the Tree of Life
Take my advice
Part of a series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. The older I get, the more willing I become to admit that I don't know it all and can't do it all. Life experience teaches all of us what the brilliant Albert Einstein recognized: "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I… Continue reading Take my advice
See Your Way to Freedom
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. Freedom! For many, freedom is the spiritual goal – to be free of suffering, free of burden, even free of the travails of earthly life. For many, freedom is the political goal: think FDR's Four Freedoms, Dr. Martin Luther King's "Free at last!" refrain of his "I… Continue reading See Your Way to Freedom
A New Year (As New As We Make It)
Part of a yearlong series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. Pop the Champagne! Cue the confetti! It's a new year! Everything's new and fresh! Of course it ain't so simple – but still we hope. At new year's, we offer intentions. We turn the page (though more and more people keep calendars without paper "pages"… Continue reading A New Year (As New As We Make It)
Leave God Out Of Your Election Commentary
Roy Moore's first words after losing his U.S. Senate election in Alabama invoked Psalm 40 for God's control of the election. At the same time, my liberal friends and colleagues – who for years lamented "Bible beating" in the public square – jubilantly called Doug Jones' election victory a "Chanukkah miracle" that "proves a loving God." As… Continue reading Leave God Out Of Your Election Commentary
Matt, Mom and Me
I don't usually give titles to talks, but this week's Torah portion and what's happening in our world speak so deeply to me that they called out a title for the words I want to share with you today: "Matt, Mom and Me." "Matt" is Matt Lauer. Mom is my own mother. Me? We'll get to me later.… Continue reading Matt, Mom and Me
How Small Stuff Can Set Big Examples
A funny moment reminded me how anyone's small behaviors can affect others in big ways. A synagogue invited me and a colleague for a weekend teaching spirituality. As guests invited to explore "spiritual Judaism," we expected some to view us as what Jack Bloom called "symbolic exemplars" – people observed carefully (consciously or not) to show… Continue reading How Small Stuff Can Set Big Examples
Israel’s Six Resilience Rules
Part of a yearlong series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. Even an over-anxious cad like the Bible's Jacob can teach a lesson about resilience. In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach), he teaches six. It turns out that anxiety – seemingly a mainstay of modern life – can have spiritual purpose by cuing us to… Continue reading Israel’s Six Resilience Rules
David Evan Markus 