Dvar Torah Sukkot Shabbat Congregation Kol Haneshamah Sarasota, FL October 20, 2016 Shabbat Shalom and moadim l'simcha! I hope your Sukkot has brought joy for this season of joy. It's a joy for me to be with you tonight. I'd like to ask everyone a question (and offer a special Shabbat blessing for being completely… Continue reading Joy Like Our Lives Depend on It
Author: velveteenrabbi
R. Rachel Barenblat has been blogging as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2002.
The Big Lie – Yom Kippur 5777
The title of my talk is "The Big Lie." And even though it's Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our spiritual year, I'll start with a whopper. Before Erev Rosh Hashanah, I read a New York Times op-ed by iconic NBC journalist Tom Brokaw. He wrote, "For most of my adult life, I've answered the… Continue reading The Big Lie – Yom Kippur 5777
Balancing the Scales
Amidst hopes for a good and sweet new year, this week's Torah portion (Ha'azinu) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur brings the swan song of Moses as he prepares to die. It's no coincidence that these two poignant moments come together now. In a sense, Moses' preparation to die evokes our own. Each year, tradition… Continue reading Balancing the Scales
Erev Rosh Hashanah 2016/5777 – The Renewal of Hope
Shanah tovah! Welcome to this New Year 5777 that we hope will be full of sweet goodness and opportunity for everyone. Tonight we join together to renew a journey that is timeless. It’s a journey for Jews worldwide, and a Jewish take on a universal journey for all people everywhere. These Days of Awe, from Rosh… Continue reading Erev Rosh Hashanah 2016/5777 – The Renewal of Hope
Just Do It: A High Holy Day Call to Action
As High Holy Day tides approach and soon over-wash with their poignant waters of joy, awe, solemnity and introspection, it’s tempting to imagine that this season is only for emotional and spiritual internals. This season of teshuvah (returning, repairing, forgiving) is for thinking and feeling teshuvah – but mainly as springboards for action. It’s good to think teshuvah in our minds and feel teshuvah in our hearts. It’s healthy to… Continue reading Just Do It: A High Holy Day Call to Action
The Gratitude Virus
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, here's a reminder that our spiritual ancestors knew what neurobiologists only recently figured out. Emotion is catchy – and a good thing, too. In the 1980s, scientists discovered that the brain is wired with mirror neurons that fire when we perceive others' emotions. These neurons mirror in us what we sense others experiencing,… Continue reading The Gratitude Virus
“If!” — Walking Backwards into Elul
Today is September 1, and this weekend begins the Jewish month of Elul, doorway to the High Holy Days of awe, meaning, introspection and transformation. Yes, it’s that time. Tradition adds to daily liturgy Psalm 27 to focus us – body, heart, mind and soul – on our spiritual journey anew. And hidden in Psalm 27 is a word… Continue reading “If!” — Walking Backwards into Elul
This Too is For Good: The Power of Hope
Perhaps nothing seems more obvious than what's "good" or "bad" – or, as this week's Torah portion (Re’eh) puts it, what's a "blessing" or "curse." At this time in the Jewish calendar, when the approaching High Holy Days prod us to examine "good" and "bad" in our lives, a famous story challenges our sense of… Continue reading This Too is For Good: The Power of Hope
It’s Your Turn
The secular calendar says mid-summer, and my Northeast home swelters for an umpteenth day above 90 degrees. The timing is right: on the Jewish spiritual calendar, the great gear shift has come. It's time to start turning inward towards the heat of our hearts and souls. Probably few of us instinctively respond with delight. After… Continue reading It’s Your Turn
Nowhere to Run (And a Good Thing, Too)
Three friends are having a hard time. One laments being lonely unpartnered. Another tends a spouse with a tough prognosis. A third faces an unjust assault to a career. Oy, such downers for the hazy, lazy days of mid-summer! Of course, the comforting idea that certain times are “supposed” to be happy isn’t always the world’s… Continue reading Nowhere to Run (And a Good Thing, Too)
Separation of Shul and State
In this moment of high political drama in U.S. and European history, politicians are claiming moral and even spiritual mantles to advocate causes. This week's Torah portion (Balak) focuses us on that political use and misuse of spiritual authority. Balak was king of Moab, through whose desert territory the Israelites had to travel en route… Continue reading Separation of Shul and State
How to Fall on Your Face: The Spiritual Art of Leadership
This post is for you if you ever felt small after receiving critique or challenge, or that a leadership burden is too heavy, or that no good deed goes unpunished. (Essentially, this post is for everyone.) And of course, this post is for me and my own roles in government, congregational life and a national nonprofit organization. If we teach… Continue reading How to Fall on Your Face: The Spiritual Art of Leadership
When Fright Makes Right
Some fear is healthy ("don't stand in a busy highway"). Other fear is insidious, paralyzing, hope-draining and soul-snatching – and existential fear can be toxic if left to fester. This week's Torah portion (Shlach) calls us to see existential fear what it is, and move through it as a core commitment of Judaism. This week we learn… Continue reading When Fright Makes Right
Receiving Torah, renewing the soul
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Shavuot Retreat June 11, 2016 • 5 Sivan 5776 On this Shabbat flowing into Shavuot, our Torah portion readies us to receive Torah anew inהתחדשות הנפש / renewal of the soul. The question is how: how can receiving Torah renew the soul? How can standing at Sinai make us like new?… Continue reading Receiving Torah, renewing the soul
China as Sinai and Parakeets on the Roof: The Important Spiritual Art of Jewish Bloopers
I’ll never forget that time I taught the first line of this week’s Torah portion (B’midbar). One English translation begins, “God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai” (Numbers 1:1), from which Jewish tradition spins countless interpretations. Reading this verse, the student asked me, “Why did God speak to Moses in China?” Nonsense: The Sinai peninsula is adjacent to modern-day Israel,… Continue reading China as Sinai and Parakeets on the Roof: The Important Spiritual Art of Jewish Bloopers
In the Wilderness: How to Receive Torah
Next weekend (June 11, 2016) is Shavuot, Festival of Receiving Torah, when we evoke standing together at Sinai to receive anew the wisdom we call Torah. As preparation, this week's Torah portion (Bamidbar – "in the wilderness") comes to remind us how to open ourselves to receive that wisdom anew. The lesson, it turns out, is about wilderness itself.… Continue reading In the Wilderness: How to Receive Torah
Ask the Rabbi: Are We Commanded to Vote?
Every Jew has a duty to vote in the democratic elections in one’s nation of citizenship. Jewish law mandates the creation of civil government (Avot 3:2, Avodah Zara 4a) and obliges all who benefit from public services to help provide them (Bava Batra 7b, Bava Metzia 108a). Voting follows from this Jewish communitarian value against… Continue reading Ask the Rabbi: Are We Commanded to Vote?
Keystones of Renewal: The ALEPH Listening Tour, the Future and You.
Kabbalat Shabbat Congregation Nevei Kodesh Boulder, Colorado May 20, 2016 • 13 Iyar 5776 Shabbat Shalom. Thank you, Rabbi Sarah Bracha and the Nevei Kodesh family, for so warmly welcoming Rachel and me. For months we looked forward to this weekend. We couldn't be happier to be here. When Reb Sarah Bracha asked me… Continue reading Keystones of Renewal: The ALEPH Listening Tour, the Future and You.
Blemishes, One and All
One of the greatest blemishes on Biblical tradition is how it treats the so-called "blemish" of those who might be called into spiritual service. This week's Torah portion (Emor) shines this challenge directly in our eyes, dares us to flinch and calls us to make a repair. In ancient days, a "blemish" (Hebrew, mum) disqualified a… Continue reading Blemishes, One and All
All of Us: ‘Rock Band’ Judaism and Emotional Contagion
Scientists report that playing a game like Rock Band can make you more caring – and the reason touches the core of what it means to be Jewish. Humans tend to experience less empathy for “strangers” than for people we deem “more like us” – family, friends, colleagues and members of our “tribe.” Neurobiology explains that perceived similarity triggers our mirror neurons,… Continue reading All of Us: ‘Rock Band’ Judaism and Emotional Contagion
David Evan Markus 