Kabbalat Shabbat – Shabbat HaGadol Kehilla Community Synagogue April 15, 2016 • 8 Nisan 5776 Shabbat Shalom. Thank you Reb David, Reb Dev, Hazzan Shulamit, Reb Burt, Reb Diane and the whole Kehilla family for so warmly welcoming Rachel and me. For months we've looked forward to this weekend, and we couldn't be happier to be here.… Continue reading Shabbat HaGadol, the ALEPH Listening Tour, and reclaiming the voice
Author: velveteenrabbi
R. Rachel Barenblat has been blogging as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2002.
Going free in the light
Shabbat Dvar – Parshat Tazria Elijah Minyan & Shirat HaYam San Diego, California April 9, 2016 • 1 Nisan 5776 Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov. Thank you Reb Wayne and Ellen, David and Rhonda, Elijah Minyan and Shirat HaYam, for your warm welcome. Aor this New Yorker who just saw snow, the "warm" part of your… Continue reading Going free in the light
Keeping the fire burning
Kabbalat Shabbat Dvar – Parshat Tzav Or Shalom Synagogue Vancouver, British Columbia March 25, 2016 • 16 Adar II 5776 Shabbat shalom. For months Rachel and I have looked forward to this weekend, and we couldn't be happier to be here. I confess to a bit of East Coast jetlag, but your hospitality and warmth have… Continue reading Keeping the fire burning
Keeping the Light On
Next time you are in a synagogue, gaze at the eternal flame atop the Ark. Its symbolism represents the beating heart of spiritual and community life, if we make it so. Our spiritual ethos, hope, aspiration and calling is that the light never goes out – or so we tell ourselves. This week's Torah portion… Continue reading Keeping the Light On
“If One’s Means Do Not Suffice”: Confronting the High Price of Doing Jewish
Judaism and justice go hand in hand. The Jewish value of tzedakah (charity, from the Hebrew word for “justice”) underscores that to “be Jewish” is partly to “do Jewish,” and to “do Jewish” means to give generously. Judaism asks tzedakah not only as charitable acts of support for others, but also as defining acts of identity for ourselves.… Continue reading “If One’s Means Do Not Suffice”: Confronting the High Price of Doing Jewish
Building the Trusting Heart
Pretend you're designing and building a new state Capitol. Imagine in precise detail the stones, woodwork, glass, tools, glue, joints, wiring and metalwork you'd need: such immense architectural plans could fill books. Now imagine getting the materials – not with tax revenue or apportioning needs directly to people able to fulfill them, but simply by saying the… Continue reading Building the Trusting Heart
Seeing Bigger
Travel in your mind to the top of our atmosphere, where Earth’s envelope of life-giving oxygen and nitrogen blends into the cold vacuum of space. Looking down from that heady height, as astronauts have done since 1961, the Earth below seems borderless and pastoral, gently still except for flashes of lightning and polar aurorae dancing across the globe. This uplifted perspective on our planet… Continue reading Seeing Bigger
A Space for Spirit
Perspective is everything. How we see the world – our point of view – shapes how the world affects us and thus how we live. The opposite also is true: how we live shapes what we see. The two come together in a holy handshake, with profound implications for Jewish spirituality, what Jews believe and how we… Continue reading A Space for Spirit
From Sigh to Song: A Way Toward Freedom
Jews are a People of the Book; Jews also are a People of the Song. In fear, poverty, war and exile, song packed light and eased the way. This spiritual secret is encoded in Jewish spiritual DNA: we can sing our way through. Even for those of us who wouldn’t describe ourselves as singers, the ancient secret of song is ours to rediscover and… Continue reading From Sigh to Song: A Way Toward Freedom
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
It never fails. At first we feel gratitude for gifts and blessings, but memory fades and gratitude drains. We're not ingrates, but recall and attention are limited: life naturally gets in the way. Forgetfulness is the human condition: let's call it spiritual amnesia. For most of us living workaday lives, spirituality isn't what drives us… Continue reading What Have You Done For Me Lately?
Everything Old is New Again
It's that time again – retrospectives on the secular year now ending, Top 10 lists, New Years resolutions, new calendars, the Baby New Year myth become childhood cartoon, renewed diets and gym routines perhaps soon forgotten, the Rose Bowl parade, maybe a hangover or two. Among the social values of New Years is a sense of renewal… Continue reading Everything Old is New Again
Angels We Have Heard On High
“Merry Christmas,” says this pulpit rabbi and co-chair of the Jewish Renewal movement. Regardless of our theologies and beliefs, the message of Christmas is worthy for Jews to think deeply about – but we need to get clear about what we understand the real message of Christmas to be. Granted, Christmas can leave Jews feeling either “Bah Humbug” or “Amazing Grace”: both are popular Christmas… Continue reading Angels We Have Heard On High
Becoming the Light
"Hope springs eternal," wrote essayist Alexander Pope. This sentiment forms the spiritual core ofChanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, and (not coincidentally) also this week's Torah portion, Miketz. Hope, by its nature, transcends perceived reality however bleak. Hope is what remains when the night seems most dark, when the chips seem most down, when the deck seems most… Continue reading Becoming the Light
It’s Thanksgiving, But What if One Doesn’t Feel Thankful?
Happy Thanksgiving. Now, let’s get real: Some don’t feel thankful today. We might feel like the turkeys got us down. We might feel burdened by hosting, harried by travel, lonely for having nowhere to go, bothered for having to go somewhere we don’t want to go, or pre-triggered by a secular holiday season happier in advertising than anticipation or reality.… Continue reading It’s Thanksgiving, But What if One Doesn’t Feel Thankful?
Every Rock: The Art of Awe
Every Jewish house of worship echoes the iconic scene in this week’s Torah portion (Vayetze). Jacob takes a rock and places it under his head for a pillow. He dreams of a ladder rising from there to heaven, with angels ascending and descending along it. Jacob wakes with awe and calls the spot Beth El,… Continue reading Every Rock: The Art of Awe
Of Challah-ween, Havdalah-ween and Yaakov Lanterns
If you’re reading this post during October, it’ll soon be Halloween – that great Jewish holiday. Yes, you read that right. (Well, sort of.) In no obvious sense is Halloween a Jewish holiday. Historically, Halloween derives from Christianity’sAll Hallows’ Eve, traditionally a time of feasting and vespers before All Saints’ Day on November 1, which… Continue reading Of Challah-ween, Havdalah-ween and Yaakov Lanterns
False Starts and the Art of Renewal
Beginnings tend to be messy: ask anyone who's ever given birth, tilled the soil, sculpted, composed, or built something to last. By their nature, beginnings tend to begin unformed and void, at first dark and uncertain, then haltingly lurch toward something-ness. Each year, Jews recycle Torah and begin its reading anew. This week we… Continue reading False Starts and the Art of Renewal
The Spirituality of Just Hanging Out (Shemini Atzeret Edition)
Sunday night (October 4, 2015) begins Shemini Atzeret, the last festival in the summer/fall Jewish holiday cycle. For many moderns, Shemini Atzeret is obscure, confusing or irrelevant – but investing ourselves in this holiday can revitalize the spirit for the year ahead. Here’s how. * In 1993, alternative rock band Crash Test Dummies released its second… Continue reading The Spirituality of Just Hanging Out (Shemini Atzeret Edition)
Yom Kippur 2015 / 5776: “Who Would You Be if You Lost it All?”
G’mar chatimah tovah. For every worthy hope and every healing you seek this year, may it be sealed for good. I want to share a true story about David Gregory, former host of NBC’s Meet the Press, the television forum for national and world leaders. This story came to me in two parts. The first… Continue reading Yom Kippur 2015 / 5776: “Who Would You Be if You Lost it All?”
Rosh Hashanah 2015 / 5776 – Seeking the Face of God
Our theme for this year’s High Holy Day season is “Seeking,” drawn from Psalm 27, our musical anthem that’s a love song with God: You called to my heart: “Come seek My face / Come seek My grace.” For Your love, Source of all, I will seek. Whether or not we’d use the term, all… Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 2015 / 5776 – Seeking the Face of God
David Evan Markus 