orah begins again, and "in the beginning" – or maybe Torah's words mean something else? – we encounter more a cascade of questions than clearly reliable answers.That means we're doing it right. Now that the High Holy Day season and Simhat Torah's reboot are history, let’s start again at the very beginning (“a very good place… Continue reading Creation and Our Sacred Orchard (P. Bereshit)
Author: velveteenrabbi
R. Rachel Barenblat has been blogging as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2002.
Special Message from Rabbi David: Attacks on Israel – Community Gathering 6:00pm Sunday
Special Message from Rabbi David: Attacks on Israel – Community Gathering 6:00pm Sunday Dear Members and Friends: This special message, responding to fast-breaking world events, is my first as rabbi of Congregation Shir Ami. I wish it were on most any subject other than the one we and our world face today and in the… Continue reading Special Message from Rabbi David: Attacks on Israel – Community Gathering 6:00pm Sunday
When We Become Who We’re Becoming
What do Torah, a crown, inheritance and collective unity have to do with one another? The answer of this week's Torah portion – Torah's very last one, and also prelude to Torah's very first one – derives from Moses' very last words to the Children of Israel before he died. These words equally herald the end… Continue reading When We Become Who We’re Becoming
The Superpower of Renewing Together
This week's full moon of Elul launches our two-week countdown to Rosh Hashanah. When the waning moon runs out of reflected light, the outgoing year will run out of time. On that Erev Rosh Hashanah evening, Jews worldwide will gather together to usher in the new year. Much as our spiritual ancestors did for centuries before us,… Continue reading The Superpower of Renewing Together
Lost and Found, Soul Edition
The Jewish month of Elul has begun. Days are shortening noticeably. Emails about the High Holy Days are flying. Ritually, daily shofar blasts pierce protective layers and call us to renewed attention. The season of teshuvah is here.What is teshuvah? English-language equivalents include "return" to "repent." This impulse asks us to "return" to our highest selves and best spiritual lives. We do so physically in community (it's "back to… Continue reading Lost and Found, Soul Edition
Chasing Justice, Outside and In
By Rabbi David Evan MarkusShoftim 5783 (2023) Concerns about justice and rightness are top headlines nowadays – and should be. We are called to channel justice and rightness everywhere they seem in short supply. And if we think deeply, we might discover that justice and rightness ask of us far more – and, in a sense, also somewhat less… Continue reading Chasing Justice, Outside and In
The Eye Is In the Hand of the Beholder: Re’eh 5783
If art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder, then what about spirituality and community? And when we feel disconnected from spirituality and community – as everyone sometimes does – then what? This week’s Torah portion (Re'eh) invites us to see that one of the most powerful tools of spirituality concerns "how we see" what we… Continue reading The Eye Is In the Hand of the Beholder: Re’eh 5783
Jewish Greatest Hits
Imagine that you and a small group of beloveds are about to be exiled to a faraway island. Jewishly speaking, what would you take with you?Speaking personally, my answer isn't a thing at all, but a principle from this week's Torah portion – which comes exactly on time. Stones left over from the Roman destruction of the… Continue reading Jewish Greatest Hits
How We Remember
Welcome to the Book of Deuteronomy, Torah's fifth book about saying it all again. Deuter ("second") onomy ("telling") – Devarim in Hebrew – is Moses' take on what happened during the last three books. Parts are inspiringly uplifting, some is a "creative" re-telling of the past, and some is downright harsh. Maybe it resembles our own look-back on this year that,… Continue reading How We Remember
Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going (P. Matot-Masei)
We've heard it over and over, like the opening of Charles Dickens' A Tale of TwoCities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Depending on where we look around us, we see either beauty or devastation, despair or hope. Now is exactly the time that Torah, and our spiritual calendar, call us… Continue reading Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going (P. Matot-Masei)
From the Rabbi’s Desk: July 2023 and Summer’s Sweet Spirituality of Denial
Happy July, Shir Ami! As we begin our journey together in sacred community, I want to begin a monthly practice of sharing brief words about where each month invites us in the flow of spiritual time. By taking stock of where we are in the arc of the year, together we can deepen and heighten… Continue reading From the Rabbi’s Desk: July 2023 and Summer’s Sweet Spirituality of Denial
When Peace Isn’t So Peaceful: Pinchas 5783
For my first weekly dvar Torah as rabbi and spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Ami, let's talk about spearing people through the guts while they have sex on the altar.Seriously? That's the context of how Parshat Pinchas begins. (Isn't it every rabbi's dream to begin serving a spiritual community with this?)Then again, often Torah embeds beautiful worlds of wonder, depth and redemptive… Continue reading When Peace Isn’t So Peaceful: Pinchas 5783
Awakenings (Tu b’Shevat / Pre-Spring Edition)
By definition, awakening happens before we’re ready, and exactly on time. It’s Tu b’Shevat this weekend (Sunday evening, February 5), so we’re exactly on time. * Happy February! Our northern hemisphere’s darkest quarter of the year is history. We’re about to get a sharp cold snap, but the light is returning. Have you noticed that 5:00pm… Continue reading Awakenings (Tu b’Shevat / Pre-Spring Edition)
Holocaust Remembrance Day
On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I stop in my tracks. My grandmother was detained by Nazi invaders, my father was born in a Central Asian outpost on the run, and my great aunt and uncle bore Auschwitz tattoos on their forearms. Whole branches of my family tree were chopped and burned. Today is, at… Continue reading Holocaust Remembrance Day
Vaera: Our Cup Undrunk For Now
Part of an ongoing series that explores Torah through an ethic of social justice and building a world worthy of the Divine. Liberation can feel like grace. In the prophetic prose of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quoting the prophet Amos, eventually social “justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream”… Continue reading Vaera: Our Cup Undrunk For Now
Why This Rabbi is Learning Arabic (And Why All Rabbis Should)
Why is this rabbi learning Arabic? Read on. When the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York honored me with an invitation to join its recent multi-faith and multi-racial community leadership study trip to Israel, our goals quickly became clear. In addition to strengthening relationships among public officials, nonprofit directors and spiritual leaders, the JCRC trip aimed… Continue reading Why This Rabbi is Learning Arabic (And Why All Rabbis Should)
Dvar for Yom Kippur 5783: Renewing Balance After Injustice
Summary: “Justice, justice you will pursue” – but what about renewing balance despite the worst kinds of injustices we can imagine? Gut yontif on this Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, or “At-One-Ment,” when we say that our souls and lives hang in the balance. For centuries, our ancestors harnessed Yom Kippur’s power to inspire life-changing,… Continue reading Dvar for Yom Kippur 5783: Renewing Balance After Injustice
Dvar for Rosh Hashanah (Day 1) 5783 – The Physics of Our Quest
Summary: On our yearning to re-balance our lives, and the paradox that the world was made for us and we’re dust and ashes. By Rabbi David Shanah tovah, friends. Our world needs better balance. We all do, after rollercoaster years kicked us, our politics and our planet so far off kilter. These High Holy Days on the Jewish… Continue reading Dvar for Rosh Hashanah (Day 1) 5783 – The Physics of Our Quest
Dvar for Erev Rosh Hashanah 5783: The Sacred “And”
Summary: The path toward finding balance new begins with a perspective shift… and a sacred “and.” A joint dvar by R. David and R. Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age… Continue reading Dvar for Erev Rosh Hashanah 5783: The Sacred “And”
Second Annual Pride Month Recognition
Thank you, District Attorney Walsh, for this honor and your very generous tribute. I’m quite moved and a little bit verklempt. I’m struck that a gathering like ours today couldn’t happen 20 years ago. It couldn’t happen 15 years ago when I worked on the Court of Appeals Hernandez v Robles case, which held, as… Continue reading Second Annual Pride Month Recognition
David Evan Markus 