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Rachel Barenblat

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (a/k/a the Velveteen Rabbi) serves Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is author of six volumes of poetry, among them 70 faces: Torah poems (Phoenicia, 2011) and Texts to the Holy (Ben Yehuda, 2018). A founding builder at Bayit: Building Jewish, she resides in western Massachusetts. She has blogged as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2003.

http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/

All Four (Are One), a prayer-poem for Passover by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (Bayit, 2024)

Contributed on: 06 Apr 2024 by Rachel Barenblat | Bayit: Building Jewish |

“All Four (Are One),” riffing on the story in the haggadah of the four children, is a prayer-poem on the theme of intracommunal discord six months after October 7th (possibly reflected in the family dynamics at the seder table itself). Written by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, it was first published on the website of Bayit: Building Jewish on 2 April 2024. . . .


Distinctions (Havdalah) for the end of Shabbat, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 21 Jun 2013 by Rachel Barenblat |

A prayer-poem inspired by the ritual Havdallah, preparing a separation between Shabbat and weekday time. . . .


כְּגַוְנָא | k’Gavna (Just As) from the Zohar parashat Terumah §163-166, a paraliturgical interpretive translation by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 17 Jun 2020 by Rachel Barenblat |

A paraliturgical translation of “k’Gavna” — a portion of the Zohar on parashat Terumah read before Ma’ariv in the ḥassidic-sefardic nusaḥ. . . .


Listen up, y’all — an interpretive rendering of v’haya im shamoa by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 21 Aug 2024 by Rachel Barenblat |

“Listen up, y’all: An interpretive rendering of V’haya im shamoa” by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was originally published 1 February 2016 at her website, Velveteen Rabbi. There she provided the following description, “This is a creative rendering of the second paragraph of the shema, Deuteronomy 11:13-21. It was written for the service I’m leading this morning with Rabbi David [Evan Markus] at Rabbis Without Borders. (I offer deep thanks to David both for co-leading davvenen with me, and for reading an early draft of this poem and offering wise suggestions.)” . . .


Prayer After the Bombing in Boston, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (2013)

Contributed on: 19 Apr 2013 by Rachel Barenblat |

I wrote this a few days after the Boston Marathon bombing. It arose out of a meditation service which I led at my synagogue. The doors to our sanctuary were open, so we had the sounds of the nearby wetland in our ears, and I invited the meditators to join me in cultivating compassion and sending it toward Boston. The line “My heart is in the east and I am in the west” is adapted from the medieval Spanish poet Judah haLevi. . . .


A Prayer for Dew, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 09 May 2010 by Rachel Barenblat |

Geshem and tal: rain and dew. We pray for each in its season, geshem all winter and tal as summer approaches…not everywhere, necessarily, but in the land of Israel where our prayers have their roots. In a desert climate, water is clearly a gift from God. It’s easy for us to forget that, here with all of this rain and snow. But our liturgy reminds us. Through the winter months, during our daily amidah we’ve prayed “mashiv ha-ruach u-morid ha-gashem” — You cause the winds to blow and the rains to fall! We only pray for rain during the rainy season, because it is frustrating both to us and to God when we pray for impossibilities. . . .


💬 Purim 2021: From Darkness to Light, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat & Rabbi David Evan Markus (Bayit, 2021)

Contributed on: 22 Feb 2021 by David Evan Markus | Rachel Barenblat | Bayit: Building Jewish |

Tropified texts for Purim 2021 juxtaposing the text of Queen Esther with the words of Vice President Kamalla Harris and poet laureate Amanda Gorman. . . .


Saturday Afternoon Request, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 21 Jun 2013 by Rachel Barenblat |

A prayer-poem supplication for the afternoon of Shabbat. . . .


The Breath of All Life, a paraliturgical Nishmat Kol Ḥai for Shabbat morning by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Contributed on: 21 Jun 2013 by Rachel Barenblat |

A prayer-poem inspired from the liturgical prayer, Nishmat. . . .


🗍 סֵדֶר ט״וּ בִּשְׁבָט | Tu BiShvat Seder Haggadah in presentation format, by rabbis Rachel Barenblat & David Evan Markus (Bayit, 2018)

Contributed on: 25 Jan 2018 by David Evan Markus | Rachel Barenblat | Bayit: Building Jewish |

The Bayit’s Tu BiShvat Seder Haggadah in PowerPoint presentation format was designed to be projected on a screen to save paper; accompanied by instructions for how to celebrate Tu BiShvat. . . .