Rabbi Rachel Barenblat
Visiting When Someone in the Family is Ill
When we visit the sick, it is our job to be present, kind, and ready to listen, all of which can be more challenging if the person we are visiting is part of our family.
That Special Yearning for Shabbat
You know that feeling you get sometimes when you hear a piece of music and it makes your heart want to leap right out of your chest? Maybe it's because of what the words mean, or because of how the melody lifts you, or because of what the song represents in
Anticipating the Return of the Sun
Human beings have been paying attention to the ebb and flow of daylight for a very, very long time. Stonehenge, that iconic circle of stone slabs in Great Britain, was built sometime between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE. Its central sight-lines point to the location
An Unexpected Messenger on Shabbat
I walked to Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street toward the end of Shabbat, thinking that I was going to wait on a park bench until Shabbat ended and the stores opened, in order to try to buy a Spiderman kippah for our son. (I should've just bought one in Tzfat when
Right Here, Right Now: How Meditation is Like Shabbat
"Take a moment to settle in to being here," I say aloud. My eyes are closed, but I know there are three other people in the room this morning. I heard them walk in, each to their own place in the sanctuary, and I waited until the sounds of their arrival had
