semitism.net

So, I looked on the front page of the Berkshire Jewish Voice yesterday and whom should I see but Rachel Barenblatt, aka the Velveteen Rabbi.

I thought I’d do my part to meme the article, which you can read right here.

The article profiles her career as a writer and as a rabbi-in-training at Elat Chayyim. Here’s what Rachel says about Renewal Judaism:

…while Renewal seeks to teach the traditional view of Jewish texts, it also asks for creatively, the exploration of new interpretations, and movement in new directions; and that with regard to “repairing the world,” Renewal affirms four worlds, “Being,” “Knowing,” “Relating,” and “Doing,” which when understood as flowing together are recognized as aiding in the repair of both man’s physical and emotional world, as he not only both confronts and solves material problems but through “God-wrestling” repairs emotional vexations, such as finding a new respect for the feminine, and such esoteric problems as the need for “eco-kosher,” which Barenblat explained, might ask not only “how was the cow slaughtered” but, also, “how was the cow treated while alive and was its meat packaged in an environmentally ‘friendly’ way.”

“So, it’s all a little ‘far out,’ said Barenblat.

“But, historically Renewal Judaism has always been a little far out.”

Rachel writes a wonderful weblog, which you should definitely check out.