About Me

I'm a writer, liturgist, and m'saderet ("she-who-orders-things," e.g. ritual celebrant/officiant) living in western Massachusetts. I'm a student in the ALEPH rabbinic program, though I'm not an ordained rabbi yet (hence the "velveteen" part of my title; remember the Margery Williams book?) I'm regular shlichat tzibbur (services-leader) at my synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. When the rabbi's away I do my best to fill his shoes, and I had the extreme pleasure of taking the reins of our congregation during the four months of his sabbatical in 2006.

I've been writing prayers, liturgies, and rituals for several years, starting with the Williams College Feminist Seder Project back in 1992; for a few years I was working on a book about the nascent art of Jewish ritualcraft, a project which has now been backburnered but which helped me give rise to my renewed interest in Judaism. I want to empower people to engage with their spiritual lives and their tradition(s), to take their religious experiences into their own hands, and to experience religious moments in a joyful and meaningful way.

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas; I've lived in smalltown Massachusetts since 1992. My Jewish background is first Conservative and then Reform; today I'm most at home in Jewish Renewal, and I'm a regular retreatant at Elat Chayyim. I'm co-founder (and was for six years executive director) of Inkberry, a literary arts nonprofit which works to foster the literary life, to strengthen the connections between writing and life, and to create a place where everyone can discover their voice.

I hold a bachelor's degree in religion from Williams College, where I focused on Judaic Studies, and a MFA in writing and literature from the Bennington Writing Seminars, where I focused on poetry. I'm author of three chapbooks of poems, most recently chaplainbook (Laupe House, 2006). Many of my poems are Judaic in nature, and they've appeared in a range of publications; I've also written a lot of nonfiction about Judaism, which appears in publications ranging from Lilith to Bad Subjects, The Guide to Jewish Interfaith Family Life to The Women's Seder Sourcebook.

I live with my marvelous husband, Ethan Zuckerman, and our cat, on a hilltop in Lanesboro, Massachusetts. If you'd like a glimpse into what my life looks like, feel free to browse my photos at flickr.

If you'd like to learn more, or to read about this in someone else's words, please enjoy the article Rachel Barenblat: "When Can I Run and Play with the Real Rabbis?", by David Verzi, originally published in The Berkshire Jewish Voice in December of 2006.