Waiting to Unfold

Rachel Barenblat holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is a Jewish Renewal rabbi, ordained by ALEPH: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal in January of 2011. She serves Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, MA. She is author of "70 Faces: Torah Poems"(Phoenicia Publishing, 2011) as well as four chapbooks of poetry: "the skies here" (Pecan Grove Press, 1995), "What Stays" (Bennington Writing Seminars Alumni Chapbook Series, 2002), "chaplainbook" (Laupe House Press, 2006) and "Through," a self-published chapbook of miscarriage poems (2009). Since 2003 she has blogged as The Velveteen Rabbi; in 2008, her blog was named one of the top 25 blogs on the internet by TIME. She is perhaps best known for "The Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach," which has been used in homes and synagogues worldwide. Her poems have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, among them Phoebe, The Jewish Women's Literary Annual, The Texas Observer, and Confrontation. She lives in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts with her husband Ethan Zuckerman, their son Drew, and their creamsicle cat. Find her online at velveteenrabbi.com.