Rabbi Rachel Bearman

For as long as I can remember, my Judaism has been something that I valued, something that I loved about myself, and something that...

Leviticus 10:1-3 Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before...

While you might not recognize the name Martin Niemöller, I know that you’ve all heard his most famous quote. He included these words which analyze his complicity in the Nazi regime in the speeches that he delivered all around the world in the wake of the Holocaust. On dais after dais, he said: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade uni

The morning that the Dobbs decision was expected to be released, I was sitting in my office, refreshing the Supreme Court’s website over...

Rabbi Bearman's Note: This reflection is based on the Sotah ritual- first described in the Book of Numbers- where a woman would be forced...

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS SERMON (Go to 47:50) Shabbat Shalom, friends. I want to begin by saying that I spent some time this week...

This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Noach, and it includes two very famous stories (and a lot of genealogies). The first of the...

According to tradition, Rosh Chodesh Elul (the first day of the month before the High Holy Days) was the day that Moses went back up...

This week’s Torah portion, Naso, is the second portion in the book of Numbers. In the middle of the parashah, nestled between seemingly...

The sound woke me from a deep sleep. It must have triggered the instinct that caring for my own son had planted deeply in my brain...

In this week’s double Torah portion - Acharei Mot, Kedoshim- we read a very famous verse, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and say...

THE ISRAELITES: The whispers have been flying for days. They buzz and bite like the flies that tormented the Egyptians. Moses has been...

I’ve been waiting to die for weeks. Each day, as we travel through the desert, I put one foot in front of the other, toes slipping in...

In the beginning, for unknowable amounts of time, Divinity existed in a world that was unformed and mysterious. They were not lonely....

Earlier this week, I read a piece in the New York Times called, “How We Survive the Winter.” The article was published the day before the...

The prayer of the unnamed, unloved, and unwritten. We are the wives of Jacob. We are the unnamed, the unloved, and the unwritten. We are...

I was the snake. The fruit was not temptation; it was opportunity. The sin would have been to stay in ignorance, to remain in the garden...

For months and months, I’ve been excitedly considering what I should talk about in my first High Holy Day sermon at my new congregation....