Rabbi Rachel Bearman

An Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon

One of the most powerful and important motifs that we find in the High Holy Day prayer book is the idea of the Book of Life. On Rosh...

America

God bless you, America, the shelter that my ancestors sought when their children were threatened by state-sponsored persecution. God...

I Used To Wonder, But Now I Know

I used to wonder how the Egyptians felt when they saw infants condemned as enemies and threats. I used to wonder what Shifra and Puah...

A Sermon for June 15th

Earlier this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions used a quote from the New Testament to support the brutal separation of children and...

Sh'lach L'cha

In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’lach L’cha, Moses chose leaders from each tribe to form a company of scouts that would journey into the...

To whom it may concern...

To the creators of television, movies, books, and whatever else captures the attention of the masses these days. I’m writing to remind...

Midrash = Fanfiction

Several weeks ago, I was teaching at a Hebrew School assembly, and I asked my students if they could tell me what midrash is. After a...

Marching Out Of The Wilderness

A Sermon Delivered on March 23, 2018 This week, I’ve spent some time thinking about my first bible class in Rabbinical School. One of...

In The Wake of Another School Shooting

Our God, my God, God who walks with us through the trials and the dangers of our lives, God who grieves with us as we weep over our...

Hindsight...Jewish Edition...

Dear Rachel, Hey lady! It's your 31 year old self again. I can't believe it. It's finally time for you to celebrate becoming a Bat...

Dear Helen

Dear Helen, I am writing to you today to introduce myself as one of your great-great-granddaughters. I have been studying our family’s...

Our God(dess)

Tonight we have prayed with words written by women and we have prayed to a God who we described in feminine language. On the surface,...

A Review of Star Wars: Episode VIII

**Spoilers for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi** I’ve been looking forward to seeing The Last Jedi pretty much since I watched the...

The Power of Our Voices

God of our mothers, our grandmothers, our sisters, our wives, and our daughters... God of Miriam, Tzipporah, Esther, and Ruth... God of...

Wherever You Go, There's Always Someone Jewish

I found this photograph of me standing awkwardly next to a rather homely looking Easter Bunny on a recent trip to Memphis. Upon...

A D'var Torah for Lech Lecha

In the opening verses of this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, we watch as God calls to Abram and tells him to leave the only life and...

A Prayer For Strong Women

We pray to honor the women in our lives and in our world who felt strong and safe enough to use #MeToo to share their stories and their...

Yom Kippur 2017

I have a deep devotion to the exercise of Torah study. When I was sixteen years old, I decided to become a rabbi, and the first step...

Kol Nidre 2017

Tonight, I want to talk with you about the concept of sin. I recognize that for many of us who belong to modern, liberal, religious...

Remember the Jewish Foster Home

General wisdom suggests that you should begin a sermon with some kind of interesting or engaging story- something that puts the...

"True service to God is service to one