Worth reading. I know a lot of white Jews (including, to be clear, me) feel anxiety about "the guy with the Nazi tattoo," for obvious reasons. This essay gives me food for thought and other ways of understanding Platner and his success.

My first thought: oh, that's beautiful! Nature is so neat y'all. My second thought: a little brown bat! Now I want to reread @naomikritzer.bsky.social's Catfishing on Catnet again.

Happy #Shavuot / חג שמח!! Here's one of our favorite sketchnotes from Steve Silbert, featuring a bit of Torah wisdom from Reb Zalman z"l. May your holiday be meaningful and sweet.

In honor of #Shavuot which begins tonight at sundown, a repost from 16 years ago - Reb Zalman (z"l) on the #Torah of our #Mothers: velveteenrabbi.com/2010/05/22/t...

Joelle Maxx Milman's book "Repartings: Poems of Haftara" includes original translations of prophetic texts alongside her own poetic responses. JWA recently sat down with Joelle to discuss her reflections on feminist biblical translations. Read: buff.ly/kFpm1bo

It's World Bee Day! 🐝 This little Mason bee (genus Osmia) demonstrates exceptional strength & fortitude in removing a nail from a brick wall. Mason bees are solitary: the females make nests from mud or, in this case, masonry walls. So, our narrator should say: "good lass." (📷: MrDowner1306, YT)

The world feels heavy. When so many of us are carrying burnout, grief or uncertainty learning to look inside and recover isn’t a luxury; it’s necessary. Recover is a collection of poems that chronicle Adam Green’s eating disorder recovery process. 👉 Get your copy now: yourbayit.org/recover/

(1/) "I want us to lift up shared values: rape is wrong, may all victims find healing. I want us to hold competing truths: some people hate Jews / Israel and want to believe the worst of us, and ALSO

"All of our souls were at Sinai. In order to be a whole community, we need to feel-with one another. It takes strength, courage, and humility to stand together to receive Torah even when we know we don’t all see Israel and Palestine the same way." velveteenrabbi.com/2026/05/15/a...

Poem for your Thursday ~ Robley Wilson I Wish In The City Of Your Heart —you would let me be the street where you walk when you are most yourself.

I wrote about despair and, what else, trying. dansinker.com/posts/2026-0...

In 2017, Criselda Vasquez painted this portrait of her parents and titled it "The New American Gothic." Last month, her father, the man in this portrait, was abducted by ICE after being in the US for 30+ years. The family is now struggling with bills. A GoFundMe has been started: gofund.me/456d8a193

My pessimistic side says: no one who isn't already invested in seeing the world this way will read this. But I'm sharing it anyway, because it speaks to me deeply. (1/)

Same goes for rabbis, in case anyone was wondering.

How freaking cool is this? Two of my favorite people on the internet having smart conversations! Go and listen, this is awesome.

A new #Torah #poem for this week's portion, #Bamidbar: velveteenrabbi.com/2026/05/12/t...

"Denial of danger will not save us, and denial of our limits will not save us."

Worth reading, from the amazing @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social on this eve of #MothersDay. If the day is sweet for you, I'm so glad. If the day is painful for you, know that you're not alone. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Am I the only person who read this article and immediately had a vision of the Aeslin mice? No? Just me, then? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/s...

My teenager is doing homework and listening to this gorgeous piece by Caroline Shaw, "Entr'acte," which we first heard when the Berkshire Symphony performed it last year. I can't explain why it moves me as much as it does, but wow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxd-...

A beautiful essay, worth reading. Something about close attention feels like an antidote to these ferkakte times.

I had forgotten I'd written this poem until the fine folks at @readalittlepoem.bsky.social shared it on FB.

In the backyard in the last cool evening mockingbird and me #haiku

New on Velveteen Rabbi: a #Torah #poem for this week - velveteenrabbi.com/2026/05/04/c...

the mountain found in a cloud flowering dogwood #haiku

If you've been wanting a copy of #TextsToTheHoly www.benyehudapress.com/books/texts-... or #OpenMyLips www.benyehudapress.com/books/open-m..., now's your chance... :)

"...All week, teaching and learning (and praying) in Christian community, I thought of the story from Rodger Kamenetz's The Jew in the Lotus about Reb Zalman davening maariv alongside Sikhs saying their evening prayers..." New on Velveteen Rabbi: velveteenrabbi.com/2026/04/27/a...

#JewSky / #RabbiSky - a Christian friend asked me for my recommendation of a good Jewish study Bible, with good commentary and essays to help contextualize our way of reading scripture. What's your go-to for Christian readers?

Anybody know good poems that arise out of the book of Job, or touch on the themes we find in Job?

A question for #Jewsky: what are your favorite Jewish writings on / teachings about the book of Job?

New at Velveteen Rabbi: off to teach again with the Academy for Spiritual Formation... velveteenrabbi.com/2026/04/20/r...

New at Velveteen Rabbi: a #Torah #poem for this week, rooted in a gorgeous turn of translation from R. David Markus. velveteenrabbi.com/2026/04/17/a...

Ok, this has been amusing me all week, but @contrariannews.org is the first place I've seen come up with the perfect title. Snortlaugh.

This is so charming. Sharing in case anyone else needs a little boost today. His enthusiasm makes me smile.

“The woman worker needs bread, but she needs roses too."—Rose Schneiderman, 1911 Thinking about women’s rights advocate Rose Schneiderman on her birthday today. 🌹 She saw basic rights as “bread,” to which working women were entitled. She also worked for “roses” because women deserved more.

1) Wow this article is powerful (and horrifying). Thx, GV. 2) Eating disorders are horrific and deadly in ways I am only beginning to understand. 3) @bayit.bsky.social just brought out a book of poetry chronicling the uphill journey of healing from #anorexia / #EatingDisorder yourbayit.org/recover/

B-mitzvah students in Night Vale must find Biblical Hebrew almost contemporary in comparison. I mean, Torah's only, what, 3000 years old or so?

And now I'm listening to hold music, waiting for a chance to talk with someone at the state health insurance program to find out why my insurance disappeared. Every so often a recording tells me the estimated wait time. It has not yet gotten shorter.

This story breaks my heart. It shouldn't be like this. Shame on Texas, shame on ICE, shame on everyone involved with this despicable horrorshow.

Oh WOW I want to go to there. (The Maine Jewish Museum, I mean, though I would gladly visit Accra again if life were to permit.)

Solid thread. I haven't had the spoons to post about #YomHaShoah today, but it's heavy on my heart. And yes, before anyone yells at me, other things are heavy on my heart too. But today I'm feeling THIS pain.

I mean. Rabbi over here. Really could not be much less Catholic than I am. And even *I* know that is some absolute nonsense. One does not simply walk into Mordor, and one does not "well actually" the ACTUAL POPE about Catholic theology.

This whole thread is amazing. Go and learn.

Also reposting this: bsky.app/profile/post...

ICYMI - I helped to midwife this gorgeous book of #poems by Adam Green chronicling the #healing / #teshuvah journey of life with atypical #anorexia. It's amazing and poignant and I hope you'll get a copy. I want this book to find its audience - it moves me so deeply.

My mother, of blessed memory, used to make up Burma Shave style rhymes on road trips. This is a delight.

"...The tree frogs sing their spring song. I’m not sure we’re out of the woods. Maybe we’re still on the brink of global disaster. And yet laundry needs doing, the groceries must be put away..." velveteenrabbi.com/2026/04/12/w...