Poet and Rabbi to Speak about Midrash, Creativity

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat will give a talk, "Midrash: Creativity Which Transforms," at 7 p.m., Wednesday, February 16, in Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. The talk is free and open to the public.

Author of several poetry collections, Barenblat will speak about the Jewish art of midrash -- stories that explore and explain Bible texts. She will share examples of classical midrash that take Bible texts in fascinating new directions, and then share some of her own contemporary midrash in the form of poetry.

Barenblat is the author of the book of poems "70 faces: Torah Poems," and four earlier short poetry collections, "the skies here," "What Stays," "chaplainbook," and "Through." Her poems have been published in magazines and anthologies, including Phoebe, The Jewish Women's Literary Annual, The Texas Observer, Confrontation, and Brilliant Coroners.

A Jewish Renewal rabbi, Barenblat was ordained in January 2011. Her blog, "The Velveteen Rabbi," was named one of the top 25 blogs of 2008 by Time magazine, and her religious text, "The Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach," has been used in homes and synagogues worldwide. She is a contributing editor at Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Organization for Transformative Works. Barenblat holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars.

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, the Max and Dora Barash Fund in Judaic Studies, and the Finley Lectureship Fund.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 48 countries. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.