Sacred Sounds, Sacred Voices Series

Session One:

A round table discussion on female and non-binary voices in liturgy

Featuring:

Please register for the session here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwof-Ghrz4uEtPPZ-THi7sB0TTvJS_SfY43

Our Panelists:

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was named in 2016 by the Forward as one of America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis. Since 2011 Rachel has served as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires. She is a founding builder at Bayit: Building Jewish, a pluralist spiritual innovation incubator, where she leads the Publishing and Liturgical Arts Working Group build teams. From 2015 to 2017 she served as co-chair, with Rabbi David Markus, of ALEPH, and in 2017 she served as interim Jewish chaplain to Williams College.

Rachel has blogged as The Velveteen Rabbi since 2003, and in 2008, TIME named her blog one of the top 25 sites on the internet. She is author of six book-length collections of poetry: 70 faces: Torah poems (Phoenicia Publishing, 2011), Waiting to Unfold (Phoenicia, 2013), Toward Sinai: Omer poems (Velveteen Rabbi, 2016), Open My Lips (Ben Yehuda Press, 2016), Texts to the Holy (Ben Yehuda, 2018), and Crossing the Sea (Phoenicia, 2020.) Her work has appeared in Lilith, The Texas Observer, The Jewish Daily Forward, and a wide range of anthologies. Her downloadable Velveteen Rabbi’s Haggadah for Pesach has been used around the world. 

She has taught courses arising from the intersection of the literary and spiritual life at the Academy for Jewish Religion (NY), the (Methodist) Academy for Spiritual Formation, the National Havurah Institute, (where she was digital Liturgist In Residence in 2020), the ALEPH Kallah, many congregations around New York and New England, and Beyond Walls, a writing program for clergy of many faiths at the Kenyon Institute.

The Reverend Dr. Terri Ofori serves as the Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Chapel at the Brooks School. Prior to this role, she was a chaplain and professor at Ursinus College. An ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Reverend Dr. Ofori began her ministry in higher education under the mentorship of the late Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes. During her time at Harvard Divinity School, she was appointed Harvard University Seminarian and later served as Director of the Harvard University Memorial Church School.

Reverend Dr. Ofori has dedicated her career to both academia and pastoral ministry. Her experience includes serving as a chaplain and lecturer at Harvard University, Brown University, Wellesley College, Emerson College, Simmons University, and Bloomfield College. Her pastoral appointments include Interim Pastor of the United Church of Spring Valley (UCC and RCA) in New York, Stated Supply Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Montclair, New Jersey, and Interim Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Levittown, New York. She has also served as Interim Minister of Christian Education at Hingham Congregational Church (UCC) and as Minister for Christian Education and Spiritual Formation at Flemington Presbyterian Church.

Reverend Dr. Ofori holds a Th.M. in Education and Spiritual Formation from Princeton Theological Seminary, an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School (where she was an FTE Fellow in Religion and Secondary Education), an M.A. in Cross-Cultural Studies from Columbia International University, and a B.A. in History from Mississippi University for Women. Additionally, she earned a certificate in Executive Leadership from McCormick Theological Seminary and a certificate in Strategic Leadership Development from the U.S. Army War College. She completed her Clinical Pastoral Education at Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Reverend Dr. Ofori received a doctorate in Religious Education and Spiritual Formation from Fordham University and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Educational Leadership at Virginia Theological Seminary.

Her professional affiliations reflect her dedication to education and ministry. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. A committed advocate for gender equity, she is a member of NGO (CSW), has served as a delegate to the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women, and is a board member of the National Women’s History Alliance and the advisory board of reserving Pauli Murray, LLC where she also serves as the Director of the Pauli Murray Freedom School for Girl’s Women’s Empowerment.

Professor Janet Walton graduated from Catholic University with the B.M. in 1967, received the M.M. from Indiana University in 1971 and the Ed.D. from Columbia University in 1979. She is a Past President of the North American Academy of Liturgy(1995-97), a Henry Luce Fellow in Theology and the Arts (1998), the recipient of a Henry Luce Travel/Research grant (1988), the 2003 recipient of the AAR Excellence in Teaching award (2003) and the 2009 recipient of the Berakah Award, a lifetime award for distinctive work in worship given by the North American Academy of Liturgy. Professor Walton is a Roman Catholic and a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names, a congregation of catholic women. She is Professor Emerita of Worship at Union Theological Seminary.

Her publications include four books, Worship and Art: A Vital Connection, Sacred Sound and Social Change, co-edited with Lawrence Hoffman, Women at Worship: Interpretations of North American Diversity co-edited with Marjorie Procter-Smith, Feminist Liturgy: A Matter of Justice and an edition of Liturgy: New and Borrowed Rites with Siobhan Garrigan as well as many articles. The most recent articles include perspectives on hymnody, feminist liturgy, and interfaith worship. Presently, Professor Walton is working on a book entitled, Worship Without Dominance and a video and book with Troy Messenger and Susan Blain on the history of James Chapel worship since its renovation in 1979.