Geela Rayzel Raphael papers

Collection

Identifier: COU: 5018

Staff Only

Abstract

Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael is an ordained rabbi, artist, author, and singer/songwriter of Jewish songs, prayer, and liturgy in the 1990s to the present. A former student of Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, she designed several programs and teachings that are centered around heartfelt life-cycle rituals and ceremonies, such as Rosh Hodesh, interfaith ceremonies, and spirtual practices related to the significant life transitions of marriage, birth and children, losing loved ones, and managing grief. Her teachings incoporate materials related to Jewish feminism, the role of women in the Jewish Renewal movement, midrash, Shekinah, and eco-Judaism.

Dates

1978 - 2018

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for access. Audiovisual materials cannot be accessed until they have been digitized.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for access.

Copyright Statement

The University Libraries may not own the copyright to all materials in this collection. Researchers are responsible for contacting the copyright holder(s) for this material and obtaining permission to publish or broadcast. The University Libraries will not grant permission to publish or broadcast this material and are not responsible for copyright violations resulting from such use.

Biographical / Historical

Raphael received her Masters in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University before going on to attend the Pardes Yeshiva in Israel from 1984-1985. Following her academic achievements Raphael attended Reconstructionist Rabbinical College as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, where she was ordained in 1997. Along with her community engagements, Raphael is an accomplished singer/songwriter of Jewish songs, prayer and liturgy. Her solo recordings, Friday Night Revived and Bible Babe's a Beltin' have received international acclaim, and her most recent release, May the Angels Carry You, corresponds with her husband's, Rabbi Simcha Raphael, Ph.D., book of the same title. Together their works emphasize the transitory, spiritual, and mystical aspects of the end of life.

Raphael teaches most frequently on esoteric topics including kabbalah, dreams, angels, and the soul, but she also engages in creative endeavors as well. Raphael creates hand painted tallit and huppahs, as well as Shechinah Oracle cards. Raphael is currently the Rabbinic Director of Interfaith Family Support Network JFCS in Philadelphia, PA and Rabbi of Darkaynu in Warrington, PA. In all her work, Raphael endeavors to incorporate spirituality, ritual, feminism, and music to Judaism to "bring as much joy to Judaism as I can muster." (Rabbi Rayzel, 2012).