Rachel is co-founder of Yelala, based in the UK. We renew and revive knowledge and practice of women’s and other marginalised folk customs and rituals from diaspora communities. 

Yelala’s spaces tend to attract queer-majority participation, but we are welcoming to people of all ages, genders, sexualities, Jewish denominations, and faiths. 

Rachel’s work is bound together by her love of shaking the dust from old narratives and lost histories, so that we can find new connection and understanding in the present. She has worked as a tutor for Yeshiva Unbound and Sadeh Farm, and has been an educator for Limmud in South Africa, New York and in the UK, and for several Mem Global Retreats.

She can teach experiential, practical workshops, or use a more conventional text-study style. It is her passion in particular to share the lesser-known Jewish customs, which may resonate with participants who are looking for new ways to connect with Jewish culture. 

Recent subjects include rituals and customs around: 

– death, dying, bereavement, and grief
– pregnancy, birth, post-partum
– jewish practice around solstice, equinox  and jewish relationship with astrology
– amulets 
– what is witchcraft and is it jewish?

Other topics

– Kohenet-style accessible prayer, chant, and song circles
– soil, city, babylon – exploring the journey of jewish spiritual practice  from neolitihic culture to modern earth-centred diaspora practices
– how do I create innovative jewishly rooted ritual?
– how do I plan a jewish wedding (or other) ceremony in an unconventional or mixed-faith relationship?
– the weaver – understanding handcrafts as a culture-making wisdom practice