Rachel was awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research project, “Poetics of a Survivor: The Long-Term Effects of Trauma in the Poetry of Holocaust Poet Abba Kovner,” with Professor Amos Goldberg from the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Rachel received her PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Southern California, where her research focused on the poetics of the deep body. Her first full-length book of poems, Salaam of Birds, was published by Tebot Bach.

Rachel plans to work on translating the complete collected poetry of Holocaust survivor and poet Abba Kovner (1918–1987). Kovner was a leader of the Jewish rebellion in the Vilna Ghetto during World War II and the author of the first manifesto naming the Nazi’s intent to eliminate world Jewry. Rarely translated into English, Kovner’s poetry is historically vital, serving as both witness and a record of the long-term trauma that recurs well after the victim is safe from harm.