A Time to Celebrate

Newsletter October 2, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Happy Sukkot! It is a great time to get out into the great outdoors and appreciate the gifts of the natural world. It is also a great time to get into our sukkah and celebrate members of our community. Since it is National Hispanic American Heritage Month, what a fitting time to celebrate the beauty, creativity, and contributions of the Hispanic and Latino Jewish community.

I am so proud that KITS has enjoyed leadership, every year since our founding, from Jewtina y Co., an organization that nurtures Latin-Jewish community, identity, leadership and resiliency (most recently during our High Holy Day season). We have also studied the works of Marjorie Agosin and her collections of poetry from other Latin American Jewish poets (in Miriam's Daughters). And, we have highlighted the work of The Hebrew Mamita, Vanessa Hidary, whose spoken word poetry and writings (Last Kaiser Roll in the Bodega) reflect a sense of deep communal belonging in multiethnic New York.

Sukkot is also a great time to consider those who have passed but who we would love to invite into our sukkah as ushpizin ("guests") around our table if it were possible. One of the people I would invite would definitely be Frida Kahlo, as she has been a personal inspiration. The feeling of her paintings, addressing the pain and isolation of medical trauma, and questioning the rigid social construct of the gender binary, have all resonated with me deeply. And, I would invite Hannah Mendes -- one year, some of our KITS community members launched a book group around Naomi Regan's The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, so you may already be familiar with her compelling story.

Latinx and Hispanic cultures are a beautiful part of the Jewish community. Please take some time to click through the resources above and celebrate our KITS Community members of Latinx and Hispanic descent in all of their varied diversity, from Columbia to Spain to the Philippines (and more!), and back.

This is how together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...