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Newsletter August 11, 2025 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Our family is so intermarried, we are back to Jewish again!

This is a fun fact about my family, and I proved it to my kids this past weekend when our French Jewish cousins, who I hadn’t seen in person since 2005, visited us in California. They are (follow this): my Unitarian dad’s, Christian Scientist wife’s, Jewish nieces and nephews. 

And what did we talk about? The state of being Jewish in our respective countries. The antisemitism we face, and also the judgement we face from within the Jewish community as liberals and rationalists. 

We engaged in deep discussions, around the AirBNB pool and deliciously spiced burgers (they are Sephardic Jews with ties to Morocco), about the salient features of our Jewish identity. We know that there are many who believe that keeping kosher and going to services weekly if not daily makes a person a good Jew. But our connections are defined in other ways. Like heritage, values, belief, commitment to tikkun olam/repairing the world. And we are not alone.

I know many in the Keeping It Sacred global community who feel similarly. Many of us identify as tenderhearted nerds. We have compassion for humanity and the earth and all suffering, great gratitude for the gifts of life, and we also love to dive deep into Jewish thought and the exploration of Jewish ethics. We strive for intentional living.

The great Professor Vanessa Ochs of the University of Virginia once wrote an incredible article in Sh’ma Journal about the "Ten Jewish Sensibilities" (see the article HERE). These go further than just a surface expression or limited understanding of Jewish life. In the article, Professor Ochs outlines ten expressions of Judaism that include making sacred time, expressing respect, dedicating time for reflection and renewal, and affirming human dignity. And that’s just the first four of ten! 

It is important that each person who identifies as Jewish, or even who uplifts Jewish community, at some point take a moment to ask the questions that my French Jewish cousins and I asked of ourselves and one another. What defines your expression of Jewish life? How do you engage with it? In what ways does it define you?

And then, if you’re interested in celebrating that, whatever it is for you, please join us for the 5th annual Keeping It Sacred Adult Confirmation ceremony on Thursday, August 21 (register HERE), where we discuss the salient aspects of our Jewish engagement and celebrate that. In the modern world, we each have a choice each and every day on whether to engage in Jewish life or not— and so, we celebrate each year our confirming our commitment to engage with an adult confirmation ceremony. This is how we’re keeping our connections to Jewish life sacred. 

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred…

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

 (PS photo above is not them, but it is our energy!)

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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...