Sweet Innovation

Newsletter July 3, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Call us the funfetti challah over here! (Yes, this is an actual picture of a challah our esteemed KITS Community member, Diana Yin Braker baked for our Shabbat gathering this past Friday night).

Why are we the funfetti challah? Because we are doing things differently. We are giving ourselves the freedom to think about expressions of Jewish life in ways that speak to us today-- with color, joy, sweetness, and yes, tradition.

And this is just one example of what we are doing here at Keeping It Sacred. What a joy and privilege it is to partner with each of our members to consider what is meaningful, and what a new way of carrying our tradition forward would look like.

Friday night, we had 21 members of the Keeping It Sacred community gather in person and another 25 members gather online-- from France to the Philippines! Together, we mourned recent SCOTUS decisions that would restrict gay rights, and impede economic justice, and the yahrzeit of the historic Roe decision, and we also celebrated PRIDE month, the anniversary of the legalization of interracial marriage, Juneteenth, the tenth anniversary of the SCOTUS decision to allow federal same-sex marriage, and anniversaries and birthdays of our community members. The sages of old could never have imagined this! And how proud they would be to see how we are keeping it sacred! (Or at least my grandma, Kit, for whom Keeping It Sacred is named, would be proud!)

Ours is a community that is welcoming, and affirming. One that is accessible, relevant and empowering. And we are building it together.

In fact, in the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Yehoshua says:

אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ בְּלֹא חִידּוּשׁ

"The house of study cannot exist without innovation!" And that was over 1500 years ago. Jewish life has survived and thrived throughout time because of what each generation brings to it anew. By thoughtful, intentional, principled people, who centered the essence of Jewish values, and brought Judaism forward into their time and place. They progressed the tradition. And we continue to follow their lead.

When our members with school-aged children recently approached us to ask about education for the whole family, not just "Religious School" based on an old "Hebrew School" model, accordingly, we jumped at the opportunity to innovate! With their input and our education team's experience, we have built a a family educational offering full of joy and love and relevance. And it doesn't revolve around the drop off Sunday-School model of programming. I couldn't be more excited to share it with you! We have rolled out our new pages on our website sharing tons more about the program at: keepingitsacred.com/family-education.

And I'd love to invite anyone interested in enrolling in the program or supporting it to please come to our upcoming informational session on Zoom this Wednesday, July 5 at 6:30pm PT/9:30pm ET. (email me for the link at rabbimiller@keepingitsacred.com) YES! We have ways for folks around the world to engage. And YES! We have ways for local folks to gather in person, too.

Keeping It Sacred has already created a an uplifting and rewarding Jewish community experience for adults through online education and ritual. Come see how MOMENTUM: KITS Family Education can propel you and your family forward!

Come be the funfetti challah with us and taste the sweetness of innovation!

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...