The Rhetoric of Innovation

Newsletter May 15, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

What does innovation look like?

At the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion ordination ceremonies yesterday, my dear friend and colleague Rabbi Jocee Hudson shared a vision. She was at a local park where she and her kids discovered that their favorite park play structure had been crushed by a giant fallen tree. Rather than bemoan the fact that global warming and the recent storms had left the swings and slide a wreck, they gleefully jumped on the enormous tree’s broad branches and marveled at its colorful leaves. 

Rabbi Hudson realized that their response was a testament to the hope of innovation. From them, she emphasized, we are encouraged to vision, “new ways of seeing and building the world as it is- not as previous generations had experienced it.”

Things in life happen. Sometimes devastating things. Sometimes surprises that come out of nowhere. The Jewish world has experienced that many times over the centuries. But, generation to generation, we have practiced the skill of innovation. We have become experts at pivoting our actions while maintaining our values: affirming life, learning Torah, and cherishing community. 

This is our sacred task. And, it is a message that Rabbi Aaron Panken Ph.D., z”l, who died the night before ordination five years ago, shared fervently. He was my teacher and he penned the book Rhetoric of Innovation, which tracked the ancient rabbis’ own willingness to adapt Jewish customs, traditions and laws with purpose; to uplift the core values we hold so dear. He was teaching me, as a student rabbi, what Rabbi Hudson was teaching these ordainees 15 years later, echoing a message that likely had been taught for centuries. That we, rabbis and members of the Jewish community, are tasked with the responsibility to renew Jewish life in each new generation according to the challenges and opportunities we experience. 

Indeed that is the sacred responsibility of each of us in this community and beyond. What a joy to be thoughtful with each of you about how to do that best in the Keeping It Sacred community. 

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred…. 

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

---

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 

And if you'd like the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week, please share your name and email address in the fields at the bottom of the page in the purple boxes.

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