An old chasidic story says: A new rabbi, Rebbe Yitzchak, came to town. About a month into his tenure, his friend from grade school visited, and so, his new congregants naturally pressed him for information about the origins of their new spiritual leader. "What was he like as a youth?" they wanted to know. The friend shrugged his shoulders, "He was always a decent human being, but nothing in particular comes to mind.... except there WAS this ONE time when we went on a school field trip. Our teacher wanted to teach us about the topography of the land, so he took us atop this big local hill to view the surrounding area. When we were through, we all descended the hill, except... Yitzchak was missing. Our teacher frantically searched for him and eventually discovered him back atop the hill. There he found him face down on the ground arms spread wide-- he was hugging the earth in a stunning display of deep spiritual gratitude!" 

I feel a lot like the Rebbe Yitzchak in this story, deeply in grateful for YOU, this community that is clearly Keeping It Sacred. The High Holy Days certainly were absolutely Sweet & Sacred. I was blessed by your dedicated, sincere, and active participation in the programming; my incredible co-leaders Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin and Jeffrey Silverstein, along with my second-cousin Rigel Eklund (on violin for Kol Nidrei); and our skillful and helpful technical specialists Molly Flanagan and Ilana Tamir. All of us worked together from the heart in coordinated beauty. We became much greater than the sum of our parts this season. And, I have received so many heartfelt messages of gratitude from each of you about your experiences, too. Appreciating the feeling of cross-continental and cross-generational connections. Of having the sacred opportunity to lift us those we honor, and those who are deceased but not forgotten. Of the sincere and soulful musical choices and offerings. Of the thoughtful organization, and smooth working, of all of the moving parts. Of the return to community, to tradition, to study and self. Your financial contributions have helped to offset the costs of the program and made it all possible. Thank you for your generosity. Together, we created sacred community, and as the Torah would echo in earnest, it was good.

One of my favorite parts was when you each shared your experiences of "love your neighbor as yourself" in action in the world this past year. In these challenging times, it is heartwarming to remember that there are great people doing amazingly generous acts for one another. Thank you being those who helped lift one another up during these services. 

Thank you, with all of my heart, for #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller, 

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

ON YOUTUBE

Some of our High Holy Day highlights are NOW AVAILABLE on our Keeping It Sacred YouTube Channel. For reasons of privacy, we have not included images of participants, but we LOVED gathering with each and every one of the 200 of you who zoomed into the Sweet & Sacred programming from across three continents. A stunning display of joyful unity! Each of you added your unique and precious presence to creating sacred community together. View some of the highlights from Rosh Hashanah here:

Please be sure to SUBSCRIBE when you are there to be notified of our upcoming 7- episode web series called: People Keeping It Sacred. The series features Rabbi Miller interviewing some truly inspiring people who are Keeping It Sacred in the world. And, it is edited by Wellesley's own Molly Flanagan (who you now know from the High Holy Days)! See a preview here:

Find Rabbi Miller's Rosh Hashanah Sermon, We are Profoundly Connected, here. 

Find Rabbi Miller's Kol Nidrei Sermon, Your Wildest Imagination, here. 

Find Rabbi Miller's Yom Kippur Morning Sermon, The Power of the Pivot, here. 

TALMUD TEXT STUDY!

Ever want to jump into a conversation with the rabbinic sages of old? Now you can! Join us as we study a page of Talmud every day, adding our perspectives and the relevance to our own lives as we go along. 

New visual depictions of the pages with thoughtful commentary are available every day on Instagram @keepingitsacred and Facebook. Every Thursday, we discuss the past week's selections in real time via zoom, too! 

The more varied the participants the deeper the conversations. Currently, we are 79 members strong from:

Canada, England, Brazil, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Upstate NY, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, Vermont, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia.  

We are:

Professors of Jewish Studies

People interested in becoming Jewish

Members of various Jewish denominations as well as transdenominational

Some are Reconstructionist Rabbis

Reform Rabbis

Jewish Professionals

Temple Presidents

Reform Cantors

Retired people

People who are not Jewish

We are in our 20s to 80s, and we are everywhere on the spectrum of gender.

Build community affirming of one another’s journey in the sea of Talmud with us! 

To join, send Rabbi Miller an email or DM on Facebook to be added to the closed, secret Facebook group and/or the weekly text study group. And look for us on Instagram HERE.

SHABBAT SINGALONG:

Saturday 10/17, the Shabbat Singalong program for kids (and kids at heart) will take at 9am! Join Rabbi Miller and her mini-mes for songs, Hebrew learning, a Torah story, and space to express gratitude. Contact Rabbi Miller at rabbiheathermiller.com/contact for the link and passcode!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

ONGOING: SPIRITUAL COUNSELING

Rabbi Miller is available for 1-on-1 spiritual counseling; pay what you can. Topics are based upon the participant and can include your personal theological understanding of coronavirus, spiritually making space for others in your home, the spirituality of isolation and finding your way back to sacred connection. Please request a meeting by contacting her at rabbiheathermiller@gmail.com.

EVERY THURSDAY: PRAYER CIRCLE

Join us as we gather Thursdays for a Prayer Circle. Lift up names of those who are ill, and join together for support and community. All are welcome. 10:30am PST/ 1:30pm EST/ 2:30pm Brazil time, 6:30pm London-time. Contact rabbiheathermiller@gmail.com to request the link and password.

EVERY THURSDAY: KEEPING IT SACRED-DAF YOMI GROUP MEET-UP

As noted above, our Facebook group will host our next virtual meetup via zoom. For the link to attend this meeting Thursdays 11am PST, 2pm EST, 3pm Brazil time, 7pm London time, please contact Rabbi Miller directly at rabbiheathermiller@gmail.com. 

SATURDAY 10/17: SHABBAT SINGALONG 

9am PST, noon EST, join Rabbi Miller and her mini-mes for an uplifting kid-friendly Monthly Shabbat Singalong. Pick up some Hebrew vocabulary and get in touch with gratitude in community! Email rabbiheathermiller@gmail.com for the link and password.

THANK YOU!

You are a cherished member of this community and we love to hear from you-- what questions do you have? Reach out to rabbiheathermiller@gmail.com or via phone at 818-312-8388 anytime to let us know what you’re finding meaningful, inspiring and what you’d like to see.

...together, we're #keepingitsacred

We'd love for you to forward this to a friend to invite them to sign up, too!

If you’d like to make sure that this kind of quality programming by

Keeping It Sacred continues, please consider making a donation via:

PayPal using the link here

Venmo username: @keepingitsacred, or

Check may be made out to Keeping It Sacred and mailed to:

27068 La Paz Rd. #781, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

Thank you for #keepingitsacred...