synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Kehilat HaNahar
Kehilat HaNahar Celebrates a
Decade with Rabbi Diana Miller
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
I n March of 2011, Rabbi Sandy Roth,
the founder of Kehilat HaNahar in
New Hope and the only leader it
had known in 17 years of existence,
died. “Th e Little Shul by the River,” as
it calls itself, referring to the Delaware,
needed to fi nd a new rabbi before the
High Holidays.

Th e Reconstructionist temple got 16
applications for the open position, and
its board of directors told its search
committee to come back with three
candidates. Committee members
turned in four, telling board leaders
that they had to wait for the last appli-
cant to visit for her interview before
making a decision.

As it turned out, she was their
decision. Rabbi Diana Miller, 54, and a resident
of Lambertville just over the bridge in
New Jersey, is now in her 11th year as
spiritual leader at Kehilat HaNahar.

Th e synagogue’s 135 or so families held
a 10th-anniversary party for Miller on
June 26 at its West Mechanic Street
location. Th ey celebrated a decade in year 11
because it was hard to gather during
the pandemic times of 2021. Th e 100-
plus people in attendance were happy
to overlook the technicality. In front of
their building, they schmoozed, ate and
listened to “lovely Jewish music,” said
synagogue President Lynne Goldman,
a member for more than 20 years.

“It was one of the highlights of my
life,” Miller added. “It was so exciting
to see the community come together
like that.”
As Goldman explained, in 2011 the
new rabbi was not walking into an
easy situation. She was replacing the
temple’s founder in Roth, who cele-
brated Chanukah, Passover and the
High Holidays with early members
before they even bought their prop-
erty in 1996. And not only was Miller
replacing Roth, but she was doing so
aft er the latter had died.

But Goldman and other longtime
24 JULY 21, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Rabbi Diana Miller and the “Little Shul by the
River Band” get ready for a performance.

Courtesy of Kehilat HaNahar
members had a sense that Miller could
handle the diffi cult task. During her
visit as an interviewee, she was the
only candidate who asked congregants
about Roth and how they were feeling.

Late in that selection process, a ques-
tionnaire to the congregation achieved
a 90% participation rate. Only one
applicant got yes votes from every
participant. “Rabbi Diana was approachable and
warm,” Goldman said.

And she remained that way in her
early months on the job. She talked
to people individually and in small
groups; she listened and allowed them
to grieve; and she helped reassure them
that the synagogue would continue
Roth’s legacy.

During High Holiday services that
fall, Miller “blew us away,” Goldman
said. In the middle of one service, the
new leader was following the Torah
around the sanctuary as people reached
out to tap it. Th e prayer they were
singing, as it oft en does during the
ritual, ran out while the Torah was still
going around.

Miller broke out in song and dance
behind the Torah as congregants con-
tinued to tap it. Suddenly, they all
joined her.

“It was this joyful energy,” Goldman
said. “Th at’s what I always say about
Rabbi Diana. I’ve never seen anyone
so joyful.”
Kehilat’s second rabbi has made
practical additions to the community,
too. She has added adult study classes
in Kabbalah, Chassidism and other
subjects within the Jewish mystical
tradition; she has introduced Shabbat
morning services; she has even led
eff orts to raise thousands of dollars and
feed the hungry with Centenary United
Methodist Church in Lambertville.

But while those activities have added
to the life of the synagogue, they are
perhaps less important than her contin-
ued guidance of a ship that was already
robust. Members, most of whom were
there for Roth, too, just like and appre-
ciate Miller in the same way.

Goldman credited the spiritual lead-
er’s “emotional energy” for maintain-
ing a harmonious relationship among
board members. Congregant and
New Hope resident Andrew Kaufman
believes that Miller’s warm personal-
ity helps people get through life cycle
events. Member and Lambertville local
Anita Lerman praised Miller for keep-
ing the community together during
COVID by pivoting to the virtual space
and still fi nding ways to gather.

“Rabbi Diana is just awesome, as was
Rabbi Diana Miller
Courtesy of Kehilat HaNahar
Rabbi Sandy,” Lerman said.

One of Miller’s favorite additions to
her synagogue is the “Little Shul by the
River Band” that she helped create. She
feels excited about “all the music I’ve
brought to the synagogue,” she said.

And she intends to keep that music
going. She wants Kehilat HaNahar to con-
tinue to grow as a place to gather, as a
center of learning and as a servant to
the community in helping to feed the
hungry, among other initiatives.

“I inherited a hamish place but I
helped continue the tradition of being
a hamish, welcoming, really special
shul,” Miller said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com