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



d’var torah
Don’t Abandon
Your Ideals
BY RABBI GERI NEWBURGE
Parshat Pinchas
M oses is a rather sympathetic
fi gure. While we likely have
not led a large group of peo-
ple through the wilderness for 40 years,
he is portrayed as remarkably human,
with characteristics to which we can all
relate, and which inspire us to strive to
live up to the best in ourselves.

In Parshat Pinchas, God directs Moses
to apportion the land according to each
tribe’s needs. Following Moses’ instruc-
tions to the Israelites, the daughters of
Zelophechad come forward and ask to
inherit their father’s portion since he had
no sons. Befuddled, Moses consults the
Holy One and is advised that the daugh-
ters can indeed inherit.

Aft er this sequence of events, God
tells Moses to climb to the top of Mount
Abarim from where he would see the
Promised Land before he died. Rashi,
the medieval commentator, asks, “Why
is this passage juxtaposed here with the
previous one?” While the two narratives
seem disconnected, Rashi points out that
earlier in the book of Numbers, Moses
was informed by God that he would not
be able to enter the Promised Land aft er
he struck the rock, instead of speaking to
it, to obtain water for the cantankerous
Israelites. In Rashi’s estimation, this most
certainly weighed on Moses’ mind and,
with all the discussion on inheritance, he
thought the decree to die outside the land
of Israel had been rescinded.

Rashi’s commentary is informed by
an earlier body of work, the Sifrei. Here
the rabbis off er an allegory: “Since Moses
had entered the territories of the descen-
dants of Gad and the descendants of
Reuben, he rejoiced, saying, ‘It seems
that the vow made regarding me has
been annulled.’ Th is can be compared to
a king who decreed that his son could not
enter the portals of his palace. Th e king
entered the gate, with the son following;
the courtyard, with him following; the
foyer, with him following. When he was
about to enter the inner chamber, he said
to him, ‘My son, from here on, it is for-
bidden for you to enter.’”
Sadly, like the son in the fable who
could not enter the palace, Moses’ fate
remains unchanged, and he is not per-
mitted to enter the land of Israel. He can
only view it from afar before he dies.

But the Torah portion is both a lesson in
humility as well as a lesson in reconciling
our expectations with reality.

Despite his decades of service, Moses
cannot reach the ultimate destination.

We never truly learn how Moses feels
about the circumstances, but it’s not hard
to imagine his frustration, disappoint-
ment and even a sense of loss over some-
thing he could never attain.

John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn
things; and whatever may be our wishes,
our inclinations, or the dictates of our
passion, they cannot alter the state of
facts and evidence.”
Like Moses, our reality does not always
reconcile with our expectations, leaving
us with a sense of discontent, as we inter-
act with the world and on a personal level.

Our world is a rapidly changing envi-
ronment, and we cannot anticipate
tomorrow’s headlines today. Th is real-
ity challenges us to dig deeper to sift
through the noise and determine the
facts. Living in such a deeply divided
society, it oft en feels the reality and our
perception of what it should be do not
always align.

Similarly, on a personal level, we may
possess certain hopes and desires for
ourselves, our families and our commu-
nities, but the facts on the ground may
inhibit realizing those dreams, either
through our own limitations, or external
factors which seem insurmountable.

I cannot help but think of the words
BUSINESS /
LEGAL DIRECTORIES
which have come to mean so much to
us as a Jewish community, composed by
Anne Frank: “It’s really a wonder that I
haven’t dropped all my ideals, because
they seem so absurd and impossible to
carry out. Yet I keep them, because in
spite of everything I still believe that peo-
ple are really good at heart. I simply can’t
build up my hopes on a foundation con-
sisting of confusion, misery, and death. I
see the world gradually being turned into
a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching
thunder, which will destroy us too, I can
feel the suff erings of millions and yet, if
I look up into the heavens, I think that it
will all come right, that this cruelty too
will end, and that peace and tranquility
will return again. In the mean time, I
must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the
day will come when I shall be able to
carry them out.”
Th is is not a time for us to abandon our
ideals, nor is it the time to stop dreaming.

Like Moses, we must continue to walk
on, leading, toward the Promised Land,
inspiring the next generations to create a
world where our hopes become reality. JE
Rabbi Geri Newburge serves at Main
Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim in
Wynnewood. Th e Board of Rabbis of
Greater Philadelphia is proud to pro-
vide diverse perspectives on Torah com-
mentary for the Jewish Exponent. Th e
opinions expressed in this column are
the author’s own and do not refl ect the
view of the Board of Rabbis.

A NOTICE TO OUR READERS
There will be no print edition of the
Jewish Exponent the week of July 28.

That week, please visit us online at
jewishexponent.com, where the paper
will be available in digital form.

Jewish Exponent
PHILADELPHIA nmls
215-901-6521 • 561-631-1701
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 25