About

CHADEISH YAMEINU

Jewish Renewal Community

PO Box 3578    Santa Cruz, CA  95063-3578

831-429-6936

www.CYSantaCruz.org

September 13, 2009

I serve as rabbi of Chadeish Yameinu, the Jewish Renewal community of Santa Cruz, California.  In this capacity, I have had ample opportunity to observe and interact with Rabbi Yitzhak Miller as both a congregant of mine as well as a colleague. 

When Rabbi Miller, whom we sometimes affectionately call “Reb Yitzi,” returned to the Santa Cruz area, I was aware of an article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise which claimed Rabbi Miller suffered from significant “anger management issues and challenges working with leadership at the temple where he had been employed.”  Naturally, this was of concern to me as he began to resettle in this community and particularly since we were looking to him to do some work in our community with children.  Therefore, I made it a priority to both observe Rabbi Miller in various settings and interactions, as well as to talk with him directly about the situation.  I soon found myself at ease knowing that, in fact, he was quite self-aware and has been perfectly appropriate at all times. 

Rabbi Miller has become very active in our congregation, as well as in the broader Jewish, secular, and interfaith communities.  I have personally spent time with him as he serves on our Finance and School committees, and is currently a member-at-large of our Board of Directors, and has been the inspirational force behind, catalyst of and an instructor for a new program of outreach and education for young children and their parents which our community has developed. 

I have both observed and interacted with Rabbi Miller in all these settings, as well as in meetings of local rabbis and in personal social settings.  I have certainly seen situations which might trigger frustration and possible anger for anyone.  For example, there were months of meetings under intense time pressure to get our new school programs together.  There was bureaucracy and process that seemingly exceeded that which was necessary for a community of our size.  Moreover, there have been occasions when Rabbi Miller himself proposed ideas or plans that were changed or rejected by one of the committees or the Board, sometimes in ways that were quite insensitive on the part of others. 

Having had conversations and counseling sessions with Rabbi Miller, and knowing his personal challenges, I paid particular attention to how he handled these situations.  Since he has shared so much of his personal challenge with me, I have even recognized when he began to get triggered in challenging situations, and it is clear that he has done substantial personal work to handle these triggers in a cordial and polite manner.  Most importantly, I have watched him use these situations as opportunities for self-reflection and personal growth, and often offered back in an open manner that has been a true example to the rest of us. 

I have now worked directly with Reb Yitzi for over a year.  Not only do I have no concerns whatsoever over the picture the Riverside newspaper painted of him, I can with great sincerity say that Rabbi Miller is one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met.  He is an intelligent and gifted teacher, a good friend, and an invaluable member of this community, whose generosity of time, resources and spirit have been an immense gift to me personally and to our entire community.  I would wholeheartedly recommend him as an exceptional asset to any organization.

Rabbi Eli Cohen

Chadeish Yameinu

Jewish Renewal Community of Santa Cruz