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December 17, 2004/Tevet 5 5765, Vol. 57, No.16
Humanistic Judaism grows
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
Many Israelis in search of a personal philosophy aren't finding it in traditional Judaism and are examining other options, says Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of Humanistic Judaism.
During a November visit to Chaparral Suites in Scottsdale where he led a Shabbaton for Or Adam Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Tempe, Wine met with Jewish News to describe the movement's growth in Israel.
The International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews was founded in 1986, but Israelis weren't ready for the concept of a Humanistic rabbi at that time, Wine says. Now things have changed.
Israelis are now saying, "'It isn't enough that we speak Hebrew all day, it's not enough that we participate in Israeli culture,' and so forth," Wine says. "They want to provide some kind of spiritual and philosophical training for themselves and their children."
However, they feel alienated from the Orthodox philosophy, and the Reform and Conservative movements are still quite small in Israel, Wine says.
This opens the door for the Humanistic movement, in which the focal point of Judaism is not God, but the human dimension.
"The power is within us as human beings," Wine says. "The power is there, the responsibility is there. We do not deny God, it's just that we don't have a lot of information."
He says this philosophy has attracted 14 students to sign up for a three-year rabbinical program in Jerusalem.
Once ordained, they will serve secular Humanistic Jews in Israel. "What will happen in Israel for us now is we'll have rabbis and leaders to organize congregations and to serve them," Wine says. "And I think this is really going to grow pretty fast."
The first nine students will be ordained in 2006, and five students have signed up to begin this year.
"It's a very exciting development for us because the two main centers of Jewish life in the world are America and Israel," Wine says. "For us, this is a major step forward and it's very heartening. This is a sign that the message of humanistic Judaism is appealing to many, many Israelis."
While Jerusalem, the site of the school, is meaningful to Humanistic Jews, they don't consider it holy.
"The word 'holiness' is a word connected with supernatural power," Wine says. "A holy place is generally a place that's filled with the power of God, that's filled with supernatural power. Humanistic Jews do not believe in supernatural power, they believe in natural power - the power that human beings have."
However, Israel is special to Humanistic Jews because it is the homeland of the Jewish people, Wine says. "So much of our history is tied up with the place and so many historical memories have their settings in the place. We wouldn't use the word 'holy' or 'sacred.' We would use the word 'meaningful.'"
The attachments of Humanistic Jews to these places in Israel are like the attachments of Americans to Gettysburg or Mount Vernon, Wine explains. "It isn't that these places have some kind of supernatural power attached to them, it's because these are the places where history took place."
Wine was raised in a Conservative home and received ordination from Hebrew Union College in 1956. He served at a Reform synagogue for five years before he realized that he "couldn't function within the framework of the Reform movement." In 1963, he started The Birmingham Temple in Detroit, the first Humanistic synagogue. Now there are 40 congregations in North America and communities in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, France, Israel, Italy, Russia, Sweden and Uruguay, with 50,000 members worldwide.
The International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews was founded in 1986, and in 1992, the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism was founded in Detroit to train rabbis. Its first rabbi was ordained in 1999, and its fourth will be ordained next year.
When the movement started, "we encountered hostility from many people," Wine says. "We were new and we were, in the eyes of many people, radical."
Initially it wasn't easy to start something new, he says, but now the foundation is there.
"We're heartened by the development going on in Israel and elsewhere and we're moving forward," he says. "We think we do good work for the Jewish people."
"We believe in a pluralistic Judaism, we respect the other branches, and we want other Jews to understand how important it is to have this diversity. Otherwise we're not going to be able to reach the vast body of (unaffiliated) Jews."
Contact the writer here
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