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Month: June 2021

The Society for Humanistic Judaism

Posted on by Sherwin Wine

The Jewish Humanist, December 1982, Vol. XX, Number 5

If you are not a member, you should be. 

The Society is the national extension of the philosophy of The Birmingham Temple.  It was established in Detroit in 1969 to serve the needs of secular and humanistic Jews who lived in other places and in other cities.  But it has also served our needs in a very special way.  We have found a national support system that rescues us from isolation and makes us realize that we are part of a legitimate alternative in Jewish life. 

The Society is the voice for secular humanism in the Jewish world.  It is the only Jewish organization that unashamedly, and without reservation, proclaims that it is possible and desirable to be both a Jew and a humanist at the same time. 

The Society is a connecting line for humanistic Jewish communities and congregations throughout North America.  Temples, groups and havurot that espouse a secular approach to life and Jewsih identity share fellowship, ideas and creative achievement through the programs and communications system of the Society.  We learn from each other.  Many of the songs we sing in The Birmingham Temple came from Congregation Beth Or in Chicago.  And some of the holiday meditations that started in Farmington Hills are part of the celebrations of humanistic Jews in Los Angeles. 

The Society publishes the literature that gives flesh to the bones of a theoretical philosophy.  A bold magazine, educational manuals and ceremonial materials for secular Jews who need celebrations with integrity are the products of its efforts. 

The Society helps to organize the communities.  When the organization began there were only three congregations,  There are now twelve, six of them with rabbinic leadership. 

The Society promotes the idea of trained professional leaders for the humanistic Jewish world.  For a long time the original secular Jewish organizations resisted the idea of secular rabbis because it reminded them of the oppressiveness of traditional religion.  The innovation of Humanistic Judaism was the willingness to recognize that without secular congregations and secular rabbis, humanism in Jewish life would have no effective presence. 

The Society provides hope to hundreds of ‘lost’ Jews throughout North America who do not live in communities where Humanist congregations exist and who have now discovered a life line to Jewish identity. 

The Society provides a real alternative in Jewish life.  It proclaims creative and innovative solutions to the problems of intermarriage, conversion and life style change.  Having no requirement to find its authority in religious tradition, it can respond to the living needs of living people. 

But the Society can only do this important work-it can only be this important voice-if it enjoys the support of humanistic Jews.  It is our privilege and moral obligation to offer our assistance.  We can do no less for an organization that is striving to make us an effective alternative in Jewish life. 

Buy yourself a special gift for Hanukkah.  Join the Society. 

Soviet Jews

Posted on by Sherwin Wine

The Jewish Humanist, August 1991, Vol. XXVIII, Number 1

The mass exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union is the major event of Jewish history in the last decades of the twentieth century.  Over 600,000 Soviet Jews (out of a potential 2 to 3 million) have already left.  Thousands more are waiting to leave. 

Up until last year the overwhelming majority of Soviet emigrants (sic) came to the United States.  But, ever since America imposed a severe quota limitation on the entry of Russian Jews, the flow of emigrants has turned to Israel. 

One year ago the Israelis were ecstatic.  They expected that 2 million Jewish immigrants would arrive from the Soviet Union.  The Jewish population of Israel would take a quantum jump in size.  New Ashkenazic “blood”, with Western education and secular values, would be pumped into the increasing Oriental bloodstream of the nation. The Arab Palestinians would shrink to a smaller and less dangerous percentage of the national census.  Enough Jews would now be available to hold even the West Bank and Gaza.   

Today Israelis are now less ecstatic.  Both their expectations and the expectations of the immigrants have been sobered by reality and unforeseen events.  The Soviet Jewish stream to Israel is slowing down. 

Why? 

The reasons are not difficult to find. 

There are virtually no jobs in Israel for Soviet immigrants. Unlike the first wave of Russian refugees who came to America and Israel and were often “working class”, the present wave is well educated and very professional.  The new immigrants are physicians, lawyers, accounts, engineers and scientists.  In theory they are, by virtue of their skills and their training, the best immigrants that any nation could possibly want.  But Israel cannot absorb them because her economy is small and weak.  She already has too many doctors and engineers.  Unemployment is high.  The Sephardic underclass is rumbling and full of discontent.  Soviet emigrants are willing to be street cleaners and garbage collectors temporarily, but not indefinitely.  Already many of the new immigrants are seeking to emigrate.  The Soviet Jewish work profile does not match the economic realities of Israel. 

The dire predictions (me, a year ago) of rampant Soviet antisemitism and imminent pogroms have not been fulfilled.  There are undoubtedly millions of hating ahd hateful antisemites in the Soviet Union who would love to kill Jews.  There are certainly political parties (like Pamyat) whose platforms are opening anti-Jewish and who call fot the expulsion of Jews from Russian life.  But their power is either stalemated or declining  Despite the chaos, the forces of liberalism and Westernization are presently in the ascendancy.  Jews feel themselves less in danger than they did one year ago.  Giving up secure jobs and apartments, no matter how limited, seems irrational if the only reward is to travel to unemployment. 

New Soviet laws have granted the right of emigration to all Soviet citizens.  Revolution of revolutions!  It is now possible for everybody to leave the “socialist paradise” provided, of course, that you can find a place to go.  The fear of many Jews that must get out now or never get out, is, therefore, understandably relieved.  Many Jews are waiting to see what will happen to the liberalization program before they make the decision to leave.  There is now no urgency.  Alternatives can be weighed more carefully. 

New Soviet laws have also created  a dilemma for many departing Jews.  Up until recently it was possible for Soviet Jews to move to Israel and retain possession of their apartments and assets back in the Soviet Union.  No longer!  Taking out citizenship in another nation or serving in the armed forces of any foreign country is now regarded as repudiation of Soviet citizenship and punishes the “traitor” with the forfeiture of property.  Many Jews did not mind moving to Israel provided they had the theoretical security of their property back home.  But with the present threat of losing their hard earned assets, many Jews are giving second thoughts to departure. 

Fewer Jews will move to Israel.  Unless the Israelis can revise their present economic distress and create hundreds of thousands of new professional jobs, more and more Soviet Jews will be reluctant to come.  Most emigrants have minimal interest in Zionism or a religious (sic) Judaism.  They are only in Israel because they could not get into the United States.  The likely total of newcomers will be closer to 500,000 than 2 million. 

Many immigrants will use Israel as a pass-through to other “more desirable” countries.  Despite the many barriers to immigrants set up by highly developed nations in Europe and North America, ways and means will be found by desperate and ambitious Soviet Jews to enter Germany, Italy, France and England, as well as Canada and the United States.  Russian Jews will be more widely dispersed than initially imagined.  Soviet Jewish emigration from Israel will also negatively affect the attitude of Israelis to the new immigrants, and their willingness to make sacrifices for the new arrivals. 

A fairly substantial number of Jews will remain in the Soviet Union, simply because there will be no other more attractive or pragmatic alternative.  They will need to construct communal institutions of their own.  The prediction that Soviet Jewry will vanish and that we do not have to do anything about their future in the Soviet Union is simply naive.  Much work needs to be done to strengthen Jewish life in Russia.  Jews who choose to remain deserve as much consideration as Jews who choose to leave.  Since most Soviet Jews are not religious, a well-organized cultural Judaism is the waive (sic) of the future.  And cultural Judaism is Humanistic Judaism. 

The dream of many Israeli right-wingers that 2 million Russian Jews will help them hold the West Bank and Gaza is now only a dream.  Realistic numbers of Soviet immigrants do not support any argument for political intransigence.  The new immigrantion is no panacea for the ultra-nationalists.  In the end, the Palestinians will not drown in a sea of [Text Wrapping Break]Soviet militants. 

The coming years will most likely bring a new more realistic approach to the problems and needs of Soviet Jews.  The Soviet Jewish problem will shift from how to get Jews out of the Soviet Union as quickly as possible to how to develop and maintain a viable Jewish identity in the Soviet Union.  In this shift, Humanistic Judaism has an important role to play. 

The Realities of the 1996 Israeli Elections

Posted on by Sherwin Wine

The Jewish Humanist, April 1996, Vol. XXXII, Number 9

Sixty-two people were killed by terrorist bombs.  It all happened in one week.  Israel will never be the same again. 

In one week the peace process was turned around.  Shimon Peres, who was riding high in the polls and who had called for elections with hopes of winning, is now the underdog again.  The advantage that the assassination of Rabin had given the Labor party and the peaceniks has been canceled out by the memory of the more recent killings.  The conservative Likud, with its leader Benyamin Netanyahu, has been “reborn” and is confident of winning the election in May.  The Orthodox sector which had been deeply humiliated and embarrassed by its connection to the assassin Yigal Amir, has now become the voice of righteous indignation.  Its leaders have rediscovered their self-confidence and are again calling the Labor party, and the leaders of the peace movement, traitors and blasphemers.  Hamas has succeeded in doing what the terrorists passionately want-evoking profound fear in the Israeli public that the peace initiative will only lead to the destruction of Israel. 

The peace forces in Israel are now the defensive.  Standing against the peace forces is the renewed legitimacy of the opposition and the unrelenting fear of the Orthodox.  The Israeli public is fickle.  But it is also human.  It needs the satisfaction of vengeance.  It also needs to process the emotional trauma of the outrage. 

What is going to happen?  Certain realities guide our perspective. 

Reality.  There is no fool-proof anti-terrorist strategy.  Any determined assassin can put together his own bomb and-if he is willing to die-can blow himself up without easy detection.  Even if Israel seals its borders there are close to one million Israeli Arabs residing within the borders of the Jewish state.  There is no way to eliminate the bombings.  Religious fundamentalism can produce the kinds of assassins that rational philosophies cannot.  If the peace process is to continue it has to continue in the face of periodic killings. 

Reality.  Shimon Peres and Yasir Arafat are tied together.  If one falls the other falls too.  Both Likud and Hamas share a common agenda.  They both want to terminate the present peace process.  They both want to remove Peres and Arafat from power.  But neither Likud nor Hamas have a clear idea what to do after the “fall”.  Can Hamas mobilize a “holy war”?  Can Likud persuade the Istaeli public to resume carrying the burden of the intifada and the hostility of a bitter Arab world? 

Reality.  The fate of all moderate Arab governments rests on the maintenance of Peres and Arafat in power.  It is not clear that Mubarak of Egypt or Hussein of Jordan would survive a Hamas victory.  The great danger is that the Israeli public, in its anger, will trigger the downfall of the two forces in the Near East that make Israeli security possible. If the fundamentalists win among the Palestinians they will also win in vulnerable Egypt and shaky Jordan.  Hamas has much more to gain from its strategy than Likud.  A fundamentalist Egypt or Jordan would turn Israel into an indefensible fortress.   

Reality.  The peace process has turned the Israeli economy into one of the most successful and fastest growing in the world.  One of the reasons is the renewal of Israeli relations with the once hostile Third World.  The renewal of hostilities would seriously undermine this prosperity.  For consumer culture Israel, the blow would encourage emigration and discourage immigration. 

Reality.  The vested interest of the United States is to support moderate governments in the Middle East and to maintain the peace process.  The American government, whether Democratic or Republican, needs a Labor government maintained in power by the May elections.  The American strategy would be seriously harmed by a Likud victory.  The recent summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt was a showy American attempt to counter the fundamentalist threat. 

Reality.  The “ball” is now in Arafat’s court.  His strategy of trying to please both the Israelis and Hamas will not work.  His “bread” is “buttered” on the Isaeli side.  He must turn vigorously against the fundamentalists if the Isaeli public is to support continuing the alliance with him.  He must declare war on Hamas and actively cooperate with the Israeli army in apprehending the terrorist leadership.  Since over one-third of the Palestinians support Hamas, he can only do this by authoritarian measures and by limiting democratic freedom.  The alternatives are not wonderful.  But, right now, peace is more important than democracy. 

Reality.  There is no real alternative to the present peace process.  Trying to reverse it means the renewal of war, the fall of moderate Arab governments and the loss of American support.  Trying to maintain the status quo by keeping the Palestinians locked up in little autonomous enclaves will only lead to the renewal of the intifada.  Closing the borders and excluding all Palestinian labor from the West Bank and Gaza will destroy whatever viable Palestinian economy already exists and insure Hamas control of the Palestinians.  Negotiating with Hussein to take over the Palestinian territories would undermine his credibility in the Arab world.  Stopping the peace process is like stopping necessary surgery in the middle of the operation. 

A Peres victory in May is not sure.  But it is necessary.  In the end, more Israeli lives will be lost if Likud assumes power and the war is renewed. 

The Center for Humanistic Judaism

Posted on by Sherwin Wine

The Jewish Humanist, April 1993, Vol. XXIX, Number 9

The Center for Humanistic Judaism was a dream.  It will now become a reality, if you say yes. 

The Center is a proposed addition to our Temple home.  In l971 we built the Meeting Room and library.  In l981 we added the Family Room and Kitchen.  But our home remained incomplete.  There were no classrooms for education, no adequate space for training our children and adults in the principles of Humanistic Judaism.  But creating this space was not possible without money.  Last year the dream became a possibility when 2 members of our congregation generously offered to give $250,000 to the construction of this addition if matching funds could be found.  They sensed that there were many important Temple needs that the Center could serve. 

We need the Center to provide a home place for our Temple School and for the programs of youth education which we sponsor.  For the last thirty years our Sunday School has been held in public buildings which have been far away from our Temple home.  These schools have often been less than desirable.  The classrooms do not belong to us and are given to us with many annoying and limiting restrictions.  The space is an awkward space designed for educational programs and student bodies which are not our own.  There is no opportunity to transform the school area to our needs because we are temporary tenants, not owners.  There is no guarantee that the space we use will be ours the following year; we have moved from school to school fairly regularly. The cost of renting schools is rising every year.  Above all, we are not the masters of our own educational destiny.  Our children do not experience the connection between their Jewish education and their Temple home.  And the separation makes it difficult to bring together Jewish celebration with classroom instruction.  This dispersion undermines the sense of unified space which is necessary to our effectiveness.  Even a simple thing like a Youth Room for our Youth Group does not exist  And weekday programs for preschool children are not presently possible. 

We need the Center to enhance our programs for adult education.  One of the most promising new areas of growth is the outreach to retired, senior citizens, many of whom are physically and intellectually active and who are able and willing to support institutions that serve their needs.  If we had the educational space we could provide educational and inspirational programs from “elder hostels” to weekday lectures and seminars which would reach the vital members of our aging Jewish community and elicit their participation, support and membership.  Interested older people help to maintain our outreach to interested younger people. 

We need the Center to enhance our role as the focal point of the national movement for Humanistic Judaism.  There are 25 other Humanistic Jewish communities that look to the Society for Humanistic Judaism and to the Birmingham Temple for guidance and inspiration.  Our present building cannot provide an appropriate setting or adequate facilities for our national outreach.  Humanistic Judaism and the Birmingham Temple go together.  Whatever strengthens public awareness of the Humanistic Jewish alternative as a legitimate option in Jewish life strengthens the future of the Temple.  From the very beginning our willingness to share our message with others has provided both excitement and intense commitment for many of our members. 

We need the Center to train the leaders and rabbis of our future  As one of two “headquarters” for the International movement (the other in Jerusalem) the Temple is the North American home of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Rabbis.  This past year the Institute began its Rabbinic Program for the education of Humanistic Rabbis.  Three students Tammy Feldstein, Richard Sherman and Stacie Schiiff have been accepted into the program.  They have committed themselves to an intensive five year educational effort and to serving the movement and the Temple with their skills and talents.  Others have made applications.  But we presently have no space to prove them with the student and research areas that they require.  Nothing is more important for the survival of the Temple and of Humanistic Judaism than the training of Humanistic rabbis.  The International Institute and our congregation need each other.  What could be more exciting for our Temple than to have a body of talented and eager rabbinic students and candidates available on our premises? 

The Center for Humanistic Judaism will provide a vital stimulus to our growth and development if it becomes real.  As of now, the matching funds we need for construction have been offered by generous members and supporters-and the money we need for building services is being actively solicited.  This addition will be built with no special assessment on our members. 

There are two requests that I make of you.  The first is that you offer your yes to the Center when we vote on the project at our Annual Meeting on May 23.  The second is that you think about contributing your own personal financial support to the Center.  Every gift, big or small, is welcome. 

The new Center is a voluntary labor of love.  In this year of our thirtieth birthday anniversary, it is an affirmation of our faith in our future and of our commitment to the survival and growth of both the Birmingham Temple and of Humanistic Judaism.  Despite overwhelming obstacles we have prevailed and shall prevail.  The Center for Humanistic Judaism is our message of hope and determination-both to ourselves and to the Jewish community. 

Note on sources: The Jewish Humanist  was the monthly newsletter of The Birmingham Temple. The periodical Humanistic Judaism was the quarterly journal of the Society for Humanistic Judaism. The Center for New Thinking was Wine’s adult learning program beyond Humanistic Judaism. Selections from Wine’s books are appropriately cited.
All texts, photos, audio and video are © by the Literary Estate of Sherwin Wine, whose custodian is the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism – North American Section. All rights reserved.