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Jewish Humanists
Humanistic Judaism () is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative to contemporary branches of Judaism. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people rather than a religion, and encourages Jews who are humanistic and secular to celebrate their identity by participating in relevant holidays and rites of passage (such as weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs) with inspirational ceremonies that go beyond traditional literature while still drawing upon it. Origins In its current form, Humanistic Judaism was founded in either 1963 or 1965 (sources differ) by American Rabbi Sherwin Wine. As a rabbi trained in Reform Judaism with a small, secular, non-theistic congregation, he developed a Jewish liturgy that reflected his and his congregation's philosophical viewpoints by combining Jewish culture, history, and identity with humanistic outlooks while excluding all prayers and references to a god of any kind. This congregation developed into t ...
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Jewish Religious Movements
Jewish religious movements, sometimes called " denominations", include diverse groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times. Samaritans are also considered ethnic Jews by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, although they are frequently classified by experts as a sister Hebrew people, who practice a separate branch of Israelite religion. Today in the West, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Orthodox movements (including ultratraditionalist and Modern Orthodox branches) and modernist movements such as Reform Judaism originating in late 18th century Europe, Conservative () originating in 19th century Europe, and other smaller ones, including the Reconstructionist and Renewal movements which emerged later in the 20th century in the United States. In Israel, variation is moderately similar, differing from the West in having roots in the Old Yishuv and pre-to-early-state Yemenite infusion, among other influences. For statistical and ...
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Humanistic
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" has changed according to successive intellectual movements that have identified with it. During the Italian Renaissance, Italian scholars inspired by Greek classical scholarship gave rise to the Renaissance humanism movement. During the Age of Enlightenment, humanistic values were reinforced by advances in science and technology, giving confidence to humans in their exploration of the world. By the early 20th century, organizations dedicated to humanism flourished in Europe and the United States, and have since expanded worldwide. In the early 21st century, the term generally denotes a focus on human well-being and advocates for human freedom, autonomy, and progress. It views humanity as responsible for the promotion and development of indiv ...
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The Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out primarily through mass shootings and poison gas in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz concentration camp#Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka extermination camp, Treblinka, Belzec extermination camp, Belzec, Sobibor extermination camp, Sobibor, and Chełmno extermination camp, Chełmno in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland. Separate Nazi persecutions killed a similar or larger number of non-Jewish civilians and prisoners of war (POWs); the term ''Holocaust'' is sometimes used to include the murder and persecution of Victims of Nazi ...
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Adam Chalom
Adam Chalom (born October 9, 1975) is a US American rabbi and a leader in the movement of Humanistic Judaism. He is the rabbi of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation (KHHC) and Dean for North America of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (IISHJ). He has also edited or co-edited several books and adult learning curricula. Biography Chalom was born and raised in suburban Detroit, Michigan. His mother came from a Jewish leftist and Yiddish-focused family (both Sholem Aleichem Institute and Workmen’s Circle) in Detroit, while his father was raised in the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY. He was raised attending The Birmingham Temple (now Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit) in Farmington Hills, Michigan, the founding congregation of Humanistic Judaism led by Rabbi Sherwin Wine. Chalom earned a B.A. cum laude in Judaic Studies from Yale University in 1997; a master's degree in Hebrew and Jewish Cultural Studies at the University of ...
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Lincolnshire, Illinois
Lincolnshire is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,940. Named after Lincolnshire, England, the village was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the unincorporated Half Day area when land was purchased to build a residential subdivision. The community underwent an aggressive era of expansion from 1983 through the 1990s. The Des Plaines River bisects the village, passing from north to south; Illinois Route 22 also divides the village into two parts, crossing the village from east to west. Camping World, Quill Corporation, Sysmex America and Zebra Technologies are headquartered in Lincolnshire. The village is home to the public Adlai E. Stevenson High School as part of Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103. It is also home to Lincolnshire Commons, an upscale lifestyle center. The village maintains a police department and public works system; it retrieves water from the cit ...
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and is considered Holy city, holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, while Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely Status of Jerusalem, recognized internationally. Throughout History of Jerusalem, its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, Siege of Jerusalem (other), besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. According to Eric H. Cline's tally in Jerusalem Besieged. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David (historic), City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th ...
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International Institute For Secular Humanistic Judaism
The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (IISHJ) is the academic and intellectual center of Humanistic Judaism. It was established in Jerusalem in 1985 and, with its second center of activity based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The Institute offers professional training programs for spokespersons, educators, leaders (also referred to in Hebrew as ''madrikhim/ot'' or in Yiddish as ''vegvayzer''), and rabbis, in addition to publications, public seminars, and colloquia for lay audiences. It has also trained music leaders and cantors, though those programs are not currently active. The Institute began offering its Leadership Program in 1986 as a joint program serving the communities of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Society for Humanistic Judaism. It began a rabbinic program in 1992, and its first rabbinic ordination in North America took place in 1999; subsequent ordinations have happened biennially. The Israeli rabbinic program of the IISHJ beg ...
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Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism () is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish movement based on the concepts developed by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983)—namely, that Judaism as a Civilization, Judaism is a progressively evolving civilization rather than just a religion. The movement originated as a semi-organized stream within Conservative Judaism, developed between the late 1920s and the 1940s before seceding in 1955, and established a Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, rabbinical college in 1967. Reconstructionist Judaism is recognized by many scholars as one of the five major streams of Judaism in America alongside Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative Judaism, Conservative, Reform Judaism, Reform, and Humanistic Judaism, Humanistic. There is substantial theological diversity within the movement. ''Halakha'' (Jewish law) is not considered normative and binding but is instead seen as the basis for the ongoing evolution of meaningful Jewish practice. In contrast with the Refo ...
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Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It also conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, random sample survey research, and panel based surveys, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research. The Pew Research Center states it does not take policy stances. It is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts and a charter member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research's Transparency Initiative. History In 1990, the Times Mirror Company founded the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press as a research project, tasked with conducting polls on politics and policy. Andrew Kohut became its director in 1993, and the Pew Charitable Trusts became its primary sponsor in 1996, when it was renamed the Pew Research Center for the Pe ...
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The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area and has a national audience. As of 2023, the ''Post'' had 130,000 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, both of which were the List of newspapers in the United States, third-largest among U.S. newspapers after ''The New York Times'' and ''The Wall Street Journal''. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer (financier), Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy and revived its health and reputation; this work was continued by his successors Katharine Graham, Katharine and Phil Graham, Meyer's daughter and son-in-law, respectively, who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post ...
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Society For Humanistic Judaism
The Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ), founded by Rabbi Sherwin Wine in 1969, is an American 501(c)(3) organization and the central body of Humanistic Judaism, a philosophy that combines a Nontheism, non-theistic and Humanism, humanistic outlook with the celebration of Jewish culture and Jewishness, identity while adhering to Jewish secularism, secular values and ideas. The SHJ assists in organizing new communities, supporting its members, and providing a voice for Humanistic Jews. It gathers and creates educational and programmatic materials for topics including Jewish holiday, holidays and rites of passage, and sponsors training programs and conferences for its members. The Humanistic Youth Group ("HuJews") subdivision offers programs for teens and young adults, including an annual conclave. The SHJ publishes a monthly online newsletter and a biannual topical journal and member newsletter. The Society participates in both the Jewish and non-religious worlds as a Hillel Intern ...
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Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Western Connecticut Planning Region. Westport's public school system is ranked as the top public school district in Connecticut and 17th best school district in the United States. History The earliest known inhabitants of the Westport area as identified through archaeological finds date back 7,500 years. Records from the first white settlers report the Pequot Indians living in the area which they called ''Machamux'' translated by the colonialists as ''beautiful land''. Settlement by colonialists dates back to the five ''Bankside Farmers''; whose families grew and prospered into a community that continued expanding. The settlers arrived in 1693, having followed cattle to the isolated area. The community had its own ecclesiastical so ...
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