Humanistic Judaism () is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative to contemporary branches of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. It defines Judaism as the

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

experience of the Jewish people rather than a religion, and encourages Jews who are

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" ha ...

and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

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 A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Sherwin Wine Sherwin Theodore Wine (Hebrew name שמעון בן צבי, Shimon ben Tzvi; January 25, 1928 – July 21, 2007) was an American rabbi and a founding figure of Humanistic Judaism, a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and Jewish history ...

. As a rabbi trained in

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

with a small,

, 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

outlooks while excluding all prayers and references to a god of any kind. This congregation developed into the Birmingham Temple in

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Farmington Hills is located roughly from downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States censu ...

. It was soon joined by a previously Reform congregation in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and a group in

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, Connec ...

. In 1969, all three congregations were organizationally united with other groups under the umbrella of the

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 outloo ...

(SHJ). The SHJ had 10,000 members across 30 congregations in the United States and Canada in 1994; however, there are many congregations that identify with Humanistic Judaism's teachings but are not members of the SHJ. As of 2020, the

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 ...

estimated that Humanistic Judaism, along with Reconstructionism and other smaller denominations, constituted 4% of the United States's 7.5 million Jews. The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (IISHJ), founded in 1986, is the academic and intellectual center of Humanistic Judaism. It currently has two centers of activity: the original in

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 ...

and another in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Rabbi Adam Chalom is the dean of the IISHJ's American site. The IISHJ offers professional training programs for spokespersons, educators, leaders (also referred to in Hebrew as ''madrikhim/ot'' or Yiddish as ''vegvayzer''), and rabbis, in addition to its publications, public seminars, and colloquia for lay audiences.

Principles of belief and practice

According to the SHJ, the philosophical foundation of Humanistic Judaism includes the following ideas: * Judaism is the culture of the Jewish people, which includes many religious and secular traditions. * A Jew is any person who chooses to identify with the faith and culture of the Jewish people. * After

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 ...

, it is clear that the meaning of

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...

is that Jews must be responsible for their own fate. * Every person is entitled to be the master of their own life, subject to the final authority of his or her own conscience. * The power to achieve human survival, happiness, and dignity is a human power. Humanistic Judaism presents a far more radical departure from traditional Jewish religion than Mordecai Kaplan, the co-founder of

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 ...

, ever envisioned. Kaplan redefined God and other traditional religious terms so as to make them consistent with the

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

outlook, but continued to use traditional prayer language. Wine rejected this approach as confusing, since participants could ascribe to these words whatever definitions they favored. Wine strove to achieve philosophical consistency and stability by creating rituals and ceremonies that were purely non-theistic. Services were created for

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

, Yom Kippur, and other Jewish holidays and festivals, often with reinterpretation of the meaning of the holiday to bring it into conformity with secular humanistic philosophy. Humanistic Judaism was developed as a possible answer to the problem of retaining Jewish identity and continuity among non-religious Jews. Recognizing that congregational religious life was thriving, Wine believed that secular Jews who had rejected theism would be attracted to an organization that provided all the same forms and activities as the religious branches of Judaism, but which expressed a purely secular humanistic viewpoint. In terms of social issues, the SHJ has outlined its stance in a series of ongoing statements.

References

External links

Society for Humanistic Judaism

International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism

International Federation for Secular & Humanistic Judaism

Association of Humanistic Rabbis

BBC - Religions - Judaism: Humanistic Judaism

Leadership Conference of Secular and Humanistic Jews

Israel program of International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism

Portal of Jewish Secular Rites in Israel

The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism - New York City

Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West

Humanistic Judaism UK

Jewish and humanist: secular Jews who helped shape the humanist movement in Britain
{{Jews and Judaism Jewish secularism Judaism, Humanistic Secular humanism

Origins

Principles of belief and practice

See also

References

Further reading

External links