Jewish group focuses on culture, not creator
The News & Observer, July 5, 2001
Yonat Shimron; The News & Observer
CHAPEL HILL — On a recent Friday, as their
ancestors have done for generations, a group of Jews got together
to welcome in the Sabbath. They lit the candles, blessed the bread
and the wine, sang a few songs and later shared a potluck dinner.
There was only one thing missing: God.
Neither the blessings this group recited nor the
songs they sang invoked that higher power so central to the worship
rituals of the Jewish people for three millennia. There was no "Lord
Our God," uttered, no praises directed at the "Ruler of the Universe."
For the two dozen adults gathered in the back yard
of a Chapel Hill home, God's absence was a big relief.
"I don't want to pray," said Renee Rauch of Durham,
one participant. "I don't want to ask for favors. I don't want to
ask for guidance. I don't want to say, 'You're wonderful. You're
wonderful. You're great. You're great.' There wasn't a time I felt
I believed (the prayers) I was reading."
Welcome to the Triangle Congregation for Humanistic
Judaism, the latest group to join the local Jewish scene. As
one of 35 similar organizations across the United States and Canada,
it is devoted to celebrating the history and traditions of the Jewish
people in a secular context. Most of those who attended the Friday
services define themselves as atheists or agnostics. But they insist
they are culturally Jewish and want to celebrate its age-old customs
without invoking a power they no longer believe in.
"We believe in responsibility for ourselves and
our destinies, and don't look to the supernatural for succor or
aid," said Herb Halbrecht of Durham, a founder of the Triangle group.
The group's arrival signals the growing maturity
of the Jewish community in the Triangle. With seven synagogues and
two student centers, the community has come into its own this past
decade. It includes every branch of Jewish life typically found
in larger, more cosmopolitan areas, including Orthodox, Conservative,
Reform, Reconstructionist and now Humanistic Judaism. Group leaders
say that with the abundance of universities in the area it was only
a matter of time before a secular group organized.
Humanistic Judaism goes back to 1963, when a maverick
Reform rabbi named Sherwin Wine founded a Detroit-area congregation
of secular Jews. But the tradition of non-believing Jews stretches
back for centuries. Sigmund Freud was one. So were thousands of
Zionists who settled in Israel. Today, the organized Humanistic
Judaism movement claims 30,000 members worldwide, including Harvard
law professor Alan Dershowitz and renowned Holocaust scholar Yehuda
Bauer.
The group says it does not try to lure members away
from Jewish congregations. Instead, it focuses on non-affiliated
Jews, who may feel alienated by traditional services, or have married
outside the faith.
"We're providing a way for Jews who are not connected
to stay connected," said Miriam Jerris, rabbinic associate for community
development at the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Farmington
Hills, Mich. "Many people say 'There's never been anything for me
until I discovered Humanistic Judaism. I thought I couldn't be Jewish
anymore.' "
Some members of the local group said they plan to
keep their membership in a local synagogue, too - mostly for the
sense of belonging to the larger Jewish world.
At a recent Friday night service, members sat outside
on lawn chairs assembled in a semi-circle. In lighting the Sabbath
candles, they read aloud a poem blessing "the light within people."
Before passing out chunks of sweet challah bread they intoned: "Blessed
is the work of our hands. Blessed is the bread of the Earth."
After the short service, the group took up paper
plates and indulged in an array of salads and deserts.
Like many Jewish gatherings, humor took center stage.
Heard the one about the schlemiel? asked Sam Gross of Pittsboro.
He dropped a piece of toast on the floor, and it fell on the unbuttered
side. Thinking he had cured himself of his bungling ways, he went
to his rabbi to inquire. The rabbi looked him over and disagreed.
"You buttered the wrong side of the toast," he exclaimed.
Members of the group say Judaism is more than a
religion. It is also a way of life, a set of memories - and a system
of values.
"We're truly concerned with the actions of man toward
man," Gross said. "The question is, how can we behave in a humanistic
way using the traditions that came down to us from our Jewish heritage?"
The new Triangle group plans to rent a local sanctuary
for High Holiday services this fall. (The group terms the events
"holidays" instead of "holy days" to emphasize their secularity.)
It has scheduled its first Bar Mitzvah, a coming-of-age ceremony
for 12- and 13-year-olds, which leaders say will not include a reading
from the Torah but will focus on an ethical discussion instead.
And group leaders say they are planning a series of guest lectures
on the historical and cultural features of Jewish life through the
ages.
But for many, its meetings are, first and foremost,
an occasion to be with like-minded Jews.
"I need a place to feel that I'm Jewish and have
a community of Jews around me," said Faye Kalman of Chapel Hill.
"It's a kind of cultural celebration of being Jewish."
Copyright 2001 by The News & Observer
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