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Archive-name: judaism/reading-lists/humanistic
Soc-culture-jewish-archive-name: reading.humanistic
Posting-Frequency: Monthly
Selected Sources for Additional Reading on Judaism
Part VII: Humanistic Judaism
[Last Change: $Date: 1995/10/19 15:21:43 $ $Revision: 1.2 $]
[Last Post: Sun Feb 15 11:07:05 US/Pacific 2004]
"Humanistic Jews need a literature that clearly and boldly states
what they think and believe" [Win85]
This message is intended to provide readers of soc.culture.jewish with
a list of references to allow them to learn more about the current
practices, past practices, beliefs, and history of the Humanistic
Judaism Movement.
Humanistic Judaism is less well known than Orthodox, Conservative, and
Reform. But, on a behavioral level, it claims to represent many more
American Jews than any of these official ideologies. Rabbi Sherwin
Wine, the founder of the movement, identifies three kinds of Jews who
are neither honestly Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform. He calls these
types the involuntary, the ethnic, and the humanistic. Rabbi Wine
defines the involuntary Jew is the individual of Jewish descent who
finds no meaning either in his past or in the unique practices of his
ancestral religion. He defines the ethnic Jew is the person of Jewish
descent who bears a strong attachment to the Hebrew and Yiddish
cultures out of which he emerged.
Rabbi Wine feels that these affiliations are negative. He prefers the
positive definition of Humanistic Jew:
The Humanistic Jew is an individual, of either Jewish or non-Jewish
descent, who believes in the ultimate value of self-respect and in
the principles of humanism, community, autonomy, and rationality.
He also finds meaning in the celebration of life as expressed
through the historic Jewish calendar and seeks to interpret this
calendar in a naturalistic way. He perceives that the power he
possesses to determine and control his own life is the result of
two billion years of evolutionary history. Therefore, his religious
feeling re-enforces his sense of human dignity.
On the last page of his book, "Judaism Beyond God," Rabbi Sherwin T.
Wine says:
Humanistic Jews want to bring their beliefs and their behavior
together and to find their integrity. They are eager to affirm:
* That they are disciples of the Secular Revolution.
* That the Secular Revolution was good for the Jews.
* That reason is the best method for the discovery of truth.
* That morality derives from human needs and is the defense of human
dignity.
* That the universe is indifferent to the desires and aspirations of
human beings.
* That people must ultimately rely on people.
* That Jewish history is a testimony to the absence of God and the
necessity of human self-esteem.
* That Jewish identity is valuable because it connects them to that
history.
* That Jewish personality flows from that history -- and not from
official texts that seek to describe it.
* That Jewish identity serves individual dignity -- and not the
reverse.
* That the Jewish people is an international family that has its
center in Israel and its roots in the Diaspora.
* That the humanistic Gentile has a positive role to play in the
life of the Jewish people."
Humanistic Jews want to translate these affirmations and
commitments into an effective life style -- for themselves and for
those who share their convictions. They need a community of
believers to worth with and to share with in this pioneering
venture. They also need a cadre of trained leaders and spokespeople
to provide scholarship and guidance along the way.
Humanistic Judaism was organized by Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine, who founded
its first congregation, the Birmingham Temple, in Farmington Hills,
Michigan. In 1969, Rabbi Wine helped to found the [6]Society of
Humanistic Judaism ([7]http://www.shj.org/), whose membership
comprises more than 30 congregations and chapters, plus over 1300
families and individual members, as of January 2000. The Society for
Humanistic Judaism is the US affiliate of the International Federation
of Secular Humanistic Jews. The educational arm of the Secular
Humanistic Jewish movement, the International Institute for Secular
Humanistic Judaism, offers several programs to train rabbis, leaders
and educators for the movement. The first Secular Humanistic rabbi
trained at the Institute was ordained in October 1999.
An overview of the current status of Humanistic Judaism, written by
Egon Friedler, of the Uruguayan Movement for Secular Humanistic
Judaism, recently appeared in Midstream (October 1992). Additional
information on Humanistic Judaism, as well as publications on
Humanistic Judaism, may be obtained from:
Society for Humanistic Judaism
28611 W. Twelve Mile Road
Farmington Hills MI 48334
+1 248 478-7610
[8]info@shj.org
The society is internet-accessible; visit [9]www.shj.org (Society for
Humanistic Judaism). There is also a mailing list for those with an
interest in exploring and/or furthering the development of Humanistic
Judaism. The list is hosted at [10]http://www.yahoogroups.com/, and is
called hjlist.
A web page of [11]links and information about Humanistic Judaism is
available at URL: <http://www.teleport.com/~hellman>.
Readers interested in Humanistic Judaism might also want to contact
the sister organization to SHJ, the [12]Congress of Secular Jewish
Organizations (www.csjo.org). They can be reached through their
executive director, [13]Roberta Feinstein <[14]csjo@csjo.org>.
Inquiries may also be sent in writing to:
Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
19657 Villa Drive North
Southfield, MI 48076
There is also a mailing list for those with an interest in exploring
and/or furthering the development of Humanistic Judaism. To subscribe,
send a blank e-mail to [15]join-hj@telelists.com, or sign up at the
web site:
[16]http://lyris1.telelists.com/htbin/lyris.pl?enter=hj&text_mode=0.
Where Can I Get The Books
* Many of these books are available through general bookstores or
Judaica bookstores. A list of links to these may be found in the
[17]sources section of the [18]General Reading List (if you are
reading this at [19]www.scjfaq.org, you can simply click on the
"Sources" button in the header navigation bar).
* SHJ Press is the publishing arm of the Society for Humanistic
Judaism movement. They have a web page at
[20]http://www.shj.org/gift.html
[Amazon Associate] The S.C.J Reading List has established an affiliate
relationship with Amazon.Com. ([21]http://www.amazon.com/). Now you
can complete your library and support the continued development of the
Reading Lists at the same time, for many books on the reading list are
available through Amazon. For those reading this at
[22]www.scjfaq.org/rl/jsh-intro.html, you can click the link to the
left to browse Amazon's selections. Alternatively, if you enter Amazon
using the URL
[23]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=socculturejewi
sh, the reading lists will get credit for your entry. Additionally,
when you see the Amazon graphic [24][If you were at www.scjfaq.org,
the graphic would be here] (or "[Buy at Amazon: http:...]") on an
entry in the reading list, this indicates that the specific book is
available for purchase at Amazon. Click on the graphic/link to go to
Amazon and purchase the book.
Reproduction of this posting for commercial use is subject to
restriction. See Part 1 (general) for more details.
Subject: ORGANIZATION
This reading list is organized as follows:
* [8]Introduction to this Reading List
* [9]Philosophy Of Movement
* [10]Other Related Reading
* [11]Credits
Subject: Philosophy of Movement
[Arn95]
Arnold, Abraham J.; Roth, Kathe (ed). Judaism: Myth, Legend,
History, and Custom, from the Religious to the Secular. Robert
Davies Pub; 1995. Paperback. ISBN 1-895854-26-1. [A
contemporary vision of secular Judaism, containing a
wide-sweeping cultural history of the Jewish people and a guide
to self-definition for contemporary Jews seeking their identity
in a non-religious culture]
[6][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1895854261/socculturejew
ish/]
[Ibr99]
Ibry, David. Exodus to Humanism: Jewish Identity Without
Religion. Prometheus Books; 1999. Hardcover. ISBN
1-573922-67-6.
[7][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573922676/socculturejew
ish/]
[Kog95]
Kogel, Renee (ed); Katz, Zev (ed); Wine, Sherwin (intro);
Bauer, Yehud. Judaism in a Secular Age: An Anthology of Secular
Humanistic Jewish Thought (Library of Secular Humanistic
Judaism). Ktav Publishing House; 1995. Hardcover. ISBN
0-881255-19-X.
[8][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/088125519X/socculturejew
ish/]
[Mem62]
Memmi, Albert. Portrait of a Jew. Orion Press, 1962; Viking
Press, New York NY. ISBN 6-70003-32-8. Out of Print. [Albert
Memmi is chair of the Association pour Judaisme Laic et
Humaniste in France]
[9][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/670003328/socculturejewi
sh]
[Por81]
Porter, Jack Nusan. The Jew as Outsider. University Press of
America, Washington DC 1981. ISBN 0-819116-39-4. Out of Print.
[10][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0819116394/socculturejew
ish]
[Rei00]
Reisel, Esther; Reisel, Rudi. Modern Jewish Identity: A
Rationalistic Motivation for Remaining Jewish. Gefen Books;
2000. Paperback. ISBN 9-652291-63-3.
[11][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9652291633/socculturejew
ish/]
[SeiXX]
Seid, Judith. We Rejoice in our Heritage: Home Rituals for
Secular and Humanistic Jews. Out of Print. ISBN 0-962366-80-3.
[12][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0962366803/socculturejew
ish/]
[Sei00]
Seid, Judith. God-Optional Judaism: Alternatives for Cultural
Jews Who Love Their History, Heritage, and Community. Birch
Lane Pr; 2000. Hardcover. ISBN 1-559725-37-0.
[13][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559725370/socculturejew
ish/]
[Sil98]
Silver, Mitchell. Respecting the Wicked Child: A Philosophy of
Secular Jewish Identity and Education. Univ. of Massachusetts
Press; 1998. Hardcover. ISBN 1-558491-79-1.
[14][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558491791/socculturejew
ish/]
[Win78]
Wine, Sherwin T. Humanistic Judaism. Prometheus Books, Buffalo
NY, 1978. ISBN 0-879751-02-9. Out of Print.
[15][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879751029/socculturejew
ish/]
[Win85]
Wine, Sherwin T. Judaism Beyond God: A Radical New Way to be
Jewish. SHJ, 1985. Ktav Publishing House; 1995. Hardcover. ISBN
0-881255-18-1.
[16][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881255181/socculturejew
ish/]
[Win88]
Wine, Sherwin. Celebration: A Ceremonial and Philosophic Guide
for Humanists and Humanistic Jews. Prometheus Books; 1988.
Hardcover. ISBN 0-879754-42-7.
[17][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879754427/socculturejew
ish/]
Subject: Other Related Reading
Humanistic Judaism, being such a young movement, does not yet have a
large body of literature. However, there are a number of authors that
are recommended reading by Rabbi Wine:
* Classics Of Humanism: Epicurus, Democritus, August Comte, John
Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, Jean Paul Sartre,
George Santayana.
* Writings of Jews Who Were Humanists: Albert Einstein, Sigmund
Freud, Erich Fromm, Walter Kippman, and Walter Kaufman
* Literature of Secular Historians: Spinoza, Julius Wellhausen,
Emile Durkeim, Max Weber, Simon Dubnow, Salo Baron, and Theodore
Gaster
* Writings of Jewish Nationalists: I.L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem,
Chaim Zhitlowsky, Ahad Haam, Micah Berdichevsky, Theodore Herzl,
Max Nordau, A.D. Gordon, Ber Borochov, Saul Tchernikhovsky,
Vladmir Jabotinsky, David Ben Gurion, and Haum Goldmann
* Jewish Essayists and Novelists Who are Ardent Humanists: Saul
Bellow, Albert Memmi, and George Steiner
Other books on Humanism and Judaism include:
[Eli89]
Eliav, Arie Lova; Oz, Amos (design); Wouk, Herman (design). New
Heart, New Spirit: Biblical Humanism for Modern Israel. Jewish
Publication Society; 1989. Hardcover. ISBN 0-827603-17-7.
[6][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0827603177/socculturejew
ish/]
[Lac92]
Lachs, Samuel Tobias. Humanism in Talmud and Midrash. Fairleigh
Dickinson Univ Pr; 1992. Hardcover. ISBN 0-838634-68-0.
[7][Buy at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0838634680/socculturejew
ish/]
Subject: How do I obtain copies of the Reading Lists?
Answer:
There are a number of different ways to obtain copies of the Reading
Lists:
* WWW. If you are reading this on Usenet, and would like to see an
online, hyperlinked version, go visit [2]http://www.scjfaq.org/.
This is the "web" version of the FAQ; the version posted to Usenet
is generated from the web version. Note that the www.scjfaq.org
version is a copy of the actual master version; if you want to
access the master, visit [3]http://master.scjfaq.org/.
Alternatively, if you would like to see the posted version through
the web, visit [4]http://shamash.org/listarchives/scj-faq/. The
FAQ is in the subdirectory "FAQ"; the reading lists are in the
subdirectory "rl".
* Email. Scjfaq.org also provides an autoretriever that allows one
to obtain a copy of the reading lists by return Email. To use the
autoretriever, you send a retrieval request to
[5]archives@scjfaq.org with the request in the body of the
message. A more reliable way to retrieve these files is through
the [6]FAQ autoretriever
([7]http://www.mljewish.org/bin/autoresp.cgi). For the FAQ, the
request has the form:
send faq partname
For the reading list, the request has the form:
send rl partname
"Partname" is replaced by the name of the part, as shown in the
general index. The following is a short summary of the mapping of
partnames for the Reading Lists:
+ [8]general: Introduction and General. Includes book sources,
starting points for beginners, starting points for non-Jewish
readers, General Judaism, General Jewish Thought, General
Jewish History, Contemporary Judaism, Noachide Laws, Torah
and Torah Commentary, Talmud and Talmudic Commentary,
Mishnah, Midrash, Halachic Codes, Becoming An Observant Jew,
Women and Judaism, and Science and Judaism.
+ [9]traditional: Traditional Liturgy, Practice, Lifestyle,
Holidays. Includes Traditional Liturgy; Traditional
Philosophy and Ethics; Prayer; Traditional Practice; The
Household; Life, Death, and In-Between; and The Cycle Of
Holidays.
+ [10]mysticism: Kabbalah, Mysticism, and Messianism. Includes
Academic and Religious treatments of Kabbalah, Sprituality,
and the Jewish notion of the Messiah.
+ [11]reform: Reform/Progressive Judaism
+ [12]conservative: Conservative Judaism
+ [13]reconstructionist: Reconstructionist Judaism
+ [14]humanistic: Humanistic Judaism (Society for Humanistic
Judaism)
+ [15]chasidism: Chassidism. Includes general information on
historical chassidism, as well as specific information on
Lubavitch (Chabad), Satmar, Breslaw (Breslov), and other
approaches.
+ [16]zionism: Zionism. Includes Zionism and The Development Of
Israel, The Founders, Zionistic Movements, and Judaism in
Israel.
+ [17]antisemitism: Antisemitism. Includes sections on
Antisemitism, What Led to The Holocaust, Medieval Oppression,
Antisemitism Today (Including Dealing with Hate Groups),
Judaism and Christianity, and Judaism, Freemasonry and other
rumors.
+ [18]intermarriage: Intermarriage. Includes sections on "So
You're Considering Intermarriage?", The Traditional
Viewpoint, Conversion, and Coping With Life As An
Intermarried.
+ [19]childrens: Books for Jewish Children. Includes sections
on Birth and Naming, Raising a Child, Family Guidebooks,
Upsheren, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation, Holiday Books for
Children, Liturgy for Children, Bible and Torah for Children,
Jewish History for Children, Jewish Theology for Children,
Israel, Learning Hebrew, and Jewish Stories.
The following is a short summary of the mapping to partnames for
the FAQ:
+ [20]01-FAQ-intro: Section [21]1: Network and Newsgroup
Information.
+ [22]02-Who-We-Are: Section [23]2: Who We Are
+ [24]03-Torah-Halacha: Sections [25]3, [26]4: Torah; Halachic
Authority
+ [27]04-Observance: Sections [28]5, [29]6, [30]7, [31]8:
Jewish Holidays; Jewish Dietary Law and Kashrut; Sabbath and
Holiday Observance; Woman and Marriage
+ [32]05-Worship: Sections [33]9, [34]10, [35]11: Jewish
Worship; Conversion, Intermarriage, and "Who is a Jew?";
Miscellaneous Practice Questions
+ [36]06-Jewish-Thought: Section [37]12: Jewish Thought
+ [38]07-Jews-As-Nation: Section [39]13: Jews as a Nation
+ [40]08-Israel: Section [41]14: Jews and Israel
+ [42]09-Antisemitism: Sections [43]15, [44]16, [45]17: Churban
Europa (The Holocaust); Antisemitism and Rumors about Jews;
Countering Missionaries
+ [46]10-Reform: Section [47]18: Reform/Progressive Judaism
+ [48]11-Miscellaneous: Sections [49]19, [50]20: Miscellaneous;
References and Getting Connected
+ [51]12-Kids: Section [52]21: Jewish Childrearing Related
Questions
+ [53]mail-order: Mail Order Judaica
Alternatively, you may send a message to
[54]mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following line in the body
of the message:
send usenet/news.answers/judaism/(portionname)
Where (portionname) is replaced by the appropriate subdirectory
and filenames; for example, to get the first part of the reading
list, one would say:
send usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists/general
* Anonymous FTP: All portions of the FAQ and of the reading lists
are archived on [55]rtfm.mit.edu and are available for anonymous
FTP from the pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ directory (URL
[56]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ/).
Similarly, the parts of the reading lists are stored in the
pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists directory (URL:
[57]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lis
ts). Note that the archived versions of the FAQ and reading lists
are the posted versions; that is, they are each one large ASCII
file.
Subject: Credits
This reading list is based on a reading list developed during research
at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles in January 1993. It was
remodeled and reviewed in July 2000. Other contributors include Miriam
Jerris, Adam Reed, JudithSeid@aol.com, and David A Guberman.
Suggestions for additions or deletions are welcome, as are submissions
of brief annotations of the entries.
A special thank you... Special thanks for her patience and
understanding go to my wife, Karen, who put up with me hiding at the
computer for the two months it took to complete the July/August 2000
remodel of the entire soc.culture.jewish FAQ and Reading Lists. If you
think the effort was worth it, drop her a note c/o
[6]maintainer@scjfaq.org.
------------------------------------------------------------
--
Please mail additions or corrections to me at faigin@pacificnet.net.
End of Judaism Reading List Part VII (Humanistic) Digest
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