The Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit (founded as The Birmingham Temple) was the first Humanistic Jewish congregation. As being part of the Humanistic Judaism movement, the congregation observes holidays, traditions and rituals focused on the humanistic and cultural aspects of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

, rather than the religious aspects. For example: for Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the Jewish boy or girl picks a hero that he or she connects with and writes a

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

, which is ultimately given to the congregation. The person works with a mentor, a senior member at the temple, in studying many different heroes before finally choosing one to write the paper on. The paper highlights important contributions the individual makes/made in his or her life to humanity, and why and how the hero was humanistic.

History

The Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit was founded in 1963 by

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 ...

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

(formerly an assistant rabbi at Temple Beth El) and eight founding families, who originally intended that the congregation would be located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

(a suburb of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

). The temple originally followed many

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practices but within six months decided to drop most of these (as well as all mentions of God in the services), and began to pursue a humanist philosophy.Kerry M. Olitzky, Marc Lee Raphael, ''The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook'' (

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, 1996), , pp. 180-181.
Excerpt available
at

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.Sidney M. Bolkosky, ''Harmony & Dissonance: Voices of Jewish Identity in Detroit, 1914-1967'' (

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, 1991), , pp.398-400.
Excerpt available
at

. The congregation's first services were at Eagle Elementary School, and then at Highmeadow School, in

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

; later services moved to the Masonic Temple, Birmingham Unitarian Church, and from 1965 to 1971 at Frost Middle School in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

. Finally, in 1971, the temple moved to its current location on Twelve Mile Road in Farmington Hills. The temple began publishing the journal ''Humanistic Judaism'' in 1967. In the words of one writer, the temple has "sought to define a primarily secular Jewish identity" and has "steered a clearly liberal political and humanistic moral course." Tamara Kolton became the senior rabbi of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit in 2003. In 2007,

died in an automobile accident. In 2013 Jeffrey Falick became the new rabbi of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit.

References

External links

Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit official website
Humanistic synagogues in the United States Organizations established in 1963 Synagogues in Michigan 1963 establishments in Michigan {{US-synagogue-stub