Sherwin Theodore Wine (1928-2007) was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was the son of parents originally from Poland, affiliated with the Conservative movement, who kept a kosher home and observed the Sabbath. He studied at the University of Michigan, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities. In 1951, he enrolled at Hebrew Union College, where he graduated with a degree in Reform rabbi. He served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

In 1958, he formed a Reform congregation, called Beth El, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In 1963, a disaffected group from Temple Beth El asked him to form a new congregation in a Detroit suburb. What bothered them was the traditional language used in the service. Wine did so, eventually deciding to remove the word «God» from the prayers and instead use phrases that exalted Jewish history, culture, and ethics. This decision was the turning point in the development of Humanistic Judaism as a distinct position within the Jewish world. In 1971, the congregation moved to its own building and changed its name to the Birmingham Temple. The Torah was placed in a space in the temple library, and a statue with the word Adam written in Hebrew was placed in place of the Aron Hakodesh.

Humanism is a philosophical and ethical position that puts the human person first. Its followers prefer critical thinking and convincing evidence over unquestioning acceptance of dogma or superstition. Human freedom and progress are paramount to them, and they are typically aligned with secularism. It is a non-theistic (Godless) philosophy of life, centered on human action, as it understands the world through science, rather than through a revelation, such as that described in the Torah that Moses experienced at Sinai.

The new movement attracted people from other places, and in 1969, Wine formed the Society for Humanistic Judaism, which currently includes nearly 30 congregations in the United States and Canada. In 1985, he founded the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, with the aim of preparing leaders and rabbis for the movement, both in the United States and Israel.

Jewish holidays and the life cycle are celebrated in Humanistic Judaism with a different meaning. For example, Rosh Hashanah is considered a time of reflection and renewal, and Yom Kippur is a celebration of inner strength and self-worth. They place more emphasis on the writings of Jewish scholars of the last 250 years, who have integrated the concepts of the Haskala, the Jewish Enlightenment, into their philosophy than on ancient texts.

The movement defines Judaism as the historical and cultural experience of the Jewish people. In their ceremonies and celebrations, they use human-centered language and do not mention God. They maintain that it is humankind’s responsibility to solve humanity’s problems alone and not to wait for divine help. In short, the philosophy of Humanistic Judaism is human-centered and celebrates Jewish culture, but without supernatural components.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Material from the Society for Humanistic Judaism and other sources.