Sherwin Wine
Sherwin T. Wine (b.
January 25,
1928 in
Detroit, Michigan), is the founder of the
Society for Humanistic Judaism.
He was educated at the
University of Michigan and at
Reform Judaism's
Hebrew Union College. He founded the
Birmingham Temple (the first Humanistic Jewish congregation) in
Farmington Hills,
Michigan (a suburb of
Detroit) in
1963.
Wine is given credit for coining the term
Ignosticism defined as "finding the question of God's existence meaningless because it has no verifiable consequences." The
American Humanist Association named him
Humanist of the Year for
2003.
He is part of a small group of secular and non-theistic Jews, who hold that cultural expressions of Judaism are a viable approach to modern Jewish identity, and believe such groups should be accepted on a par with theistic Judaism.
The Birmingham Temple Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience is rather unique. The Jewish boy or girl picks a hero in Judaism that he or she connects with and writes a rather lengthy paper which is ultimately given to the congregation. The Mitzvah boy or girl works with a mentor (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 & how the hero was humanistic. While most Bar Mitzvah services do not include applause, since the Bar or Bat Mitzvah is assumed to be participating in prayer with the congregation rather than delivering a performance to the congregation, at the Birmingham Temple there is usually a round of applause in recognition of a job well-done.
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The Birmingham Temple*
Society for Humanistic Judaism*
International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism
