CSJO-CU8.10

=CSJO-Grade 8 Lesson 8.10 (CSJO-Template)=


 * TITLE:** Secular Humanistic Jewish Organizations: Post 1960
 * GOALS:**
 * Explore the formation of secular Jewish institutions from the remnants of the Yiddish school and fraternal organizations that survived the anticommunist fervor of the 1950's.
 * Explore the development of new secular Jewish organizations based on congregational models.
 * Understand that they are part of a national and international movement and not just a 1-off in their own city
 * Explore secular Jewish umbrella groups in the United States and some of their positions on politics, current events and world affairs as a way to promote a desire for membership in the national organization(s).
 * Explore what it means to be secular, humanistic and Jewish.
 * MATERIALS:**
 * LESSON:**
 * 1. Gain the attention of the learner:**
 * Urban Dictionary Definition Game: Split students into small groups. Students will be given an obscure word from urbandictionary.com and asked to make up their own definition, writing on a piece of paper anonymously. The leader will read out all of the groups’ definitions and the groups will vote on the best one. Do this for a few rounds.
 * Have class brainstorm what CSJO is, or if Machar—SHJ is. What are their experiences with it; what does it mean to them?
 * 2. Relevant past learning:** The anticommunist fervor in the late 1940's and through the 50's resulted in a sharp decrease in attendance at Yiddish secular schools throughout the United States and Canada dropping from about 23,000 in 1946 to about 12,000 in 1961 (Freidenreich p 194-5)
 * 3. Introduce new material:**
 * Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations (CSJO) - formed 1969 - continue to do what they did before
 * Origin of Member institutions using Jewish Childrens' Folkshul of Philadelphia as an example
 * Three Philadelphia remnants of secular Jewish schools organized by the Jewish People's Fraternal Order (a Communist oriented mutual aid society that split off from the International Workers Organization (Wikipedia)) merged in the 1960's and were later joined in the 1970's by two more secular Jewish schools to become what is known today as the Jewish Childrens Folkshul of Philaldelphia (Harrar)
 * Over time, emphasis on Yiddish greatly diminished and some Hebrew was introduced, but exposure to both is now only some songs and a few dozen words
 * Communist affiliation and sensibilities have been replaced with a progressive humanist viewpoint
 * The schools meets once a week during the public school year and their activities have enlarged to include
 * Secular Celebrations: several Jewish holidays, Shabbat and b'nei mitzvahs.
 * School-wide Jewish cultural activities: art projects, Israeli folk dancing
 * Social Service Activities: e.g. Souper Sunday - mimic lunch at a soup kitchen with Social Justice outside speakers and proceeds go to a food pantry, creation and distribution of Thanksgiving food baskets to the Jewish needy
 * Adult Activities: e.g. adult education seminars, yoga, monthly restaurant club
 * Establishment of CSJO (Feinstein 2014)
 * 1969 - Originally called Conference on Secular Jewish Education
 * Representatives from secular Jewish schools in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia and Toronto, first met in 1969 at Detroit to share ideas and programming
 * 1974 - renamed Conference of Secular Jewish Organizations
 * Conferences were attracting secular Jewish groups not associated with schools but also wanting to exchange ideas and programming
 * 1975 - First Teen Conference, later enlarged to Teen/Young Adults, held in conjunction with yearly adult conference
 * 1982 - given its current name of Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
 * 2004 - First Older Young Adult segment of conference added as aging young adults desired to continue affiliation
 * Philosophy - "As Jewish organizations with a secular world view, the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations stresses the historic, cultural, and ethical aspects of our Jewishness in an effort to create identity that is relevant to contemporary life and committed to justice, peace, and community responsibility. Although the Jews are a world people, with a multitude of views and beliefs, we hold that it is not only possible but also essential for Jewish survival that Jews with all different world views work together in Jewish community programs of mutual interest." (CSJO Website)
 * Activities
 * Umbrella organization for secular Jewish organizations
 * Organized and runs annual conference
 * Develops and publishes position papers on issues of social justice, peace in the Middle East, etc.([[file:folkshuleducation/1993 November 8 Social Action Program.pdf|CSJO 1993 Position Papers]])
 * Membership
 * About 23 organizations in the United States and Canada as well as individual members unaffiliated with any of the member organizations
 * Society For Humanistic Judaism
 * Origin of founding institutions using Birmingham Temple as example
 * 1963 - a group of congregants from the Reform Temple Beth El in Detroit contacted Sherwin Wine, an ordained Reform rabbi, about starting a new congregation in the northwestern suburbs of Detroit. Rabbi Wine began leading services for the new group, initially eight families, in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
 * The group, dissatisfied with the standard liturgy of Reform Judaism, wanted services that used language reflecting their true beliefs. As a result, Rabbi Wine eventually made the decision to eliminate the word "God" altogether from the services and instead to use new liturgy that emphasized Jewish history and culture. This decision laid the foundation for a new way of being Jewish by combining congregational community services with a secular humanistic outlook.
 * Ultimately, the group agreed on the name "Humanistic Judaism" to describe what they were doing. Within two years, the congregation, which was initially located in Birmingham, Michigan and called the Birmingham Temple, had grown from 8 to 140 families.
 * 1964 - Rabbi Wine was denounced by the Detroit Council of Orthodox Rabbis for establishing a Jewish congregation that removed God from its rituals and services.
 * 1971 - The congregation moved into a newly-constructed building with the Torah scroll placed in the library rather than at the usual place in the sanctuary. Instead, the sanctuary was adorned with a large sculpture spelling out in Hebrew the word Adam, meaning "man" or "people."
 * Over time the congregation added a school and other activities typical of a Reform Temple but always with a secular humanistic perspective and language
 * Origin of Society for Humanistic Judaism
 * 1969 - Formed by Birmingham Temple, Temple Beth Or in Illinois (headed by Rabbi Daniel Friedman who had led the congregation from Reform to Humanistic Judaism after learning about Wine's work in Michigan) and a congregation in Westport, Connecticut (which had been organized by a member of the Birmingham Temple who had moved to Connecticut)
 * Mission - The Society for Humanistic Judaism mobilizes people to celebrate Jewish identity and culture consistent with a humanistic philosophy of life, independent of supernatural authority. As the central body for the Humanistic Jewish Movement in North America, the Society assists in organizing new communities, supporting its member communities, and in providing a voice for Humanistic Jews. []
 * Membership
 * About 30 constituent congregations and communities in the United States and Canada as well as individual members unaffiliated with any of these congregations.
 * International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism
 * Origin
 * 1985 - Founded by Rabbi Sherwin Wine to fulfill the need of the Humanistic Judaism movement for trained leaders. The Institute was sponsored jointly by the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ) and the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations (CSJO). The institute trains leaders called madrikhim/madrikhot in Hebrew or vegvayzer in Yiddish to perform secular humanistic rituals (eg weddings, funerals) and act as administrative leaders of their community.
 * 1990 - Established a more rigorous program to train rabbis with a title and educational level recognized and respected in both non-Jewish and Jewish communities.
 * One such rabbi was the Israeli Sivan Maas who went back to Israel and, with her father, Yaakov Malkin, a leader in the Humanistic Judaism movement for decades, set up an institute in Jerusalem called Tmura, to train Humanistic rabbis there.
 * Who is a Secular Humanistic Jew?
 * Definition of Secular Humanistic Jew: A Jew who is a secular humanist
 * Jew: A person who identifies with the history, culture, and fate of the Jewish people.
 * Secular Person: A person who explains observations and feelings in natural, nontheistic, concrete ways.
 * Secular Humanism: A rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Free of supernaturalism, it recognizes human beings as a part of nature and holds that values - be they religious, ethical, social, or political - have their source in human instinct, experience, and culture. Humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions, and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny. (Definition of Humanism in The Humanist, May/June 1997)
 * Judaism: what Jews do at any particular time in history
 * Religious Judaism: the religions of the Jews at any time in history
 * Cultural Judaism: the civilizations of Judaism at any time in history.
 * Overly big elevator response to the question "Who is a Secular Humanistic Jew?":
 * A person who belongs to and carries on traditions of the Jewish people; who respects and works to increase human integrity and dignity; who explains all experience, including that of the Jewish people, in natural ways; who uses critical thinking bound by experience and tested in a public forum to evaluate explanations; and whose significant goals include among others to increase the happiness, freedom, social justice and progress of humankind. Some ethical values include among others love of learning, personal responsibility for our actions and their consequences, Tsedakah (duty vs. charity), social justice, respect for life and love of life (this life is worth living and enjoying)


 * 4. Provide guided practice:** Have students make a video about life at Folkshul to send to a sister school in CSJO/SHJ
 * 5. Provide independent practice:** Divide students into groups and have them discuss some of the quotes/position papers from the founding members of the national organizations.
 * 6. Close the lesson:** Discuss what the CSJO conference is today and hear from students who go to it. Ask students, how does it feel to be a part of a national organization?
 * 7. References:**
 * Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations (CSJO)
 * Harrar, Sari (2011). Secular Jewish Schools and Camps in North America in 100th Anniversary of Secular Jewish Schools and Camps.
 * Freidenreich, Fradle Pomerantz (2010), Passionate Pioneers, The Story of Yiddish Secular Education in North America, 1910 to 1960. Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
 * [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Jewish_People's_Fraternal_Order**] (2014)
 * Feinstein, Roberta (2014), History of CSJO
 * [|http://www.csjo.org/about-us/philosophy/ (4May2014)]
 * [[file:1993 November 8 Social Action Program.pdf|CSJO 1993 November 8 Social Action Program.pd]]
 * Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ)
 * [](2014)
 * Cook, Harry T., “Courage is as Courage Does,” in //A Life of Courage: Sherwin Wine and Humanistic Judaism//, International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, 2003, pp. 3-48.
 * Rowens, Marilyn, “Reflections on a Life of Courage,” in //A Life of Courage: Sherwin Wine and Humanistic Judaism//, International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, 2003, pp. 49-73.
 * “Atheist Rabbi Denounced,” //Detroit Free Press//, Dec 5, 1964