48
Friday, April 19, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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sponsa, strongly rebuked
Wine. In an article in the Jan.
1, 1965 edition of The National
Jewish Post and Opinion,
Rabbi Freehof wrote:
"There is no question of his
right to declare himself an
atheist on the ground that his
powers of reasoning cannot
discover God in the universe.
And it is also his right to or-
ganize an association of like
unbelievers. But he has no
right to deceive the unwary.
Using the word 'rabbi' and
using the word 'congregation'
constitute a deception . . .
The Hebrew Union College
has given him the title of
Rabbi. I do not know how they
can withdraw it, but he, in
candor, should refrain from
using the title. I do not know
whether his group is a member
of the Union of American He-
brew Congregations. If it is, I
do not know how it can be ex-
pelled. If it is not yet a
member, it should not be ad-
mitted.
"In the meantime, the
Jewish congregations in De-
troit, in order to protect their
children and themselves from
the teachings that God is not
necessary in Jewish life,
should not associate with it
and should not acknowledge it
as a Jewish congregation."
At the time of his an:.
nouncement of atheism, Rabbi
Wine was criticized publicly
by Rabbi Leon Fram, founding
rabbi of Temple Israel, and by
the Council of Orthodox Rab-
bis. In 1964, Rabbi Fram
reacted to Wine's declaration
of atheism:
" 'I would say an atheist
should hire a hall downtown
and not go into the suburbs
where people hear of a Jewish
congregation . . . that teaches
there is no God . . . It seems
strange to organize a congre-
gation that teaches there is no
God.' "
Rabbi Fram at the time
planned to approach other
U.S. rabbis on whether or not
Wine should be allowed to re-
tain the title of rabbi.
According to Wine, Frain,
was not successful. "He failed
dismally. The Hebrew Union
College found the demand un-
acceptable. My ordination was
absolutely valid," Wine said.
Recently, some local rabbis
and a Christian minister were
' contacted by The Jewish News
for their feelings about the
Humanistic Judaism phe-
nomenon, how they felt at its
introduction and how they feel
now, more than 20 years later.
Of the rabbis contacted, most
were non-committal, saying
that they preferred not to
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criticize another , rabbi pub-
licly.
Rabbi Benjamin Gorrelick,
rabbi emeritus of Cong. Beth
Achim (Conservative), said
that when Rabbi Wine made
his declaration, "I didn't act
against or for it. We Jews
didn't need an emphasis on
humanism at that time." To-
day, he is "totally neutral."
Rabbi A. Irving Schnipper,
spiritual leader of Cong. Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses (Con-
servative), said that "everyone
is given the right to select for
Ultimately, Wine
would like
Humanistic Judaism
to have just as
powerful a voice.
ourselves which way we want
to think," but added that
theologically, anyone who de-
nies the existence of God is not
Jewish. "Judaism is founded
in the belief of a deity."
Rabbi M. Robert Syme of
Temple Israel (Reform)
pleaded friendship and would
not speak against Rabbi Wine
or his philosophy. The same
viewpoint was stated by Rabbi
Richard C. Hertz, rabbi
emeritus of Temple Beth El
(Reform). Wine had served
four years under Hertz as
assistant rabbi in the 1950s. "I
was impressed with his bril-
liance and flair for the drama-
tic and his ability to move and
be entertaining and controv-
ersial." He said he differs with
him "naturally" on his ap-
proach to Jewish beliefs, but
added he would not attack him
publicly.
Even Rev. James Lyons,
executive director of the Ecu-
menical Institute for Jewish-
Christian Studies, voiced a
friendly note. "I have tremen-
dous respect for him as an in-
dividual, but I don't agree with
him."
The most strongly worded
reaction came from Rabbi Leo
Goldman, spiritual leader of
Cong. Shaarey Shomayim
(Orthodox). "When I first
heard of this new trend, my
first reaction was 'nuts.'
"He denies everything that
has to do with Judaism and he
calls himself a rabbi. It
sounded and appeared ridicul-
ous."
Goldman said Wine was
really not advancing any new
ideas. "Humanism always was
a part of Jewish life," Goldman
said, adding that Jews ex-
hibited this ideology by main-
taining a free loan society,
house of shelter, making mat-
zah available for the needy at
Pesach.
Goldman said that the re-
sponsibility of a Jewish reli-
gious leader is to perpetuate
the Jewish people. He said he
felt that by removing a belief
in God, this was not possible.
"Without places of worship,
without worship to the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
there is no Jewish people.
When you deprive people of
the worship of God it is a mis-
representation of historical
Judaism, misleading to its fol-
lowers."
Responding to Goldman's
remarks, Wine said he felt
that Goldman confused the
ideas of humanism and
humanitarianism. Humanita-
rians are found in all religions,
Wine said, adding that the
humanists are humanita-
rians. What differentiates the
two, he said, is that "we
(humanists) are responsible
for our lives and our own de-
stiny."
In response to Goldman's
assertion that by removing a
belief in God the Jewish people
will die out, Wine said his Or-
thodox counterpart had in-
sulted the founders of the
Zionist movement, most of
whom were secular Jews.
"We value our Jewish iden-
tity. We want to work for the
survival of the Jewish people."
Wine said the foundations
are already being laid for the
future of his movement. There
are currently 20 members of
the Humanist Rabbis associa-
tion and members of the
Society for Humanistic
Judaism are in training for
leadership. There are also
many training for the
Humanistic Jewish rabbinate.
Ultimately, Wine would
like Humanistic Judaism to
have just as powerful a voice
as the Orthodox, Conservative
and Reform do in Jewish life.
And, he would like to see the
establishment of a network of
secular/humanist organiza-
tions to cooperate in producing
a body of Jewish literature
"which will present the Jewish
tradition through our eyes and
also to train secular/humanist
professionals and leaders for
communities.
"We have an important
service for the Jewish commu-
nity. We want to enable Jews
who aren't comfortable pre-
sently with their Jewish iden-
tity because they're secular
humanists to feel comfortable
and to value their Jewish
identity."
❑