OPINION

CONTENTS

CLOSE-UP

24

Olympic Hurdle

MITCHELL BARD

In sports, the Arab war against Israel
has ranged from terrorism
to intimidation.

SPORTS

42

Play Ball!

MIKE ROSENBAUM
Israel's fledgling Little League
baseball program is getting
a boost from Detroiters.

BUSINESS

Orthodox Jews in Israel: "An odd mixture of racial and religious requirements."

Judaism Means Much More
Than Theological Commitment

RABBI SHERWIN WINE

T

he second biennial meeting of the
new International Federation of
Secular Humanistic Jews will be
held at the end of this month in Brussels.
Founded in Detroit two years ago,
Humanistic Judaism to a large extent grew
out of the pioneer efforts of the Birm-
ingham Ibmple to develop a humanistic
alternative in Jewish life.
Today seven national organizations
from America, Canada, France, Belgium,
Uruguay, Argentina and Israel are joined
together in a common effort to promote a
secular approach to Jewish identity.
Hopefully, this international connection
will provide a worldwide voice for our
philosophy and for our decisions on impor-
tant issues.
One of these issues is the question of
who is a Jew. Although on the surface it
appears to be a perfunctory issue, the
answer to the question has aroused intense
controversy in the Jewish world. The per-
sistent attempts of Orthodox Jews in Israel
to force the Israeli government to exclude
from Jewish identity and Jewish privileges
- all citizens who do not conform to the Or-
thodox vision of who is a Jew has dramatiz-
ed the question.
The Orthodox criteria for Jewish iden-
tity are an odd mixture of racial and
religious requirements. All people born of
Jewish mothers, regardless of their
religious beliefs, loyalties or cultural at-
tachments, are Jews. But men and women
who want to join the Jewish people must
be converted by Orthodox rabbis and pledge
their commitment to Orthodox practice.
This apparent inconsistency is defended
with great passion by traditional Jews.

Sherwin Wine is rabbi at the Birmingham
Temple and founder of the Society for
Humanistic Judaism.

The consequences of this traditional
position, if applied uniformly throughout
Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora, is
the exclusion of large numbers of people
who want to be Jews. In an age of increas-
ing intermarriage there are thousands of
Jewish children who have Jewish fathers
but no Jewish mothers. In a time of
religious diversity there are thousands of
potential "converts" who like Judaism but
who cannot stomach Orthodoxy. In a world
where millions of Jews are secular and find
their Jewish identity in cultural loyalties,
an identification of Jewish legitimacy with
Orthodox law and Orthodox practice makes
a majority of the Jewish people feel like
second-class citizens.
Neither Conservative nor Reform
authorities have responded adequately to
this controversy. Conservative Jews timid-
ly- follow the Orthodox, only demanding
that Conservative rabbis have the same
privileges as the Orthodox. Reform Jews
have been bolder, acknowledging that
Jewish fathers confer Jewish identity just
as well as Jewish mothers. But they still
insist on some form of theistic conversion
process for newcomers.
What is needed is a bold repudiation of
the Orthodox position. We need a definition
of Jewish identity that will embrace all the
people who think they are Jews, are
acknowledged as Jews and who want to be
Jews.
We need a definition that will give the
same rights to Jewish fathers as the Or-
thodox give to Jewish mothers.
We need a definition that will proclaim
Judaism to be more than a religion, and
Jewish identity to be far more than
religious identity. Cultural Jews are as
much Jews as religious Jews.
We need a definition that offers admis-
sion to secular people. Secular newcomers
who want to identify with Jewish history
and Jewish destiny should be as welcome

Continued on Page 10

47

A Woman's Place

RUTHAN BRODSKY
Home builder Brenda Burdge
is at ease in the male-dominated
construction world.

TRAVEL

57

Israel Mission

A photographic look
at a special
trip to Israel
for 23 Detroiters.

ANN ARBOR

58

Tombstone Roots

STEPHEN H. GOLDSTEIN
A 130-year-old gravemarker
unveiled Ann Arbor's Jewish roots.

ENTERTAINMENT

61

Pot 0' Gold

JUDY MARX

Potter Audrey Shapiro has turned
her talent into a profitable venture.

FASHION

85

New York Style

CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Tam O'Shanter's fall fashion show
had a stylish New York attitude.

DEPARTMENTS

20
34
36
74
88

91
100
101
102
131

For Women
Inside Washington
Synagogues
Cooking
On Campus

Engagements
Births
Youth
Single Life
Obituaries

CANDLELIGHTING

September 16, 1988 7:22 p.m.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7

