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Humanists Oust Rabbi

First Pair

Birmingham Temple dismisses a visiting rabbi
after she is ordained by a Chassidic rabbi.

LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer

tacie Fine, a visiting rabbi at
the Birmingham Temple, his-
torically a haven for inclusion,
has been released for, as she
characterized it, "being too religious."
Fine had been in the Farmington
Hills temple's rabbinical program on
schedule for ordination as a Humanistic
rabbi in October but chose instead to
be ordained by a modern Chassidic
rabbi in New York last December.
"It was a great surprise to us," said
Rabbi Sherwin Wine of the
Birmingham Temple. "Choosing to
be ordained by a non-Humanist is an
indication that she doesn't respect the
program that was created for her, and
she wouldn't need an ordination by a
Chassidic rabbi if she did."
Fine, the rabbi at Congregation
Ahavat Shalom, an unaffiliated, 50-
family congregation in Traverse City,
said her beliefs weren't news to anyone.
"I made no secret in any way that
my perspective on things tend to be
more traditional and religious within
the movement," Fine said. "My deci-
sion to pursue graduation would be one
type of recognition, but there was a per-
sonal piece still missing for me, and it
was a piece that the movement couldn't
provide nor had interest in providing."
Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, a 90-
year-old "modern" Chassidic rabbi,
ordained Fine. "I didn't seek out
another movement, but a rabbi whose
values are Humanistic and equal to
mine," she said.
"She didn't see any inconsistency
with the ordination by a renegade
Chassidic rabbi," Wine said.
"However, the ceremony itself is quite
different from a Humanist one, and is
quite obviously incompatible."
Fine was released as visiting rabbi, a
title which meant she came to the
Birmingham Temple three weekends a
year, and as community development
director for the Society for Humanistic
Judaism, where she helped organize
congregations in other communities.
Fine also resigned from the rab-
binical program where she had com-

Lonny Goldsmith can be reached at
(248) 354 - 6060 ext 263, or by e - mail
at: lgoldsmith@thejewishnews.com .

pleted the five-year seminar and was
completing her doctorate.
"I'm guessing from much of the
tenor of the correspondence that
many people felt I was too religious
and too traditional," Fine said. "This
is the incident where people could
say, 'Here's the evidence of that."
Fine, 34, does apologize that word
of her ordination got out without her
informing people.
But Wine said that if he had found
out about her plan beforehand and
she still carried it out, the results like-
ly wouldn't have been different.
"Had- she pursued it, her leaving
would be one without dismissal, but
mutual agreement," he said. "We
weren't informed and taken by surprise.
The welfare of the temple, society and
rabbinical program are at stake."
Fine is angry because she was
released without being questioned. "I
was dismissed with no hearing or
notice, and irrespective of my job
performance," she said. "I don't find
that to be very humanistic."
The SHJ was founded in 1969, six
years after Wine and several other fam-
ilies founded the Birmingham Temple,
which is open to anyone who wants to
embrace Humanistic Judaism.
The executive director of the
national governing body, Bonnie
Cousens, said the movement is per-
son centered, not God centered.
"It emphasizes dignity, equality
and freedom of all people," Cousens
explained. "Other religions and
philosophies may have the same val-
ues, but differently." P1

What Is
Humanistic Judaism?

Humanistic Jews believe that
Judaism is the culture and civiliza-
tion, created by the Jewish people
over centuries, and that a Jew is
someone who identifies with that
history and culture.
It holds that men and women
are responsible for shaping their
own lives independent of super-
natural authority and that morali-
ty should promote personal free-
dom and human dignity.
— Excerpted from the Temple credo

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Detroit Jewish News

2/ 1 2

1999

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