A young member of Ann Arbor's
Jewish Cultural Society casts her
flowers into the Huron River at
Island Park during tashlich.

Rosh Hashanah

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Esther Allweiss Ingber
Contributing Writer

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ndrea Liberman is pleased that the
frequently moving Sholem Aleichem
Institute (SAI) is holding its High
Holiday assemblies this year at the Steinway Piano
Gallery Recital Hall in Commerce Township. The
location is closer to home and, as always, will give
her "an opportunity to be with people I love:'
SAI is where this self-described "kind of an
agnostic" prefers to observe Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur.
"If I come, it's more social than anything else;'
said Liberman, who looks forward to lunching
with friends following the Rosh Hashanah service.
Although she "always fasts on Yom Kippur," the
Jewish traditions of the High Holidays are more
attractive to her "than the religious part:'
Like their co-religionists in the Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform, Renewal and
Reconstructionist movements, secular and
Humanistic Jews also welcome the Jewish New
Year. The non-observant won't be found worship-
ing for hours in shul or making entreaties to God.
Instead, groups serving this segment have created
meaningful ways to identify as proud members of
the Jewish people.
In addition to SAI, secular Jewish organizations
that will offer holiday services include Workmen's
Circle/Arbeter Ring (WC/AR) at the Oak Park
Jewish Community Center; Jewish Parents
Institute (JPI) at the West Bloomfield JCC; Jewish
Cultural Society (JCS) at the JCC of Greater Ann
Arbor; and the Humanistic Jews of Birmingham
Temple in Farmington Hills.
Like Jews everywhere, these organizations have
differences in their philosophies and the program-
ming/services they offer.

Birmingham Temple

The Society for Humanistic Judaism is the
Farmington Hills-based congregational arm of
the movement founded in 1969 by Birmingham
Temple's late Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine.
As its website states: "Humanistic Judaism
embraces a human-centered philosophy that
celebrates Jewish culture without supernatural
underpinnings. Humanistic Jews value their Jewish
identity and the aspects of Jewish culture that offer
a genuine expression of their contemporary way of
life. We believe in the human capacity to create a
better world:'
"Secular Jews tend to be largely
non-religious in their daily lives:'
said Rabbi Jeffrey Falick, current
leader of Birmingham Temple.
"Some of them possess a God-
concept, while others do not:'
Birmingham Temple will hold
evening, morning, family and
Rabbi Falick
memorial services throughout the
10-day High Holiday period.
Wine created the first models for Jewish celebra-
tions patterned on religious customs that were
devoid of theistic content, Falick explained.
These services are "consistent with our nonthe-
istic, Humanistic philosophy; he said. Instead of
worship and praise, "they emphasize the respon-
sibilities that we human beings bear, individually

Traditions on page 60

58

September 18 • 2014