AUGUST 12 • 2021 | 23
video games. In 2018, at the
age of 15, he was gaming
at a professional level and
making money in Fortnite
tournaments and on Twitch,
a video game livestreaming
service.
Because of a chronic
inflammatory disease called
eosinophilic esophagitis,
Pandolfi attended school
online. The condition made
it hard for him to sit in class
on some days. The condition
causes an array of stomach
issues, including severe pain,
the inability to swallow food
and vomiting. His symptoms
have since improved, but one
of the things he hopes to do
if his career takes off is use
modeling to bring awareness
and funding to help combat
the disease.
“
Although I’m doing
better and able to function
normally, there are a lot of
people who aren’t,
” he said.
Pandolfi likes to skateboard
and travel. While he was in
Venice, he encountered a
group of Orthodox Jews. He
approached them and said,
“Shalom. I’m a Jew from
America; how’s it going? I
didn’t really know what else
to say, other than that.
”
His other interests include
spending time with family
and friends. Pandolfi said he
appreciates the time he has to
be with the people he loves
because he doesn’t know how
often he will be traveling.
Plus, a move to New York
will eventually be necessary
for a modeling career.
“He’s my favorite person
to hang out with,” said his
mom. “He’s confident and
comfortable with who he
is but not cocky. I’m proud
of his attitude and the way
he’s handling everything by
staying down to earth.
”
T
he Birmingham
Temple has replaced
its name with a more
accurate description. Its new
name: the Congregation for
Humanistic Judaism of Metro
Detroit.
The impetus for the change
came from the congregation’s
outreach project. Analyzing
factors relevant to recruit-
ment, committee members
noted that the inherited
name did not succeed in
“telling our story.” In an offi-
cial statement, the congre-
gation leadership observed
that “Humanistic Judaism is
not well understood, and our
name was doing little to even
prompt questions or curiosity
about it!”
Rabbi Jeffrey Falick felt
that personally: “When I was
out in the community, intro-
ducing myself as the rabbi
of the Birmingham Temple
meant that I never even had
the opportunity to state the
most important thing about
us, that we’re a community of
Humanistic Jews.”
He adds, “I have already
noticed that when I say I’m
from the Congregation for
Humanistic Judaism, I get
more questions about what
that means.”
Some leaders also objected
that the old name did not
come close to meeting the
congregation’s ideology: That
we “say what we mean.”
“We haven’t been in
Birmingham for close to 50
years,” Rabbi Falick added.
In a process taking more
than a year, moving from the
outreach project to the board
to the entire congregation,
the congregation sought a
new, more expressive name
for itself. The most widely
accepted of the 27 sugges-
tions included the words
“Humanistic Judaism.”
In 1963, Rabbi Sherwin
Wine with eight like-mind-
ed families founded the
Birmingham Temple as the
first Humanistic Jewish con-
gregation in 1963, introduc-
ing a number of significant
changes in breaking from the
Reform Movement, such as
dropping mentions of God
in the liturgy and removing
the Torah from the front of
the sanctuary to a space in
the library. The non-theis-
tic movement emphasizes
human beings as the sources
of values.
Rabbi Falick explains, “The
original name was really
a legacy of a short stay in
Birmingham, some of which
did not go all that well. For
example, there was that
time when the Birmingham
Masonic Temple received so
many complaints about our
non-theistic celebrations that
they actually evicted us! In
any case, the original name
never underwent any kind
of process. It was simply an
inheritance.
“Naming the movement,
on the other hand, was the
result of a real process back
in the 1960s,” Rabbi Falick
said. “After considering
possibilities like ‘Rational
Judaism’ or ‘Naturalistic
Judaism,’ they landed on
Humanistic, a positive and
upbeat way to describe us
and draw interest.
“Given the attachment to
our movement and its name,
it just seemed right that it
should become prominent
in our new congregational
name. Our members and
leaders have always stood
ready to share with any-
one interested just what
Humanistic Judaism is all
about.
“Now they don’t have to
waste the time explaining
what Birmingham has to
do with anything. They can
get right to the point about
our innovative approach to
Judaism.”
The Birmingham Temple is now the Congregation
for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit.
A New Name
LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rabbi
Jeffrey
Falick