November 9, 2024—As a nonpartisan 501(c)3, SHJ does not endorse candidates. We do, however, endorse values. This week seems like a good time to revisit and reaffirm some core values of Humanistic Judaism.
Humanism is anti-racist and pro-LGBTQ+ equality, because our core values include human dignity and equality.
Lifting up those who need help is a core value of both humanism and Judaism. The mitzvah repeated most often in the Torah is to “welcome the stranger, because we were strangers in Egypt.” For most of our history, Jews have been refugees and resident aliens. We can take satisfaction knowing that the majority of Jews today remain empathetic to the plight of others.
“Skeptic” is a moniker many of us wear with pride, but for humanists, skepticism is synonymous with critical thinking and the scientific method—not the embrace of misinformation from compromised sources just because it confirms our worldview.
None of these Jewish and humanistic values had a particularly winning week. Instead, the more effective political messaging was grievance, blame, and even hate.
Rabbi Sherwin Wine centered hope and courage as core values of Humanistic Judaism. He acknowledged that such values are particularly challenging in the face of a “crazy world.”
How we got here and what to do about it will be discussed widely over the coming weeks and months. The solutions start internally, with personal values, and then interpersonally, through communities of shared values.
But it’s not enough to just huddle in our current communities. We need to reach out and bring in more people who may be receptive to our approach.
We need to demonstrate, through deeds not just statements, that love is more powerful than hate, inclusion more effective than divisiveness. We need to chip away at people’s willingness to accept misinformation out of fear. This is accomplished more effectively face-to-face, in respectful dialogue.
Rebuilding in-person community is now more important than ever, when the technology that was supposed to usher in an “information age” has instead led to destructive misinformation, isolation, and growing resentment.
We will need many different solutions to cure our ailing society. SHJ’s affiliated communities work to bring people together around positive, inclusive core values, and we are determined to double-down on that work.
Thank you for joining with us in this movement of shared values.
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