Jeff Treistman is an SHJ board member, a board member of SHJ’s Seattle affiliate the Secular Jewish Circle of Puget Sound, WA, and a recent graduate of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism Leadership Program.
SHJ Mission:
The Society for Humanistic Judaism inspires, organizes, and advocates for secular individuals and congregations to celebrate Jewish identity and culture independent of supernatural authority and aligned with the values of Humanistic Judaism.
My connection to the mission of Secular Humanistic Judaism begins with the first verb in the statement, inspires. Yes, I have very definitely drawn inspiration through my interactions with Humanistic Judaism.
Jeff Treistman speaks at the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit during his ordination as a Madrikh/Leader by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, May 3, 2024.
I grew up in a household with two atheist parents and had no formal interaction with any Jewish institution. Nevertheless, I grew up with a strong Jewish identity that stems from my love of my father and his love of Jewish culture, minus the religion. I like to say that my Temple was Overbrook Delicatessen but even so my exposure to other Jews was not solely gustatory. From about age eight my father, occasionally, took me along with him on sales trips and factory visits. He worked in the Jewelry business for his entire career and his colleagues were almost exclusively Jewish. We lived in suburban Philadelphia and there was a scattering of Jewish families with children in public school, so I had Jewish friends. I also loved watching Jewish comedians on the Ed Sullivan show. Sometimes I thought my father was one of them.
When I got into my teenage years I learned that some of those institutional Jews that we didn’t associate with, didn’t consider me Jewish because my mother was not Jewish. She explained to me that some people are just bigoted. I never felt comfortable in mainstream Jewish settings and it wasn’t until my daughter was eight that I even considered looking for any affiliation. I was forty-eight at the time. I had read a lot of Jewish history and philosophy and found a lot of inspiration in Sherwin Wine’s Judaism Beyond God. So I looked into the secular humanistic Jewish community in Seattle which is the Secular Jewish Circle of Puget Sound where I was unhesitatingly accepted and enrolled my daughter in the school. This is where the second verb in the mission statement comes into play because the school was well organized and associated with a larger organization which you all know as the SHJ.
The third verb in the mission statement only more recently came into play, advocate, because that is how I developed in my interaction with Humanistic Judaism, I have become an advocate. I freely celebrate my Jewish identity and work to encourage the development of culture, Jewish and otherwise. The best part is that I do this all without any kind of reliance on supernatural authority. To be honest, I’m not very comfortable with any kind of authority. I do however recognize the difference between authoritative and authoritarian, and that to be an effective advocate one needs to be authoritative. The Society for Humanistic Judaism gives us an authoritative analysis of what Judaism is, and that is the key to my authentic connection.
This was wonderful to read. I came from a religious family which I stepped away from right after my Bar Mitzvah. I returned to mature reading of the Torah and other later books in my 50s, long time an atheist Jew. Yet, at the same time I came to see there was some useful archeologically supported history and wisdom (and much which I did not see wise and ethically wrong these days) in the “Holy Books,” and some of the medieval and later Rabbis from which I learned. I found Secular Humanistic Judaism only in 2023. It has become quite meaningful to me and so helpful to learn from Rabbi Chalom in Michigan while I live in New Mexico. Bravo for Zoom!