As the old saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun!” Not only am I having a hard time believing that it is mid-May but also that our congregational year is coming to an end. This year, as a congregation, we have celebrated many mitzvahs and experienced deep sorrow. These are the life events that help define the interests, beliefs and values that are at the core of our Humanistic Judaism.

As time continues to fly past, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the very things that make us Humanistic Jews and human. Think of your spouse, your children, your parents and your friends. Be grateful for what you have and don’t stop dreaming about what you want.

It has been a wonderful year. Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to help drive our congregation forward.

Have a wonderful and amazing summer!

Humbly Yours,

Steve Sussman

CHJ President

On Sunday, April 29, Dr. Paula Doress-Worters, the founder and director of The Ernestine Rose Society, will speak about the atheist feminist. Doress-Worters also is a scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.  Additionally, she is a co-author of “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” Copies of  “Mistress of Herself: Speeches and Letters of Ernestine Rose,” which Dr. Doress-Worters edited, will be available for purchase.

On the following Sunday, May 6, Dr. David Eddleman, a well-known composer of choral and other music, will discuss Yiddish films and musicals. Dr. Eddleman’s own works have been performed on every continent except Antarctica.  He is currently on the faculty of the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY, and lectures at the Education Center in Longboat Key, FL.

Both programs will take place from 9:30 to 11:30 am at the Hebrew Academy in Randolph, NJ.  As usual, they will begin with half an hour of socializing over fresh coffee and bagels.  Friends and members of the community are welcome to attend.

Spring has sprung! With spring comes the feelings of rebirth, of renewal, of fresh starts. The days get longer, the weather gets warmer. You can see the change in our environment and also in each one of us. It is our very human nature to experience joy as the winter passes and the spring begins.

We normally start our year off with an adult-ed discussion on Humanistic Judaism. With this season’s President Message, I would like to revisit that topic. As flowers and trees begin to bloom and nature’s cycle continues, I think it is important to examine our continued belief and understanding of Humanistic Judaism.
Is Humanistic Judaism a religion? Is CHJMC a synagogue? I have heard these questions asked many times. What is a religion anyway? Does the word “religion” imply a theistic basis? Is a better term for what we offer a “life philosophy” ? I think one way to think about these questions is to first ask what do we expect from a “religion,” and then try to see if Humanistic Judaism supplies these elements. And, is this why we belong to our congregation?

The answers that come to me off the top of my head are fairly straightforward. A religion provides a community. A religion offers a guide to morals, and a pathway to living an ethical life. A religion provides a framework to try to understand the uncertainty of human existence. A religion provides support and comfort at times of loss or stress. A religion offers a connection to our past and to our future.

I like this viewpoint. It resonates with my personal view of our congregation and of life. I need to add to my list: A religion needs to make people happy. It needs to bring about the feeling of joy. It needs to make people have a sense of belonging. We do not always have to answer deep moral questions, or justify our legitimacy to others. We just need to unlock the secret to our own comfort and joy and allow ourselves that sense of belonging.

I would also like to take this opportunity to give a very big THANK YOU to our current CHJ Board and to those who have given of themselves to help our congregation thrive. Without your dedication and commitment, our congregation would without a doubt, suffer.

With that said, it is time to nominate members for the 2012-2013 CHJ Board.

Do you have a person in mind who you think would make an excellent board member?
Would you like to run for a position yourself?

At our annual year end meeting on May 20, 2012, we will elect officers and Board Members for the 2012-2013 year. All members who are present will be eligible to vote. Even though some board members will remain in their positions for the next year, all positions are open. The board meets monthly on weekday evenings or Sunday morning during Sunday School.

We will be accepting nominations for:
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Membership
Adult-Ed
Communications
Social Action
Holidays/Shabbat-Havdalah

If you have suggestions for nominations (including yourself), please feel free to talk to anyone on the current board and let us know who you think would be a fine candidate. Then, be sure to come and vote at the annual meeting on May 20th! I hope to see everyone there.

Humbly yours,

Steve Sussman
CHJMC President

To the Editor:

Your March 8 Column, Would you believe?, does a great disservice to the many atheists in the NJ Jewish community and your other readers who might benefit by more accurate information regarding secular alternatives to traditional belief systems. (Need it be said, not for the first time?) From the first paragraph (suggesting that significant numbers of atheists are found only in “godless enclaves”), to the last (proposing that atheists are unable to create “institutions and communities that offer the ends and means of being fully human”), you perpetuate the discriminatory and socially destructive canard that atheists fail to provide “’meaningful narratives’ that give people a reason for living”. Regardless of the delicacy of the text or the location of the American Atheists’ billboards, it is undeniable that atheists exist in every religious community, living lives as deeply closeted and facing as much hostility upon “coming out” as any other disdained minority.

The New Jersey Jewish News should do a better job of including and respecting the ideas and sentiments of the tens of thousands of atheists, skeptics, free-thinkers, non-believers, and others within your readership. This can only lead to greater understanding within Klal Yisroel and all people.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Agree
Ceremonial Leader
Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Morris County

Join in the festivities that typically commemorate the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman. For Humanistic Jews, Purim is a celebration of the heroic in Jewish history, a tribute to human ethical role models. More information on the holiday can be found at www.shj.org/purim.htm.

Our spring-like winter weather made Stephen and Chio Bloom’s home a metaphorically apt setting for our February Havdala gathering. And what a gathering! A perfect representation of what these monthly programs mean to CHJ.

It was intimate, only 15 people.

It was family-centered, with children from three clans, including current Sunday School students and high-school graduates of our B’nai Mitzva program, and even an out-of-town relative.

It was diverse, representing several generations, recent CHJ members and those who remember when the living room and kitchen were the only spaces where CHJ ever met.

It was uplifting. At the conclusion of the service, two of our youngest Sunday School “haverim” sang the final chorus of “Shalom Haverim” in unison without any adult accompaniment. We loved it! (And I think they did, too.)

See you next month!

Rob

Our students will be joined by students from I.L. Peretz and the Midtown Schula from New York City on a simulated trip to the shtetl.  At the start, the students will be introduced to Yiddish and will be issued a “passport”.  They then will be divided, based on interest, into four groups: klezmer band, skit, art and food.  All will reconvene to showcase what they’ve done.

A social action component in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King will be incorporated into the event, which will end with students enjoying the food they made or that was brought by their families.  The event, which will take place at the Rutgers Preparatory at 1345 Easton Avenue between 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM on February 26, will occur in lieu of the regular Sunday School session at the Hebrew Academy.

We hope you can participate in this fun and educational “trip”.

Stephanie Zenna & Blaine Riddle
Sunday School Co-Chairs

IS THE TORAH RELEVANT TO HUMANISTIC JEWS?
FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Author and educator Bennett Muraskin will make the case that much of Jewish folklore, from the Talmud to Hasidic sources and beyond, reflects our values as secular Humanistic Jews and demonstrates that our roots run deeper into the literature of our people than generally understood. Most religious Jews cite the Torah and perhaps the rest of the Jewish Bible as their foundational literature. Others cite the laws and rabbinic interpretations of the Talmud. But what about secular Humanistic Jews? Do we have a claim on these sources, or are they too theistic, authoritarian and ethnocentric? Muraskin’s talk will be based on his book, Humanist Readings in Jewish Folklore, published in 2001 by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism. He also wrote Let Justice Well Up Like Water: Progressive Jews from Hillel to Hillen Suzman (2004) and co-authored Celebrating Jewish Holidays: An Introduction for Secular Jewish Families and Their Communities (2002). Muraskin is an author, columnist and adult education director at the Jewish Cultural School and Society in West Orange, NJ.  He has been a speaker at CHJMC over the past several years.

THE DREYFUS AFFAIR
MARCH 4, 2012

In 1894, a French military court convicted Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish artillery officer, of treason. Although an investigation proved his innocence, he remained in captivity on Devil’s Island until he was pardoned by the French president in 1899. His exoneration and reinstatement in the army did come until 1906.  This case, one of the greatest political scandals in history, divided France into warring camps, with the military, the Church and other anti-Semites pitted against the defenders of democracy and civil rights. What does this “affair” tell us about modern anti-Semitism and the search for “national identity” today? Join Abbie Gorin, former Jewish Cultural School and Society teacher, for a stimulating presentation. Gorin is an attorney for Essex Newark Legal Services, where he advocates for tenant and homeowner rights.

ERNESTINE ROSE
APRIL 29, 2012

Dr. Paula Doress-Worters, the founder and director of The Ernestine Rose Society, will speak about the atheist feminist. Doress-Worters also is a scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.  Additionally, she is a co-author of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

YIDDISH FILMS AND MUSICALS
MAY 6, 2012

The 1930s and early 40s were the golden age of Yiddish theater and motion pictures. (Did you know that many of the Yiddish movies set in Poland were filmed around Newton, NJ?) Many of the songs from those productions even found their way into American popular culture. The names associated with Yiddish theater and motion pictures are legendary, including Jacob and Stella Adler, Luther Adler, Molly Picon, Herschel Bernardi, Boris Tomashevsky, Moyshe Oysher, Zero Mostel and many younger ones who went on to careers in the Broadway theater. These musical theater pieces and motion pictures will be presented with film clips and songs. Dr. David Eddleman, a well-known composer of choral and other music, will speak about these Yiddish works of art. Come for a real simcha of Yiddish culture!

Dr. Eddleman’s own 600+ works have been performed on every continent except Antarctica.  He is currently on the faculty of the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY, and lectures at the Education Center in Longboat Key, FL.  More information on Eddleman can be found at  www.eddlemancomposer.com/the-composer/.

It is hard to believe this congregational year is nearly half over. To help assure that you receive the best membership experience, I wanted to let you know that we have scheduled our mid-term congregation meeting for 9:30 to 11:30 AM, Sunday, January 29, at the Hebrew Academy in Randolph. It is of the utmost importance that all our members attend.

At this important meeting, we will talk about the highlights of the year to date, new members, the financial report and our new website. More important, this mid-term meeting is intended to provide you the opportunity to speak up and help determine how our congregation moves forward.

This meeting will enable you to express your likes, dislikes and ideas for Sunday Schoool, Adult education programs and holiday celebrations and to discuss any other topic you wish to address.

Please remember, we are a co-op, and your input is important and needed to keep our congregation alive, flourishing and moving in the right direction for all of us.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on January 29. Happy New Year to all!!

Thanks,
Steve Sussman
CHJMC President