Since the start of civilization, people have marked the cycles of
nature, the origins of their culture, and the momentous events in the
life of their community. The earliest calendar was originally
agricultural and celebrated the ebb and flow of the seasons, with days
of light giving way to darkness and then light all over again. Early
farmers' festivals, timed for the harvest moon, were recast into
national holidays, but vestiges of their earliest form can still be
discerned. As Humanistic Jews, we honor the historical roots of these
occasions at the same time that we invest in them new meaning that
gives sustained significance for our own lives.
Sukkot is the Fall Harvest festival that is recalled in constructing the temporary booth--or sukkah--that the farmer would dwell in during the harvest period. Later it was explained that these booths also commemorate the dwellings of the ancient Israelites during their legendary forty-year journey from Egypt.
We celebrate this holiday primarily in our KidSchool with the construction of a creative Sukkah for everyone to enjoy. To mark the Fall Harvest, we have also organized picnics and apple-picking excursions.
Depending on the schedule, we also recognize Sukkot at one of our Shabbat services. While there is no archaeological evidence to back up the claim of the Exodus, we think the celebration of our collective journeys is still very meaningful. We have used the occasion of Sukkot to talk about the travels of our own families, as well as to appreciate the fragility of life, the benefits of shelter, and the need to help others less fortunate than ourselves.
Chanukah is the eight-day winter candle-lighting holiday that celebrates the courageous victory achieved by Judah Maccabee and his followers over King Antiochus Epiphanes, who tried to impose Greek culture and religion upon his Syrian empire, which included Judea.
Chanukah, in Hebrew, means "dedication" and refers to the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees following their recapture of Jerusalem in 161 B.C.E. Significantly, while the Maccabees recaptured the Temple in the fall, perhaps around October, they waited until the Winter Solstice Festival of Nayrot, or Lights, to celebrate their victory. In so doing, the earlier Solstice celebration became absorbed by Chanukah and was hidden from sight.
Some six hundred years later, this human-achieved victory was further embellished by Talmudic legend that spoke of the single flask of oil that miraculously burned for eight days. This later invention of the rabbis was devised to downplay the responsibility that men and women take for their own lives and to shift attention to the supernatural intervention of Yahweh. It was also the rabbis' way of adapting the festival to re-assert their own authority and rule and suppress the voices of any human-driven uprisings.
We also recognize that not all Jews joined the Maccabees in resisting Hellenism. In fact, many were drawn to Greek culture and adopted Greek ideas concerning beauty, art, music, drama and philosophy. These ancestors laid the groundwork for the pluralism, multiculturalism and humanism that we embrace today.
In essence, the battle was not just between the Maccabees and the Greeks, but between Jews--between modernity and fundamentalism. Most tragic of all, in the end, the Maccabees turned out to be tyrants themselves, corrupted by the very power they rose to overthrow.
How we celebrate Chanukah
We enjoy two celebrations of Chanukah, one with the KidSchool, and the other at Shabbat.
At KidSchool we come together as one large community for a special Chanukah program. It includes class presentations, lighting the menorah, and singing customary Chanukah songs. Then we celebrate with our very traditional "Pizza and Latke" party. And, of course, dreidls and Chanukah gelt (chocolate coins) are included!
At our Chanukah Shabbat, we observe a special service that commemorates the Maccabean victory along with the more ancient Winter Solstice. Everyone is invited to bring their own menorah and we really show what it means to bring light into our lives. The room glows with bright burning candles. After dinner we run separate programs for the adults and for the children.
This description is adapted from "Tu B'shvat-Jewish Earth Day-The Story of a Holiday," by Karen Levy, Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, Toronto.
Tu B'shvat - literally, the 15th of Shevat--celebrates the New Year for Trees and has become an occasion to honor our ethical obligations to care for the planet. This theme is incorporated into our KidSchool lessons.
But this worthy identity as Jewish Arbor Day may likely have a hidden pagan past that has been long suppressed. Scholars have taught that the ancient Israelites not only worshipped Yahweh but, like their Canaanite neighbors, also worshipped Asherah, the goddess of fertility, believing that her spirit resided in the trees and presided over the birth and growth of all animals and plants. There was a special folk festival for Asherah near the full moon of the month of Shevat, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
The Hebrew prophets and priests of Yahweh railed against tree worship, and prohibited the planting of trees near any of Yahweh's shrines. Despite these prohibitions the Israelites continued to worship trees, and to celebrate in Shevat, when they hoped the spring rains would come.
After the destruction of the Second Temple, the rabbis replaced the priests as leaders of the Jewish people. They continued the fight against tree worship, declaring that the fifteenth of Shevat, Tu B'shvat, would be the date for calculating the tax on produce from trees. They retained the recognition of the day, but tried to disconnect it from the tree spirits.
Despite this innovation by the rabbis the people still engaged in tree worship. It was too popular to eliminate. Since the rabbis could not get rid of the tree festival, they acted as though it had been a Jewish practice from the beginning. They imbued this pagan practice with Jewish significance by creating prayers, rituals and stories for its celebration. The holiday still centered on nature and trees; but Yahweh was to be the object of worship, instead of Asherah and her trees. In this way, Tu B'shvat was transposed from a pagan festival into a Jewish holiday.
Over one hundred years ago the first early Zionist settlers of Palestine understood how important trees, land preservation and modern agriculture would be in their great endeavor to reclaim the land. Today, through the on-going planting of trees, Tu B'shvat can make a connection for us with the state of Israel. But even more than this, it reaffirms our stewardship of the earth--of the soil, the sky and the waters--to protect and preserve them for ourselves and the generations to come after us.
Tu B'shvat Seder According to tradition, Tu B'shvat is celebrated by eating three different varieties of fruits and drinking different wines.
The first fruit has a hard skin or shell that we can not eat, like the almond or orange. These fruits are strong and sturdy on the outside and sweet on the inside, signifying the spirit of the women and men who labor to plant our groves and orchards.
The second type of fruit has an inner seed that we can not eat, such as a date or olive, peach or plum. These fruits remind us that every part of the fruit is useful. The Talmud describes how every part of the date palm can be used. Its fruit is sweet and nourishing. Its leaves are used to make roofs. From its bark rope is made, and buildings from its thick trunk. From its seeds, which we do not eat, new date trees will grow.
The last type of fruit is the one that can be entirely eaten, such as a fig or tomato. These fruits are soft both outside and inside. They are fragile and require care throughout the life cycle. They are symbolic of peace and freedom, which are also fragile and require vigilance throughout our lives.
Purim is a holiday of revelry and Carnival-spirit in early spring that celebrates Jewish deliverance from the threat of anti-Semitism and annihilation. The festival, based on "events" described in the Biblical Book of Esther, reads like an ancient soap opera. Esther, a Jewish girl raised by her uncle Mordecai in Shushan in Persia, marries King Ahasuerus when the former Queen Vashti refuses to obey him. But Esther does not reveal at first that she is Jewish.
Meanwhile, Haman, the prime minister, plots to get rid of all of the Jews because Mordecai refused to bow down to him. Mordecai persuades Esther to intervene with the king on behalf of the Jews, which she did at great risk. The king takes her side and allows the Jews not only to defend themselves but to exact on Haman the very persecution he had intended for the Jews, though that part of the story is usually taken out before it is told to children not to mention most adults! A celebration is decreed and is held on the 14th of Adar. Purim means "lots" and commemorates the lots that were cast to determine the date when the Jewish community of Persia was to be attacked and destroyed.
One of the problems with this story is that we can find no record of a Queen Esther, a Queen Vashti, or the mass killing of the Jews' enemies. Furthermore, the names Mordecai and Esther are suspiciously similar to those of Marduk and Ishtar, the twin gods of Babylon. What can this mean? Scholars propose that underlying the Esther story lurks an original Babylonian festival that celebrated the annual struggle in spring to end the harsh reign of winter. Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, and Marduk, the chief guardian of the heavens, triumph over Haman, the underworld god of death. In the end, spring returns and life is renewed.
Most significantly, after this earlier festival had become Judaised--with the introduction of Esther and Mordecai - Yahweh, the Hebrew God was not also included in the saga. The Book of Esther is truly a secular work that speaks of the triumph of human spirit over one's enemies. In fact, the book was so secular that it was not included at first in the Hebrew canon.
It is hypothesized that this story may actually be a veiled tribute to the Maccabean triumph over the Greeks, who are now disguised as Persians. According to early records, the festival was originally called Mordecai's Day and was observed on the 14th of Adar. Perhaps not coincidentally, the day before was celebrated for deliverance from danger. This was Nicanor's Day, which celebrated the Maccabean victory over the Greek general Nicanor.
But who has ever heard of Nicanor's Day? It was wiped off the calendar by the latter-day rabbis who wanted to play up dependence on God and downplay human self-reliance. Just as they later co-opted Chanukah by introducing the legend of the miraculous oil, they turned Nicanor's Day into the Fast of Esther. In effect, this conveyed the message that Esther and Mordecai's triumph was due to their repentance and submission to God, and subverted the original lesson that linked their victory to human courage and ingenuity.
How we celebrate Purim
How we celebrate Purim
The centerpiece of the Purim celebration is the Megillah reading, or recitation of the Purim story, that is interrupted with the sound of noisemakers, or groggers, whenever evil Haman's name is spoken. It is customary to blot out Haman's name, and in some circles, even to drink enough wine during the proceedings so as not to tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai! These customs most likely long predate Purim and the Book of Esther and hearken from older festivals that mark the change of seasons and a desire to expel evil spirits which might be near.
KidSchool
Children dress up in costume depicting the major characters of the story. Classes put on skits and presentations and we all enjoy the popular Megillah reading and traditional Purim songs. The older students usually present a Purimshpiel, a traditional satiric parody that mocks people in power. Then it is time for our Purim Carnival--various games and contests organized by parents and the teen group. After the pizza is enjoyed, it is followed by delicious hamantaschen, the triangular jelly-filled cookie that is supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat. The students often bake some of these themselves!
Adult Celebration
We hold a special Purim Shabbat each year that is marked with singing and special readings. Following the dinner, our cultural program has two components.
First, in honor of Queen Esther, we celebrate the role of Jewish women by selecting one for a special tribute that we have called A Woman of Valor.
Previous honorees have been:
Lillian Wald, the founder of public health nursing and an influential pioneer in the settlement house movement of the early twentieth century, and Ernestine Rose, one of the first pioneers for women's suffrage and our first Jewish-American feminist, whose favorite expression was, "Agitate, Agitate!"
Henrietta Szold,
founder of Hadassah, who played a vital role in shaping the political,
cultural and social worlds of Jews both in the United States and Israel
and created a new world of opportunity for Jewish women.
Grace Paley, poet, storyteller, feminist, political ctivist, who died in the summer of 2007.
The evening then takes a lighter tone and we enjoy a presentation that may likely take the form of an adult-rated Purimshpiel. We have also introduced, to our great delight, the traditional Hamantaschen-Latke Debate that has been popular on college campuses for years. Come see for yourself which is the more eminent of foods!
Passover, the spring holiday that marks a time of rebirth, also, according to tradition, commemorates the Jewish people's escape from slavery in Egypt in ancient days. But modern scholarship has called into question practically all aspects of the legend we have so loyally commemorated each year. If we can no longer accept the Exodus narrative as historical, how and why do we still tell the story?
Passover remains compelling because it links us to our families and connects us to the generations that have preceded us. It recalls for us the history and journey of our people--not just from long ago, but continuing to our own day. It renews our Jewish identity. And it recommits us to a belief that, with our help, enslaved and oppressed peoples everywhere can aspire to and achieve freedom.
How we celebrate Passover
KidSchool
Kids in the lower classes enjoy an annual Model Seder that introduces them to the symbolic foods of the meal, along with the Passover story and songs.
Community
One of the highlights of our year is our Congregational Seder. We have generally held this celebration at a restaurant or hotel in the city on the Saturday during the Passover week. Depending on the calendar, we may also gather for a Pre-Passover Seder.
Shavuot, originally, was an ancient harvest festival of minor importance. Literally, "Shavuot" means "weeks"--"shavua" means "week"--and it is so named because it comes exactly seven weeks, plus one day, from the second day of Passover. It is also known as Pentecost--alluding to fifty days that have passed--and also "Hag Habikkurim" or "Festival of First Fruits."
In rabbinic times a radical transformation of the festival took place. Shavuot, along with the other two harvest festivals, Passover and Sukkot, was reworked to fit the Exodus narrative. Passover re-enacts the escape from Egypt, Sukkot recalls the wandering in the desert, and Shavuot was now interpreted to commemorate the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai.
It is customary to stay up the night of Shavuot to study Torah. This night of vigil and study, known as Tikun Leil Shavuot, has had a recent renewal in Israel particularly among secular Jews who have expanded their study to classical texts generally.
It is also traditional to eat dairy products on Shavuot, though there are no conclusive explanations as to why this is the practice.
How we celebrate Shavuot
As Humanistic Jews, we do not view the Torah as a book of divine origin, but we are inspired by the idea of Shavuot to honor the wealth of Jewish literature and all the sources of our wisdom. We have used the Shabbat near to Shavuot to celebrate some aspect of this cultural and intellectual legacy. We may focus on one particular theme of Jewish literature--such as Yiddish literature, Israeli literature, or immigrant literature of the Lower East Side--or invite a particular author to share her/his own work with us.