the practice of secular judaism

30
The Practice of Secular Judaism Social Erasure of Secular Judaism in Pew Institute Research By Kara Meyer Guckenberger April 15, 2015

Upload: uc

Post on 05-Apr-2023

1 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

The Practice of Secular Judaism

Social Erasure of Secular Judaism in Pew Institute Research

ByKara Meyer Guckenberger

April 15, 2015

Digest

In this paper I shall explore the following: 1) The

secular humanistic Jewish congregant. 2) The secular Jew

with no synagogue affiliation. 3) The secular cyber Jew.

One of the components, which have given sustainability

to diaspora Jews, is a facet of Jewry that perhaps deserves

greater recognition. It is secular Judaism.

Secular Judaism contributes to the success of keeping

Judaism alive, particularly here in the U.S.

The Pew Institute is the prevailing provider for

information, which gives polling analysis on many topics,

including religion.

If the Pew study is to be used as a measuring device to

determine the status of American Jewry, then when we examine

their conclusions, we should not be disheartened by the

percentages of religious Jews. Instead, we should look at

2

the 30% quantification of “no-denomination” and the 6% of

“other” as a distinction that 36% of Jews are still Jews. 1

The delineation that they are non-religious does not

mean they are not Jews. It means the non-religious or non-

affiliates are being viewed in the context of not

practicing, thus creating a notion in the Jewish community

that they are losing Jews.

My paper aims to categorically reject the over-used

terminology of “non-affiliate” to be reconstituted as

“secular.” This distinction is critical to bridging gaps

within Judaism. It is the difference between the practice of

secular Judaism and the apathy of Judaism. Apathy is defined

as the “lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern.” Apathy is

the only threat to American Jewry, not being a non-affiliate

or non-religious. I will demonstrate that secular Judaism is

not only an important branch of Judaism, but it may very

well be the most important component to this very complex

and intricate concept called Judaism.

1 Pew Study, June 2014. (Pie chart p.16)

3

I shall additionally create a comprehensive and

distinct picture of secular Judaism that lives in the minds

of Jews, but it is not being cultivated as a form of Jewish

practice, much in the same way we envision religious practice.

By harnessing the ideals behind secular Judaism we can

provoke a Judaism that is as ancient as the Tanakh itself.

If we can awaken the sleeping secular Jew, we can

reinvigorate the global Jewish community by understanding

and demonstrating how the practice of secular Judaism can and

should be embraced by all Jews. By recognizing the value of

secular Judaism, Jewish leaders can elevate that 36% into a

new category that is rightfully quantified in future Pew

studies as “secular Jews.”

Outreach

It is no secret that religious Jews have spent years

working on how to connect with Jews who no longer attend a

synagogue. There are numerous organizations, programs,

activities, trips and non-religious delights crafted to

entice the non-religious Jew, back into the fold. The error

in this ideology is that although a Jew may be willing to go

4

on a sponsored trip to Israel or see a play that their

nephew is in at their synagogue; it does not inspire the Jew

to become an active Jew- at least active in the context of

synagogue life. What about Jewish life? What are the

attributes of an active Jew?

If we can remain in the context of secular Jews, then we

must break down what it would mean to practice secular

Judaism. The Pew Institute knows the term secular Jew, but

does not understand what it means.

Defining Secular Judaism’s Origins

Secular Judaism can be described as Judaism that is

non-religious. Judaism infact was not always a religion. We

know that if we examine the trajectory of ancient Hebrews,

through Israelite culture, we do not discover the religion

of Judaism until Second Temple Period, as a response to the

diaspora. Prior to this era, this group was an ethno-

centric, ancient, cultic peoplehood.

Secular Judaism is embodied by the fact that it has its

own language, history, culture, food, music, festivals,

customs and literature. If you strip away the religion of

5

Judaism, you have strong pillars that are grounded in

traditions that can stand on their own. Modernity has given

Judaism the grand contribution to expand beyond the

description of religion. Today exists even broader

expressions of Judaism. This would include poetry, film, art

and politics.

We know that if we read biblical texts, such as Esther,

Job and Song of Songs, we can see that G-d is downplayed or

practically non-existent. 2

According to David Biale:

“The secular tradition is anchored in the Jewish religious tradition, not just as a rejection of it, but as a dialectical working out of some of its ideas, even some of its impulses, even if some of its impulses were not entirely conscious to the Jewish religious tradition. Therefore, this Jewish secular tradition is actually an integral part of the Jewish tradition as a whole. It is a part of it, it is not a completely separate entity defined only by negation. “ 3

Secular lies somewhere between holy and profane. It is

a position in the middle. Jewish tradition itself opens the

possibility that secularism is neither negative nor 2 Biale, David, Not in the Heavens (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010) 59.3 Biale, David, “Jewish Secularism.” The New School. Manhattan, New York. June 13, 2011.

6

polluted- neither holy nor profane. Judaism does not reject

an earthly world for a heavenly world like Christianity. 4

It is clearly rooted in great truth and even in great Jewish

literature.

The Hebrew word for a secular Jews is םםםם .םםםםםם

Hilonim is first used in the Midrash, contained in the

rather famous story about the Oven of Akhnai as well as

discussions on the holy versus the profane. In the Oven of

Akhnai, Kosher or not, all the Rabbis say it is unclean and

one Rabbi Eliezer says it is clean. He is the only one with

this position and asserts- the Torah is not in the heavens,

it is here on earth. He proceeds deeper and claims that “we”

will decide what it means. He believes God has endorsed this

concept that it is not in the heavens. (Deuteronomy

30:11,12):

For this commandment, which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?” 5

4 Biale, lecture.5 The Jewish Study Bible , Eds. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler.(New York, Oxford University Press, 2004), 436.

7

I find this assertion rather rebellious towards the rabbinate itself. The rabbinate

uses this to serve a purpose of human autonomy. The story

demonstrates an impulse or mentality that there is autonomy

from G-d. For our purpose, this is a possibility to exploit

a later modern secular philosophy. The story also functions

not to humiliate the person in the minority. 6

Biale asserts that secular Judaism is an outgrowth of

religious Judaism. The change is a dialectical outgrowth

rooted firmly in tradition, which took the

institutionalization of Judaism and transformed it into an

ethical vocation. If we

understand Biale’s assertion, then we can say that Jewish

identity is no longer a matter of destiny; it is a matter of

personal choice. 7

The Pew Institute does not ask specific and relevant

questions, targeting secular Jews. If they did we could

learn more. There should be current research and focus on a

deliberate campaign that identifies secular Jews. What would6 Biale, lecture7 Biale, lecture

8

American Jewry do with that information? Biale also points

out the conundrum of secular Judaism.

It is not a movement, at least not anymore. Secular

Zionism, and Bundism- particularly among Eastern Europeans

of the late 19th and 20th centuries- had a political climate

that was ripe for such activities and unified coalitions.

The conditions that promulgated this type of activism and

ideology no longer exist in today’s culture. So if

secularism in a “movement” fashion is no longer alive, what

is it?

Who Is a Secular Jew?

We know that the Talmud says if one’s mother is Jewish,

then one is Jewish. We also know in Reform Judaism that

patrilineal Judaism is accepted, thus the Torah itself marks

the Jewish bloodline through patrilineal descent. We know

that sectarianism exists within Judaism and we know that

Jews can be born into one sect and perhaps move to another.

If secular Judaism is not a sect, is one automatically

secular if they are not members of a synagogue? I will

assert that even if one is born Jewish, yet has no exposure

9

to Jewish history, tradition or activity, including the

absence of religious life, they are not much of a secular

Jew. In order to qualify a Jew as secular- would they not

have to engage in something specifically Jewish in nature

that is not religious? At some point, Jewish exposure has to

occur in the life of the Jew. I will posit that a secular

Jew has experienced Judaism at some point in their life

(perhaps childhood) and they built a construct of a Jewish

identity through their own experiences outside religious

participation.

What Does Secular Jewish Practice Look Like?

We could go easy on ourselves and use a Maimonidean

negative theory to describe a secular Jew, by defining what

he or she is not. However, it is the distinguishment of

activities and behaviors that lend identity to the secular

Jew. This provides a broad spectrum of secular Jewish

archetypes. We have the secular Jew who may never step foot

in a synagogue, but they are a member of AIPAC. They may not

pray or read Torah, they may not keep Shabbat, but they may

celebrate Hanukkah.

10

What about the secular Jewish organizations such as B’nai

B’rith? A couple may opt to never send their child to a

Jewish summer camp, but take advantage of a free trip to

Israel for their teenager paid by the Jewish Federation. The

teenager may not return back to the U.S. ready for synagogue

membership, but they will have seen Israel and experienced

that it is a geographical place, not simply a story out of a

book for the Jewish people.

A Mitzvah is a Mitzvah, Right?

At the beginning of my essay I referred to the practice

of secular Judaism. If the Pew institute could cloak

practice in the performance of a mitzvah, wouldn’t the

secular

Jew who visits a sick relative be demonstrating Judaism

itself? Is there a distinction between a secular Jewish

mitzvah and a religious mitzvah? There are only mitzvot.

Was the Jew conscious that he or she had performed a mitzvah

when a visit to a sick relative took place? Perhaps not,

perhaps they know on some sub-conscious level the act is a

mitzvah. Yet if we live our lives in such a way that the

11

day-to-day behaviors are consistent with Jewish ethics, then

our lifestyle choices become second nature. The mitzvot

becomes involuntary to the Jew who has embraced an ethical

Jewish life.

The Theology of Secular Judaism

Is it not an oxymoron to call upon the term “theology”

when discussing Jewish secularism? This is where we get to

obliterate stereotyping the secular Jew. Are secular Jews

Atheists and Agnostics? Let us turn to one of our greatest

forerunners of secular Jewish thought: Baruch Spinoza, in

his Theological Political Treatise we see that Spinoza is a

Pantheist. G-d is in everything and there is nothing outside

the world that is transient. The world is God therefore they

are inter-exchangeable. This is not atheism. 8 On the other

hand, a secular Jew might say G-d is totally imminent. Or

perhaps a secular Jew might say G-d could be described as

completely transcendent and therefore shares nothing with

the world, thus making G-d abstract.

8 Spinoza, Baruch, Theological Political Treatise (Indianapolis, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2001) 72.

12

The Pew study does not in any way designate a specific

shred of theology.

It may show that Reform is 35%, but does that 35% believe

the Torah is divine? Are there Reform Jews who view the

Torah as a cultural text? Pew does not break down the

individual beliefs, only the delineation of how many

identify with a sect. This is not useful data because it is

too ambiguous.

I have personally met Orthodox Jews who are strictly

observant and claim to be Atheist. They pledge their

commitment to the act of honoring their ancestors, not the

G-d of Judaism. Thus the mitzvot they perform may appear to

be religious, yet the intent behind it is not. This makes

the mitzvah (or practice) secular in its intent.

The Flaw of The Pew Institute

The Pew study does not reveal the percentage of secular

humanist Jews. To be clear, I realize there are secular

humanistic Jews who could be mapped through the Pew study

because there are congregations who define themselves as

13

such. This could create yet another sect and cut into the

pie chart. Indeed, this would not be a difficult task and

should be integrated into the data. Secular humanistic

Judaism has been an unofficial fifth arm of Judaism. 9 Yet

representing those congregations is another issue altogether

for a different type of paper.

However, I am suggesting the Pew study address the Jews

who are not affiliated with a synagogue of any type, but

quantify them as secular Jews. Is this not a direct conflict

and extra complication to say there are congregations who

distinctly call themselves secular humanistic Jews, while

simultaneously saying there are Jews who are not in any

synagogue because they are secular? No, and here is why:

According to the SHJ (Secular Humanistic Judaism),

there are twenty-seven secular humanistic Jewish

congregations in the United States, which are affiliated

under the leadership of this organization. 10 This is to say9 Kight, Asher, “Drawing Boundaries and Limiting Elasticity:What Did the Reform Movement Learn from Beth Adam’s Membership Application to the UAHC?” (Rabbinic dissertation,HUC-JIR, 2007), footnote 92, 81.10 “Find A Community,” retrieved March 29, 2015. Secular Humanistic Judaism. http://www.shj.org/communities/find-a-

14

nothing of the secular humanistic Jewish congregations who

are neither affiliated members of the SHJ, nor the URJ

(Union for Reform Judaism). An example of a non-affiliated

secular humanistic Jewish congregation would be Congregation

Beth Adam of Cincinnati Ohio. Pew neither reveals the

numbers of secular humanistic Jewish congregations, nor the

number of Jews who are secular non-affiliates. If Pew would

make it a priority to provide this necessary research and

meaningful data, the Jewish community in America could begin

to do something very important.

American Jewry could explore possibilities for

continuity and integration into Judaism. American Judaism

could cease the act of bifurcating secular from religious

and examine the totality of a clearer picture with an

accurate account of what American Jewry looks like in

actuality, not in theory. This assertion could be the

beginning to a myriad of solutions. Solutions to what, does

American Jewry have a problem? I cannot answer such a

community/

15

question, however I can assert that unifying all Jews is to

the benefit of Judaism.

The Cyber Jewish Community

I have already suggested that the Pew Institute give

representation to secular humanistic Jewish congregations

and to quantify secular Jews who do not attend synagogue

(because they are still Jewish). Yet there is another

category that is so vast, Pew would have to create a whole

new division to address the incalculable amount of Jews who

live their Jewish life exclusively in the cyber world. I am

now referring to Jewish websites, blogs and social media.

More academic research would be needed to deepen the span of

questions to understand cyber Judaism. In order to create a

digestible case study for this untapped group, I will use my

own preliminary research on the cyber Jewish community.

Although it is anecdotal, the lack of source material for

this particular matter says a great deal. It is the absence

of what is not in the Pew data that prompts this line of

questioning. For example: Out of all of my Facebook

“friends”, there are over two hundred of them who identify

16

as Jewish and I have never met them in my entire life. They

live on every continent, in every time zone and I have more

interaction with them, than my real-life synagogue

community. I belong to thirteen Jewish oriented groups on

Facebook. Each of these groups has anywhere from ten members

to 10,000 members. This is to say nothing of the thirty

“pages” I follow which are a conglomeration of Jewish blogs,

websites and organizations. These pages I follow, each

contain thousands of followers. Now factor in the number of

Jewish figureheads or personalities I follow, which is

around fifteen and consider the hundreds and thousands of

followers each of them have. Do you see the infinite web of

Jewish identity that is splitting at the seams? I am only

one person who has the ability to practice Judaism in a whole

new, undefined way. By interacting with social media, a Jew

can receive education on simple to complex levels about

numerous facets within Judaism. A Jew can connect with other

Jews and experience Jewish life in a way that is just as

meaningful as sitting in a synagogue. One can follow the

teachings of Rabbi’s, become an activist in Zionistic

17

causes, expand their Jewish recipes, learn Hebrew online and

remain a cultural Jew.

Here is an even more perplexing context for this cyber

Jewish matter: Imagine the Jews who are already in the pie

chart with a religious delineation. Take for example Chabad.

Are they absorbed into the Orthodox tent of Pew or are they

a separate sect? Perhaps they should be there own sect and

for ample reason. I will use Chabad as a basis for

comprehending the vastness of one singular Jewish cyber

community.

Not only does Chabad have a website and Facebook page,

but they have their own apps. Moreover, they have multiple

Facebook pages to represent each of their communities.

According to Chabad-Lubavitch, there are 4,000 emissary

families that oversee 3,300 institutions. 11 This is

physical space I am talking about- the real world, bricks

and mortar. This does not represent the thousands of

Facebook “followers” on each individual Chabad page.

11 “About Chabad Lubavitch,” retrieved March 24, 2015. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/36226/jewish/About-Chabad-Lubavitch.htm

18

The same could be said of endless non-religious Jewish

entities. Take the popular United With Israel; they boast

three million supporters. 12 The Jewish Daily Forward

currently has over 60,000 “likes” and My Jewish Learning has

over 48,000 “likes.” 13 The “likes” represent those who

receive continuous information in their newsfeed about these

entities. This is non-stop, 24-hour, 365-days-a-year

information in your hands with no effort. The “synagogue

without walls concept” is already here, it is alive and well

and living on the Internet.

I assert that social media, blogs and websites have

done more for global Jewry than any movement or denomination

in all of Judaism. Synagogues now have live streaming for

their Shabbat services and High Holidays. This means if you

are a congregation of two hundred, you can expand your

audience to a thousand or more. My meager findings alone

prove that The Pew Institute is providing outdated, vague,

12 “About Us,” retrieved April 1, 2015. United With Israel. http://unitedwithisrael.org/about-us/13 Facebook data taken April 4, 2015. (Anyone with a Facebook account can access this information, but it changesdaily.)

19

ambiguous data, which does not capture the state of American

Jewry. I unabashedly make the claim that Judaism is not

dying- it is growing rapidly at a pace that Pew simply has

not been able to wrap its arms around. In my digest section

I claim that apathy is the demise of American Jewry, not

being non-religious or non-affiliate. Pew is missing the

thousands of Jews who practice cyber communal Judaism. Out of

the multiple questions posited on a Pew survey, they are not

asking the right questions.

How Does Pew Work?

On July 2, 2013 Pew released a polling and analysis

report, which stated the following: 14

The new, nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life asked Americans whether having “more people who are not religious” is a good thing, a bad thing, or doesn’t matter for American society. Many more say it is bad than good (48% versus 11%). But about four-in-ten (39%) say it does not make much difference. Even

among adults who do not identify with any religion, only about

a quarter (24%) say the trend is good, while nearly as many say it is bad (19%); a majority (55%) of the unaffiliated say it does not make much difference for society.

14 Pew Research Center, (July 2, 2013). [Growth of the Non-Religious]. Retrieved April 1, 2015. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/07/02/growth-of-the-nonreligious-many-say-trend-is-bad-for-american-society/

20

The most disconcerting element to this data is that Pew

goes on to disclose the religious affiliations of those who

participated in this particular study. I could not find one

labeled “Jew.”

On October 1, 2013 Pew released another polling and

analysis report called A Portrait of Jewish Americans. This

is one of the few times I have discovered where Pew touches

on self-identification as a secular Jew. 15

Secularism has a long tradition in Jewish life in America, and most U.S. Jews seem to recognize this: 62% say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, while just 15% say it is mainly a matter of religion. Even among Jews by religion, more than half (55%) say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, and two-thirds say it is not necessary to believe in God to be Jewish.

My purpose for quoting this portion of the study is to

demonstrate that Pew is cognizant of the idea of non-

religious Jews, but they do not know how to address it,

15 Pew Research Center, (October 1, 2013). [A Portrait of Jewish Americans]. Retrieved April 2, 2015. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/

21

quantify it or bring tangible meaningful data to their

polling and analysis.

The only source I could find who attacks Pew, was

posted in My Jewish Learning. An article written by J.J.

Goldberg stated the following about Pew research on American

Jewry: “Besides, we know a great deal about what non-

religious Jews don’t do or believe, but very little about

what they do. Nearly all the survey tools for measuring

Jewish behavior describe religious rituals.” 16 According to

Goldberg, “Pew counted 6.3 million Jews this year (2013). It

also offers a second possible figure, 6.7 million, which

includes children who are being raised Jewish “and something

else.” He also goes on to quote Brown University

sociologist, Sidney Goldstein, who in 1990 wrote in the 1992

American Jewish Year Book: “more likely that the core

population will decline toward 5.0 million and possibly even

below it in the early decades of the 21st century.” 17

16 Goldberg, J. “Pew Study About Jewish America got it all Wrong”. The Jewish Daily Forward, October 13, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2015. http://m.forward.com/articles/18546117 Goldberg.

22

Yet, here we are at 6.7 million in the U.S. …

My question for Pew is this: If one fifth of American

Jewry says they have no religion, yet identify themselves as

Jewish, what does that mean in the scope of its data? Pew

does not know what to do with this, thus they do nothing at

all. They have failed to not only ask the proper, more

specific questions, but they do not comprehend that Judaism

stands on its own with a secular component. As indicated in

this paper, the appropriate questions should include: Do you

light Hanukkah candles? Have you ever sent your child on a

sponsored trip to Israel through a Jewish philanthropic

entity? Do you belong to a JCC (Jewish Community Center)?

Tapping that research, while including the expression of

secular, cyber Judaism is a whole new Judaism without

representation.

Extrapolations

If the Pew Institute were to act on this information

and conduct new methodologies on polling and analysis in

order to publish accurate, relevant statistical data, what

would the American Jewish community do when they discovered

23

that Judaism is not dying, it is thriving- just not in the

synagogue. Are Jewish leaders prepared to step into the

cyber arena and cultivate those secular Jews who live a

Jewish life online? Are they prepared to dedicate resources

to connect with those Jews who have found a home in front of

their computers and hand held devices?

Based on my cyber Jewish life, it is far more exciting

than my real life Jewish existence in my synagogue

community. I have included a list of my personal favorite

Jewish groups via Facebook. The only way for this paper to

have any meaning or carry any weight is to visit these pages

on social media. Think of it as a field trip, only instead

of getting in your car and driving to different synagogues

or Jewish community centers, you are touring the pages of

Facebook and blogs dedicated to secular Jewish life. It

would not take long for any Jew, religious or secular to

quickly find a niche of where they fit in and what they can

omit from their personal Jewish experience.

I must ask the most apparent question of all in this

examination: What is so attractive to secular Jews about the

24

cyber Jewish experience? I have no data for this either.

Perhaps they feel safe because there is a certain amount of

autonomy that comes with the Internet. Maybe it is the fact

that the individual can control how much or how little they

participate because there is no expectation.

Indeed, there is something beautiful and enticing about

being a part of a Jewish community that promotes flexibility

and is so far ahead of the learning curve on matters such as

pluralism. Orthodox, Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative

and Secular all coexist in this space without physical

designation. We communicate honestly and learn from one

another. We have the opportunity to learn so much about

multi-faceted Judaism and each day we break down

stereotypes, we destroy age-old Jewish archetypes and the

tropes we have been taught have no authority in the Jewish

cyber world. They exist, but one can avoid it easily, if

they so choose.

Perhaps that is another lure, we choose. We know we are

the “chosen” people, but the secular cyber Jewish community

25

demonstrates what it truly means to be the “choosing”

people.

Conclusion

There is a dearth of source material to build the

construct for my argument. As I mentioned earlier, it is

this fact that lends weight to my argument. All of the

research data I found on American Judaism was devoid of

specific data on secular humanistic Jewish congregations,

secular Jews who do not attend a synagogue and the absent

yet titanic, prodigious category of cyber Jews. A broader

Pew study could remedy much of what I have discovered. I

will assert that my findings are good news and should

encourage the Jewish community of America to take heart and

get on the Internet. Judaism always has and always will find

a way to survive, even if that includes reinventing itself,

26

entirely as a new community. I have laid out three

unaccounted categories in this paper. 1) The secular

humanistic Jewish congregant. 2) The secular Jew with no

synagogue affiliation. 3) The secular cyber Jew. What is

most critical in my examination of these three groups is

that they all practice secular Judaism.

List of Jewish Websites, Blogs and Facebook Groups:

Hevria (blog)

Progressive Zionists (Facebook)

United With Israel (Website)

27

My Jewish Learning (Website)

Stand With Us (Facebook)

Times of Israel (Online journal and blog)

Israellycool (Blog)

The Accidental Talmudist (Facebook)

Zeek (Jewish cultural journal)

Bibliography

28

Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler. The Jewish Study Bible , Eds. (New York, Oxford University Press, 2004)

David, Biale. Not in the Heavens, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010)

David, Biale. “Jewish Secularism.” Lecture, The New School, New York, New York.

Chabad Lubavitch. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/36226/jewish/About- Chabad-Lubavitch.htm (Retrieved March 24, 2015).

J.J. Goldberg. Pew Study About Jewish America got it all Wrong, The Jewish Daily Forward, October 13, 2013. http://m.forward.com/articles/185461

Asher, Knight. Drawing Boundaries and Limiting Elasticity: What Did the Reform Movement Learn from Beth Adam’s Membership Application to the UAHC?

Rabbinic Thesis for HUC-JIR, 2007.

Pew Research Center. July 2, 2013. Growth of the Non-Religious. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-

beliefs-attitudes- culture-survey/ (Retrieved April 2, 2015).

Pew Research Center. October 1, 2013. A Portrait of Jewish Americans. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes- culture-survey/ (Retrieved April 2, 2015).

Secular Humanistic Judaism. “Find A Community.” http://www.shj.org/communities/find-a-community/

(Retrieved March 29, 2015).

29

Baruch, Spinoza. Theological Political Treatise (Indianapolis, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2001)

United With Israel. “About Us.” http://unitedwithisrael.org/about-us/ (Retrieved April

1, 2015.

30