We are a Secular Humanistic community serving those who identify with the Jewish People through family, culture and history, rather than through religion. Serving the Greater East Bay with holiday celebrations, opportunities to express your progressive social values, and education for children, adults and families. We are affiliated with the Cultural and Secular Jewish Organizations. Please view the Upcoming Events link for a look at future activities. We look forward to seeing you!
Civil Rights Havdalah: Celebrating Juneteenth and Pride Month
Join us for a short havdalah, a few songs, and sharing our experiences in various movements for civil rights.
Saturday, June 19 from 7-8 p.m. Please contact culturaljews@gmail.com with a request for the zoom link.
TVCJ Eighth Annual Book Review
Every year, as part of our Shavous celebration, we all recommend our favorite books from the past year. Here are this year’s recommendations from some of our members.
You can click on any title to be taken to an Amazon page to order that book.
International Institute For Secular Humanistic Judaism’s “Shavuot Eve Study”
May 16 – 4 PM-8:30 PM Eastern Time
Feel free to drop in anytime during the program and stay as long as you like!
Schedule Will Be Posted Soon!
Secular Humanistic Jews celebrate Shavuot with Jewish literature and ideas from all eras, not only the Torah, and we agree with the Talmud’s sages that “study leads to action.” Join Leaders and Rabbis in Secular Humanistic Judaism as they turn our Tikkun Leil Shavuot into Tikkun Olam/Repairing the world through learning experiences with people and organizations doing good here and now! REGISTER HERE.
Virtual Shavuous and Book Review
As this is the holiday in which we traditionally celebrate the torah- we celebrate other books that have meaning for us. So we get together to share the best books we’ve read the past year….and with Covid- I am sure those lists are pretty long.
We will gather on Zoom at 10:30 on May 16.
Zoom Meeting ID is 568 599 7884
CSJO Conference
We are very excited about this year’s conference. While we are unable to meet in person due to the pandemic, we are still able to be together and share in some wonderfully inspiring workshops and other fun activities – all because of the wonders of the virtual world.
Of course. we will begin the weekend with our shabes program and oneg. It will be a chance to see old friends and meet new ones. Saturday will be filled with workshops and some Saturday night fun. We will meet again on Sunday for more inspiring workshops and then our famous talent show. Throughout the weekend, we will set time aside to schmooze, have rousing political discussions, plan to save the world and just relax with some friends.
In honor of our theme, we will have a number of speakers from organizations whose missions speak to us on many levels. Here is just a sample of what to look forward to;
Rebecca Ireland: social justice activist, member of our Tri-Valley Affiliate and youth representative to our Board of Directors
Liv Randall from US Together: Their mission is to “coordinate, organize, and initiate services to refugees and immigrants through education, advocacy, support services, information, referrals, and networking opportunities…”
Rebecca Markert from Freedom From Religion Foundation
Mark Tiborsky from Northern Ohio FreeThought Society
Kevin Bolling from Secular Student Alliance
More information will be coming soon. Registration is currently open!
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/congressofsecularjewishoragnizations/504707
Interfaith Interconnect Religion Chat
Please join Interfaith Interconnect at our virtual Interfaith Interconnect Religion Chat!
Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 5:00–6:15 p.m.
Online via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81203340837
Meeting room opens at 4:45. Program begins at 5:00.
Topic: How does your community provide for those who come in need of forgiveness?
Speakers: Rev. Ellie Kilpatrick, Unitarian Universalist Church, Livermore; and Bishop Roger Persson, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
After the presentations, there will be time for questions, followed by optional participation in break-out groups.
We look forward to having you join us April 14!
Ruth Gasten and Marcia Elchesen
Interfaith Interconnect Leadership Committee
What does a Secular Humanistic rabbi do?
On every rabbinic ordination certificate are the words “to teach” and “to judge.” That’s the core of what rabbis in every movement do.
First, we teach. But before we teach, we have to learn. Secular Humanistic rabbis learn Jewish history and language, about holidays and life cycles, about Jewish texts and about pastoral care. We teach adults and children in formal settings and as part of our holiday and life cycle observances.
But we also teach by example. We uphold Secular Humanistic Jewish values by visiting the sick, by exhibiting kindness and patience and humor, by speaking out against racism and violations of human rights. We hope that when you see us embodying these values, you’ll also be inspired to act.
This kind of teaching is what all rabbis of all movements do. But Secular Humanistic rabbis also teach about the diversity of the Jewish people. We help you to find your place in the Jewish world by showing you that what you believe and what you are interested in exist in the Jewish universe and that your way of being Jewish is just fine, not less, not other, but perfectly legitimate. We teach you that you belong.
The second job of the rabbi, to judge, is different. Religious rabbis judge both ritual and ethical questions, from whether your chicken is kosher to whether someone has cheated at business. Secular Humanistic rabbis – along with some rabbis of other liberal denominations – help you to judge. When you come to us with an ethical dilemma, we know how to ask the questions that allow you to explore your own feelings and ideas about how to act. We are not the authorities on the answers you should come to – we are the guides to help you find your own path to answers.
Although “smikah” – rabbinic ordination – gives the authority and responsibility to teach and judge, modern rabbis, particularly Secular Humanistic rabbis, have the responsibility of creating and supporting community. Our primary connection to our Jewishness is not a relationship with a god, it’s a relationship with our community. It’s really hard to be Jewish alone – our job is to make sure you are not alone, that you have a welcoming and supporting Jewish community that accepts and enjoys you and your family just as you are.
Let’s talk about plagues!
If you don’t do what I say, then I’m going to hurt someone you don’t care about! Does that sound like a good way to force someone to do what you want? No? But that’s what happens in the story of Pesakh (Passover).
Ancient Egypt was ruled by an absolute monarch who owned all land and whatever it produced. The entire populace worked for him. We read in Genesis that all the grain in the country belonged to the Pharaoh and that the people who grew the grain then had to pay the Pharaoh if they wanted some to eat. Clearly, the Pharaoh did not care about the residents of Egypt.
The story tells us that after Moses asked the Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave and the Pharaoh’s refusal, 10 plagues befell Egypt to force the Pharaoh to accede to Moses’ request.
Why didn’t the first 9 plagues work? Water pollution, frogs, lice, wild animals, livestock disease, boils, hail and locusts devastated ordinary Egyptians. Even if the locusts ate the crops, whatever was left went to the Pharaoh. Giant hail didn’t hurt the Pharaoh’s palace as it might the homes of poorer people. Livestock disease meant that the ordinary farmers had nothing to eat and didn’t have livestock to sell to buy food from the Pharaoh. All these terrible plagues did nothing to change the Pharaoh’s mind because they happened to people he did not care about. Not until the 10th plague that killed his heir did he relent.
So, why did the authors of the story have the god send the first nine plagues, these destructive natural disasters? It was pretty obvious that they wouldn’t work to affect the ruler. They only hurt ordinary people who weren’t responsible for the economic system of the country.
Well, I don’t really know why the authors included this story – although one can assume it was to show the power of their god – but I do know what we can learn from it because we see the lessons playing out in our time. We see that natural disasters devastate ordinary people but that big shots like, say, US Senators, can always escape them. If we’d paid attention to the plague story, we’d have been less shocked. We see that economic sanctions that countries put on other countries really hurt only the ordinary people – not the Ayatollahs or the Putins. If we’d paid attention to the plague story, we’d have known this.
So let’s remember when we try to influence other countries that hurting ordinary people is not the best way to achieve our goals. And let’s remember that we should elect officials who actually care about ordinary people.
Parsley Update!
For Tu B’Shvat, all TVCJ members received a package of parsley seeds, along with instructions on how to plant and care for them. The seeds we planted then are growing nicely, and will be a wonderful addition to our upcoming Passover Seder.
