The first Humanistic Judaism community was established in 1963 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine and a number of members who founded the Birmingham Temple in a suburb of Detroit. In 1969, a North American  central organization, the Society for Humanistic Judaism (www.shj.org) was founded to establish and support local affiliates and to provide leadership to the growing movement (which now has 33 communities in the US and Canada). In 1985 the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism was created, to coordinate the various national organizations and to train rabbi and lay leaders for the local communities.

Originally, there were two Humanistic Judaism communities in Colorado: the Colorado Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (CCHJ) established in Denver in 1991 and Beth Ami established in Boulder a couple of years later. In the year 2002, with the urging of Rabbi Wine, these two communities were merged into a single community, Beth Ami-CCHJ. 

Although we have been a presence in Colorado for over 12 years, our congregation has remained small, and we have functioned in a Havera status for much of that time, with our emphasis primarily being to provide occasional holiday celebrations and social events for a small core of members. With the establishment of a Humanistic Jewish Cultural School, as well as other recent events that have occurred, we are working towards offering a fuller array of programs and services. 

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Last modified: 11/05/06