(From the Society of Humanistic Judaism)

Celebrations

Celebration is a human need. Celebrations dramatize our commitments to people and ideas. Community festivals reinforce group solidarity. Because ancient peoples deemed supernatural power essential to human welfare, traditional festivals were accompanied by prayer, worship, and divination. A festival with worship rituals was a holyday, or holiday.

Priestly and rabbinic Judaism promoted rituals, both for holy days and for daily living, that reinforced Jewish solidarity and sought to guarantee divine support for group survival. Humanistic Jews recognize the value of celebration as a vehicle for group togetherness, but they find no value in the fixed, repetitive behavior characteristic of historic worship and prayer. Humanistic celebrations dramatize the accomplishments of people and the importance of the community and the natural phenomena that exist to support it. Humanistic Jews observe Jewish holidays and life cycles, drawing on the full spectrum of Jewish tradition and culture to create meaningful ceremonies that enrich our lives today and connect us to our history and our future as one people.

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For more information on how Humanistic Jews view traditional Jewish Holidays, visit http://www.shj.org/celebrate.htm.

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Last modified: 11/05/06