Havdal-ukah: A Humanistic Havdalah and Hanukkah Celebration

By אליעד מלין (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

After the seriousness of my last post, it felt like it was time to have a little fun. And, of course, Hanukkah is coming soon!

I posted a few resources last year, including this post with humanistic blessings, some thoughts about Hanukkah for humanistic Jews, and some general resources on Hanukkah for secular and humanistic Jews.

BUT…

If you’re in the Indianapolis area and you’d like to come to a Humanistic Jewish Hanukkah celebration, have I got the event for you! Havdal-ukah!

Why Havdal-ukah? Because it’s Havdalah (the end of Shabbat) and the seventh night of Hanukkah wrapped up into one package! We’ll do a brief Havdalah celebration, light our menorahs (you can bring your own!), have latkes and other treats, and learn a little about the meaning of Hanukkah for modern (especially secular and humanistic) Jews.

So come on out! We’ll be meeting at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, 2015. The Church Within has graciously allowed us to use their space at 1125 Spruce Street, Indianapolis, in the historic Fountain Square area. You can RSVP on Meetup.com or Facebook and get a notice when there’s a change.

The Bone in the Butcher’s Neck

For a while now, I’ve held back on making a comment about an article in Tablet Magazine. The more time I spend thinking about the article, the more I feel that it’s necessary to write something about it. It first appeared around Yom Kippur in the wake of the disputes over refugees from Syria. In the wake of the attacks on Paris, I was drawn back to this draft post.

Here’s the article I’m responding to, by Liel Leibovitz. It’ll open in a new tab or browser window. Go ahead and read Leibovitz’s article. I’ll be here, waiting. (You do have to read it to understand what follows.)

You’re back? Good.

…And I Feel Fine

It’s the end of the world as we know it!

Oh, so many things in the Jewish communal world to think about over the past week. Let’s tick them off, one at a time:

• The Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America has decided there is no place for ordained women leaders in the Jewish world.
• Rabbi Rami Shapiro has decided that the RCA isn’t Jewish.
• Most of the contributors to a Commentary Magazine forum have decided that American Judaism is doomed unless it conforms to a right-leaning view of what it means to be an American Jew, even as Jews who will be alive fifty years from now (i.e., not those who contributed to the Commentary forum) suggest that maybe the alte kakers who wrote for Commentary might not have a clue what they’re talking about
• Self-flagellation over the Pew Study from more than two years ago continues apace
• A “synagogue without walls” in South Florida gains attention

All the panic makes my heart just go pitter-pat. I don’t even know where to start. (The section titles here are from REM’s “It’s the End of the World (As We Know It),” so now you can learn some of the lyrics!)