The Attorney General received an urgent request to prevent a
group from naming several "secular rabbis" who underwent
training "to conduct Jewish ceremonies that are fundamentally
different from Orthodox ceremonies."
Temurah — The International Institute for Secular
Humanist Judaism has begun to operate in Israel as a branch
of the World Federation of Secular Humanist Judaism, an
organization started in the US over two decades ago "in order
to train rabbis and non-rabbinical community leaders for
community education in the areas of Judaism as a culture."
The founders noted, "There is an enormous difference between
us and the Reform and Conservative."
In Israel the group is regarded as an anomaly, but some fear
that the group could cause confusion in the general public by
affixing the title "rabbi" to its leaders.
According to a press statement issued by the institute prior
to "a ceremony to inaugurate secular rabbis," the group
members "are not asking the participants in the ceremonies
for an official certificate of Jewishness but are satisfied
with their own declarations. The ceremonies and those who
perform them are held out of a desire to belong to the Jewish
community and its tradition, but not to carry out any
religious commandments."
Rabbonim and chareidi public figures are lumping the
eccentric group together with other heretical organizations,
but unlike Reform and Conservative, which seek to
fundamentally alter halacha and invent a new "religion," the
Humanists pose no less of a threat by claiming to represent
Judaism, Rachmono litzlan.
A two-day conference held last week included an
"inauguration" ceremony for the "secular rabbis" and drew
leading left-wing secularists along with a handful of
frustrated secularists who delivered lectures on "Israeli
Judaism," the "secular rabbinate," etc.
Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger made a last-minute effort to
persuade the Attorney General to seek ways to prevent the
ceremony and other activities from taking place, saying it
could cause serious hindrances in matters like marriage,
bris miloh and bar mitzvas.
By assuming the title "rabbi," which has been established by
Israeli law and Jewish tradition as one who has taken
semichoh exams based on the tradition handed down from
generation to generation, Humanists are liable to mislead the
public. According to the Chief Rabbinate, a secular
individual who suddenly decides to hold a religious ceremony
cannot be called a "rabbi," just as an individual cannot make
use of the title "Dr." without earning a Ph.D.
