SHERWIN T. WINE

Sherwin T. Wine is a renowned scholar and lecturer, a leading voice in secular Humanistic Judaism and founder of a fifth alternative in Jewish life known as Humanistic Judaism. In 1963 he established the Birmingham Temple, in suburban Detroit, Michigan, which was the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism.

In 1969 Rabbi Wine established the Society for Humanistic Judaism. In 1986 his efforts led to the establishment of the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews, where he serves as co-chair, and the International Institute for Humanistic Judaism, where he is co-dean. The International Institute trains and ordains Secular Humanistic Rabbis and non-rabbinical leaders to serve communities in North America and Israel. These organizations are now active worldwide, including in Israel, Europe, Australia, Russia, and Latin America. Rabbi Wine was instrumental in organizing the Humanist Institute, the International Association of Humanist Educators, Counselors and Leaders, the Leadership Conference of Secular and Humanistic Jews, and the conference of Liberal Religion.

In 2003, he was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association, joining such notables as Stephen Jay Gould, Betty Friedan, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Margaret Sanger, among others. The Humanist of the Year award was established in 1953 to recognize a person of national or international reputation who, through the application of humanist values, has made a significant contribution to the improvement of the human condition.

Rabbi Wine is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is the subject of the biography A Life of Courage: Sherwin Wine and Humanistic Judaism and author of Judaism Beyond God, Celebration, Pursuit of Happiness, Staying Sane in a Crazy World and more than 75 articles on humanism, ethics and religion.