Communal Shabbat
Zoom opens at 6:30pm just to kibbutz. At 7pm we light candles with a short service. We listen to music and short lectures. Watch for the Zoom link on the listserv Friday afternoon.
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Community Service
As a member of local community and religious groups whose goals and values we share, we volunteer where help is needed.
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Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
The shofar is heard at CHJ Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Family Services.
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Social Justice
After Charlotttesville
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Tu B’Shvat
Celebrating nature at the Tu B’Shvat seder is a joyous event filled with music and good food.
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We’re a Cooperative!
Members all play a role in making the congregation work. Read about how CHJ is organized.
High Holidays 2023
We are pleased to present our High Holiday services this year in person atThe Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport, 10 Lyons PlainsRoad, Westport, CT. In addition, we will offer a live stream of our serviceson YouTube. Both the in-person and live-streamed services are open to all,free of charge. CHJ celebrates Rosh Hashanah and Yom… Read More
Sukkot
Sukkot is a fall harvest festival. It is a time for family and CHJ friends to hang out under the sukkah. Children and adults bring harvest items to build and decorate the sukkah. A list of suggested items include: Gourds, Apples, Vines, Mums, Corn Husks, Hand-made Crafts. It is a joyous family event, especially… Read More
Invitation to Join
Humanistic Judaism offers contemporary Jews an alternative to theistic-based branches of Judaism. At the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (CHJ), our services and programs embrace Jewish historical and cultural traditions and its ethical values as applicable to our secular humanistic worldview. In our services, and especially on the High Holidays, we celebrate our Jewish identity while… Read More
Letter from the President
Thank you, all CHJ members, for giving me the opportunity to serve as your President. I promise to do my very best to meet your needs. Also, thank you, CHJ’ers, for enriching my life, and for your friendship in difficult times over the past >17 years. CHJ has given me the opportunity to celebrate being Jewish, to enjoy being Jewish, to share being Jewish, to learn more about being Jewish, and to support social/environmental goals. There are as many ways to do these things as there are members of CHJ.
Celebrate, Enjoy, Share, Learn, and Act!
Under the guidance of Steve Getz who is now Immediate Past President, the CHJ Board held special extra meetings over the last year to work on a project Steve called “Envisioning CHJ.” This initiative was successful in many ways. It reconfirmed our commitment to the goals in the bylaws. It achieved the financial review required by the bylaws. It enabled us to update our insurance contract. And it will be ongoing, because it generated a list of multiple ways in which we can act to make sure CHJ can thrive in the future. Among other ideas that have now been implemented is the renewed commitment to the B’nai Mitzvah program. We also had not one but two Havdalahs on the beach last summer. Friday evening programming and Sunday morning Jewish Journeys continue. I am convinced that the more that we enjoy what we do in CHJ, the stronger CHJ will be. Read More
Upcoming Events
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Sukkot Celebration
Member's residenceMeet in a member's backyard at 11 a.m. - Bring fruits and flowers for us to decorate the Sukkah with - and help to decorate! - Enjoy the music of Rayhan Pasternak as we go through our service, sing, and wave the etrog and lulav. - Partake of a very simple lunch of chili, corn... Read More
Communal Shabbat
ZoomZoom opens at 6:30pm just to kibbutz. At 7pm we light candles with a short service. We listen to music and short lectures. Watch for the Zoom link on the listserv Friday afternoon.
Women to Women
Member's residenceCome join other CHJ women to talk about a topic to be chosen at the meeting. It's a great way to get to know one another. This month will be held at a member's home. Watch our listserv for the member's name and address.
Shabbat Service and Program “Origins of Religion”
ZoomSave the Date: Shabbat Program Friday, October 13, 2023 7:30PM, via Zoom How did things get to be the way they are? How might early Homo Sapiens have understood life and death, given the analogic way we think? And how might early hypotheses have evolved into the range of current belief systems? We will not... Read More
Book Club – Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
Member's residenceIt’s Porter's most celebrated story, where a young woman lies in a fever during the influenza epidemic, her childhood memories mingling with fears for her boyfriend on his way to war.
Facebook Activity
humanisticjews.org/life-cycle/bat-and-bar-mitzvah
Need to plan a Bar or Bat Mitzvah?? Find out more about our B-Mitzvah program!!
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Steven Baumann at CHJs Rosh Hashanah service.
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That’s impressive lung power on the Shofar! I wish you and your family a Happy, Healthy New Year! 🍎 🍯
Friday night’s service was mesmerizing. Thank you very much for giving our family the luxury of watching from home. L’shana Tova.
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Jews who no longer find resonance in praying for supernatural intervention don’t need to “throw out the baby with the bathwater” when it comes to meaningful Jewish holiday and lifecycle rituals. Humanistic Judaism’s modern approach offers a new liturgy that allows us to only ever “say what we mean and mean what we say.” By expressing Judaism as a culture, we open it up to all who might find value in it, whether Jewish or not.
