Society for Humanistic Judaism - Rabbis and Leadership

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Louis Altman has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Humanistic Judaism since 2000, becoming president in 2006. He is a member of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Sarasota, Florida.

A member of the Humanistic Movement for more than 25 years, Bonnie Cousens has served as Executive Director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism since 1995. Upon joining the Birmingham Temple, she quickly lent her talents and expertise to the national movement. First, as editor of the journal Humanistic Judaism, then as a conference planner and publications director for the Society and the International Institute, and now as executive director of the Society, she has helped to organize communities, created programs and celebrations, written and designed brochures and publications, recruited members, raised funds, led workshops, created public relations campaigns, and been involved in virtually every aspect of the growing Movement.

Rabbi Miriam Jerris has been a member of the Society for Humanistic Judaism and committed to its philosophic principles since 1970. She is the Rabbinic Coordinator for Community Development for the Society for Humanistic Judaism. Rabbi Jerris is the 2006 recipient of the Sherwin T. Wine Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rabbi Jerris holds Masters Degrees in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan and in Humanistic and Clinical Psychology from the Center for Humanistic Studies, and a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies with a specialization in Pastoral Counseling from The Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was ordained by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism. She has officiated at intermarriage ceremonies and worked with intercultural families since 1985.

Dr. Phillip Gould has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Humanistic Judaism since 1999. He is also the past president of the SHJ and the immediate Past-President of Machar, The Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism and continues to serve on their Board of Directors.

Barbara Bloom joined the SHJ staff as Development Associate in early 2006. She was most recently Director for Foundation Giving at Childrens (sic) Hospital Los Angeles, where she and her team of grant writers raised nearly $90 million in grant awards during her five-year tenure. A native Detroiter and SHJ member, Ms. Bloom has also spent a large portion of her professional career in the trade book business.

Harriet Maza joined the SHJ staff as Education Associate in 2001. After 17 years of teaching journalism, Ms. Maza came home to Humanistic Judaism. From the Birmingham Temple as teacher and principal for the 12 years prior to her public school stint, she has returned to active involvement with the Humanistic Movement. She provides support to the youth education programs of our movement, helping to organize schools, develop curricula, and offer her services to SHJ communities and their teachers and educators.

Rabbi Binyamin Biber serves Machar, the Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism, a community that celebrates diversity and learning, and engages in progressive social action and service. Born and raised in Iowa, he did undergraduate honors work at the University of Iowa in sociology and political science. Later moving to Seattle, he worked on low-income housing development and AIDS prevention as a community organizer and educator.

Rabbi Biber was ordained by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in Farmington Hills, Michigan, after completing a thesis on progressive activism by congregations. He received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan after doing field work as a rabbinic counselor. In addition to his pulpit with Machar, he also operates Rabbinic Community Services, to conduct public advocacy and education, social change organizing, groupwork, retreats, counseling, and Humanistic life-cycle ceremonies.

Rabbi Adam Chalom's family background is a microcosm of the Jewish world. His mother come from an Ashkenazi East European Yiddish Socialist background and was born in the Midwest, while his father comes from the Brooklyn community of Syrian Sephardic Orthodox Jews. Somewhere in between they found their common ground in Humanistic Judaism, and Rabbi Chalom was raised as a Humanistic Jew at the Birmingham Temple. He holds a B.A. from Yale University in Judaic Studies and a Master's Degree and Doctorate from the University of Michigan in Hebrew and Jewish Cultural Studies. He is Rabbi of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Highland Park, Illinois, and Assistant Dean of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism. Rabbi Chalom is exploring the Talmud from a Humanistic perspective in his blog Not Your Father's Talmud.

Rabbi Greg M. Epstein serves as the Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University, and is a member of the executive committee of the 38-member Harvard United Ministry interfaith corps of chaplains. In 2005 he received ordination as a Humanist Rabbi from the International Institute for Secular and Humanistic Judaism, where he studied in Jerusalem and Michigan for five years. He holds a BA (Religion and Chinese) and an MA (Judaic Studies) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is currently completing a Masters of Theological Studies at the Harvard Divinity School. He will be contributing a chapter on the theological and philosophical roots of Humanism in the world’s major religious-cultural traditions, for an upcoming book on Humanism in business. He is also currently writing a book that will provide an introduction to Humanism with emphasis on his idea of Cultural Humanism: the idea that love for and active celebration of one's own cultural heritage and background can be combined with a Humanist philosophy wherein all people are to be treated with dignity, as equals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. He is an advisor to two student groups at Harvard College, the Secular Society and the Interfaith Council.

Fluent in Modern Hebrew, Epstein is especially delighted to work with secular Israeli young people and families living in the Boston area. He is available to provide wedding, funeral, baby-naming, and bar/bat mitzvah services. Most services will make heavy use of modern Israeli songs and poetry.

The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard was established in 1974 and is a permanent position at Harvard, endowed in 1995 by the late John L. Loeb '24 as part of a $100 million gift to the University. Epstein is proud to have recently succeeded Thomas Ferrick, currently Humanist Chaplain Emeritus of Harvard, in this role.

Rabbi Tamara Kolton grew up at the Birmingham Temple. She has celebrated Humanistic Judaism throughout her life. In 1987 she went to live in Israel where she later completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the fields of international relations and English literature. In 1993, she received a Master's degree in clinical psychology from the Center for Humanist Studies in Detroit. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Michigan.

In October 1999, she became the first ordained Humanistic Rabbi. She received her Ph.D. in Rabbinic Studies in August 1999. Her dissertation is on the role and experience of women rabbis. Currently she enjoys officiating at a variety of life cycle events. She serves as the rabbi of the Birmingham Temple in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Rabbi Peter Schweitzer serves as a leader for The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in New York City and is president of the Association of Humanistic Rabbis. He is the author of the The Liberated Haggadah and contributes the Humanistic perspective to Moment Magazine’s “Ask the Rabbi” column. He has developed extensive material for holiday celebrations and life cycle observances and has written, with Myrna Baron, a Program Guide for a Secular-Humanistic Bar/Bar Mitzvah.

For twenty-five years, Rabbi Schweitzer amassed one of the most significant collections of Jewish Americana, with more than 10,000 items and artifacts, which he recently donated to the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

Rabbi Schweitzer was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1979 and has been associated with the Society for Humanistic Judaism since 1990 when he began to offer his services to The City Congregation as a volunteer. Rabbi Schweitzer described his personal and ideological development in “A Rabbi’s Journey to Humanistic Judaism,” published by Shma (and available on line at shma.com).

He is a member of the faculty of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism and is member of the editorial advisory board of Contemplate: The International Journal of Secular and Humanistic Jewish Thought, published by the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews.

In 2006 the congregation raised the funds, with the assistance of the Pivnick SHJ Development grant, to hire him as its rabbi, and he has since given up his position as a licensed clinical social worker with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services to devote his time and energy to the development of the congregation and the movement.

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