The Jewish Heart of Hollywood

In honor of the important role Temple Israel of Hollywood and its members have played in the social action oriented Hollywood community, this documentary was created and shown at the 2012 Heart of Hollywood Gala.

Moment Magazine Presents: Test Your Jewish Presidential IQ!

In honor of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, take Moment's election quiz to test your Jewish presidential IQ!

1.     Which president said, "I would rather commit suicide than hurt Israel?"
2.     Who was the first president to have his name appear on the charter of a synagogue?
3.     Who was the first president to offer a Jew a position on the Supreme Court?
4.     Which president appointed the first Jew to the Supreme Court?
5.     Which president appointed the first Jewish secretary of state?
6.     The house of which president was posthumously sold to a Jewish naval officer?
7.     Who was the first president to allow rabbis to serve as military chaplains?
8.     Who was the first sitting president to attend synagogue services?
9.     Which president was the first to designate a Jewish ambassador to fight anti-Semitism?
10.  Who was the first president to appoint a Jew to his cabinet?
11.  Who was the first sitting president to attend a Seder?
12.  Which president was the first to hold a Seder in the White House?
13.  Which president signed a Joint Congressional Resolution endorsing the Balfour Declaration and the Palestinian Mandate?
14.  Which president received a Torah that had been saved from a burning synagogue in Czechoslovakia as a gift?
15.  Which president visited Israel the most times during his presidency?

To see the answers, click here.

Poll: Should Humanists Oppose Male Circumcision?

The American Humanist Association is conducting a poll aiming to find out humanists' opinion as to whether they should oppose male circumcision.  As a humanist who had his son circumcised, I have made my decision.  Make yours known here: http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-09-poll-should-humanists-oppose-male-circumcision.

Use Facebook to Help Worthy Non-Profits

The Chase Community Giving program awards funding to charities based on votes from Facebook users and Chase customers, and Foundation Beyond Belief, Secular Student Alliance and Camp Quest are in the running! The Society for Humanistic Judaism has relationships with each of these organizations.

Grant awards can reach as high as $1,000,000. On Facebook, you can vote for up to two charities:

Please consider supporting the Foundaiton Beyond Belief in theirwork to foster humanistic philanthropy and service across the globe, giving grants to 16 secular charities and 4 non-prothelytizing religious charities each year. SHJ works with them on the LLS/Light The NIght Fundraising walk. http://on.fb.me/Rn54Xd.

Please also consider supporting the Secular Student Alliance in its mission to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities: http://goo.gl/YuSMX

Happy Belated Birthday to "The Great Agnostic"

Back before blogs, opinion-based news programs, talk radio, and even amplified sound, the American public gathered by the thousands to listen to professional orators calling out their opinions from train platforms, outdoor stages, and the steps of city hall. Oratory was wildly popular in the 1800s, and there was no lecturer more popular than Robert Green Ingersoll, a.k.a., "The Great Agnostic."

Ingersoll continually championed science, reason, and secular values in the public square. He was an early popularizer of Charles Darwin and a tireless advocate for women's rights, racial equality, and birth control decades before others would pick up the cause. He often poked fun at religious belief, and he defied the religious conservatives of his day by championing secular humanist values.

Ingersoll's work and his words are highly relevant to our day, too, so the Center for Inquiry and its sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism, work to bring his wisdom and insights to a broader audience.