What are the criteria for Humanistic Jewish Role Model?

Roughly, a Jewish person who made valuable contributions to humankind, and would be compatible with Humanistic Judaism.

Who have been the Humanistic Jewish Role Models so far?

Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Betty Friedan, Sherwin Wine, Jonas Salk, Ernestine Rose, Richard Feynman

Are women honored?   Yes.  Betty Friedan and Ernestine Rose for example.

How are Humanistic Jewish Role Models selected?  Suggestions are made from all over the SHJ landscape, and a choice is made by representatives of all the SHJ affiliated communities specifically via our SHJ Membership Committee’s recommendation, followed by full SHJ Board discussion and vote.

How can Richard Feynman be celebrated?

It can be a presentation based on the slide show at http://www.slideshare.net/operacrazy/richard-feynman-humanist-14414654

It can be the showing of the movie “Infinity” (available through Netflix) about the romance between Richard Feynman and Arline Greenbaum whom he married.

It can be a presentation devised by a member of your congregation (books, youtubes, and other materials are abundant and available).

It can be a shorter memorial candle-lighting as part of a previously scheduled program.

From Roger Ebert’s review of the movie “Infinity” 1996 starring Matthew Broderick and Patricia Arquette  (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961004/REVIEWS/610040305)

Richard Feynman, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965, was one of the most interesting men our century has produced. As a very young man, he did theoretical work at Los Alamos on the project to develop an atomic bomb. In 1960, he gave a speech so famous it is known simply as ``Feynman's Talk,'' in which he described a new science of nanotechnology--the manipulation of very, very small things.

Movies about great men tend to concentrate on the time when they were young and in love, rather than when they were middle-aged and doing their most important work. “Infinity'' follows Feynman (Matthew Broderick) from the late 1930s until the mid-1940s, a time during which he met and courted his first wife, Arline Greenbaum (Patricia Arquette). He was born brilliant and was not shy to admit it; on one of his first dates with Arline, he bets a Chinese merchant that he can solve problems in his head faster than the man can use his abacus.

A graduate of MIT, now studying at Princeton, Feynman long has been in love with Arline. Marriage, they thought, could wait--and would have to, because they had no money. Then two things changed all that. Feynman was offered a job in the top-secret research project at Los Alamos, and Arline became seriously ill with tuberculosis.

Broderick and Arquette have a sweet, unforced chemistry as the young couple, who try their best to lead normal lives in an abnormal situation (in one scene, they barbecue steaks on a grill on the front lawn of the hospital). For Feynman, almost everything is an experiment; he pounces around her hospital room, testing the limits of the human nose.  The love story won me over. I could see that ``Infinity'' was not going to be about Feynman's science but about his heart. It is a small story, and a touching one.

From Wikipedia
Richard Phillips Feynman (pronounced fine-man); May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988)[2] was an American theoretical physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time.[3]

He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing,[4][5] and introducing the concept of nanotechnology.[6] He held the Richard Chace Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures, notably a 1959 talk on top-down nanotechnology called, There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, and the three volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman also became known through his semi-autobiographical books, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, and books written about him, such as Tuva or Bust!.

In March, Seven CHJ teen congregants, the largest contingent in memory, attended the SHJ 2012 HuJews Teen and Young Adult Conclave in Washington D.C.

Steven Baumann, Emma and Kaila Finn, Julian Garrison, Molly Hamilton, Emily Snow, and Abby Ulman joined teens from other SHJ-affiliated congregations across the U.S. and Canada to participate in the three-day, activity-packed event. The group of 70 included young people from Washington D.C. (the host congregation, Machar), Chicago, Massachusetts, and a large delegation from Toronto.

The teens participated in workshops and discussions run by their peers; engaged in a community service project; and attended services marking Shabbat and Havdalah. Also built in to their busy schedule was time for sightseeing on the National Mall and socializing with friends old and new.

The community service project took place at a Washington D.C. transitional living home, a facility for people who are “coming out of homelessness,” Abby Ulman explained. The group tackled a variety of tasks, said Emily Snow and Molly Hamilton, such as clearing broken glass from the playground, painting fences, and mulching the community garden.

It was a rewarding experience, agreed the CHJ teens, and their help was greatly appreciated.  “We were asked how many people would be helping that day,” said Steven Baumann, “and they were so happy to hear that it was 70!”

On their tour of the nation’s capital, the teens visited monuments and museums, including the Korean War Memorial, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The spring-like weather was a plus as they trekked up and down the Mall.

Conclave included programs both serious and light-hearted. One discussion addressed the difference between “tzedekah” and “justice.”  In another, the teens discovered that not every congregation conducts Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies in the same way as CHJ. Molly was surprised to learn, for example, that students in the Washington, D.C., and Toronto congregations mark their coming of age in a single group B’nai Mitzvah service.

The evening programs tilted toward humor, including a Purim-inspired skit headlined by Machar’s Rabbi Binyamin Biber and Rabbi Jeffrey Falick from Congregation Beth Adam in Boca Raton. And our own Emma and Kaila Finn took to the stage on open mic night with a display of vocal and comedic talent.

Reflecting on the weekend’s many highlights, the teens agreed when Emily declared that “Conclave was too short.” They expressed gratitude to CHJ for sponsoring their participation, and noted that Abby spoke for all when she said: “We had a wonderful experience, an amazing time, and we look forward to going to next year’s Conclave.”