Partner Richard McMains
Queer Places:
1961 Clairmount Ave, Detroit, MI 48206
Sherwin Theodore Wine (January 25, 1928 – July 21, 2007) was an American rabbi and a founding figure of Humanistic Judaism, a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and history as sources of Jewish identity rather than belief in any gods. He was originally ordained as a Reform rabbi but later founded the Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism, in 1963.
In 1969, Wine founded the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ). He was later a founder of several other Humanistic Jewish organizations, and was the founder of several humanist organizations that are not specifically Jewish (such as the Humanist Institute and the International Association of Humanist Educators, Counselors, and Leaders) as well as the co-founder of Americans for Religious Liberty, which promotes separation of church and state. He was the provost of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism at the time of his death.
Wine lectured on a wide array of topics after 1976 under the auspices of the Center for New Thinking, which he also founded. The American Humanist Association named him Humanist of the Year for 2003.
Sherwin Theodore Wine was born in Detroit on January 25, 1928, the son of Polish immigrant parents. His father, whose name was originally Herschel Wengrowski, joined family members in Detroit in 1906. His mother, Tieblei Israelski, emigrated to Detroit in 1914. Wine attended Detroit public schools with almost completely Jewish student bodies, and his religious upbringing was in Conservative Judaism at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. His parents kept a kosher home and observed Shabbat. Wine attended the University of Michigan, earning a BA and later an MA in philosophy. As an undergraduate student, he was most sympathetic to empiricism, particularly its then-current manifestation logical positivism. At the same time, he was attracted to the humanistic outlook of some faculty members.
In 1963, Wine confirmed his break with the Reform movement when he founded the Birmingham Temple in suburban Detroit, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism. Wine helped define the rituals and intellectual foundations of Humanistic Judaism, which is firmly atheistic and centers on Jewish culture and history rather than on theology.
Wine's controversial new movement was brought to the limelight after a 1965 Time magazine profile, and it attracted many new members over the next few decades. Wine went on to found the Society for Humanistic Judaism in 1969, as well as the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews and a Humanistic rabbinical school.
On July 21, 2007, Wine and his long-time boyfriend Richard McMains were in
a taxi headed to a hotel after dinner in Essaouira when their taxi was hit by
another vehicle. Wine, aged 79, and the taxi driver were both killed
instantly; McMains survived with serious injuries.
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