It's Who You Know! The Podcast · Michelle W. Malkin: Nonprofit Jewish Professional

Best of Human Emotions with Paul Golin, Executive Director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism

·1 hr 5 min·5 clips

The host begins personally. As a self-described Reformed Jew working in a Reformed congregation, she says the Society for Humanistic Judaism caught her attention right away. From there, she asks about Paul's path. His answer opens into what humanistic Judaism looks like in real life: Jewish community, services, High Holidays, and congregational life, but with a different theological frame. The conversation gets most interesting when Paul talks about LGBTQ equality. He argues that Jewish support did not simply come from inherited texts or traditional authority. Humanism moved first. Political advocacy, the AIDS crisis, science, and the recognition that this was not a lifestyle choice changed how communities understood welcome. The religious language followed. Denominations could quote Torah and give the change a Jewish stamp, but the moral movement had already done its work. The host catches the emotional edge in that. Best of human emotions also points toward the worse ones people are trying to avoid. Paul keeps the answer practical. Humanistic congregations still gather for Shabbat services, High Holidays, and communal life, even when their theology does not match more familiar models. His own story makes that less tidy. He describes his bar mitzvah as a kind of graduation from traditional Jewish liturgy, then says he stayed away from High Holidays for 25 years. The job changed that. Leadership made showing up feel necessary, not because he had returned to old belief, but because staying away would have felt like poor form. Near the end, Paul points listeners toward humanistic Judaism and Jews for a Secular Democracy, a pluralistic social justice initiative focused on church-state separation. The invitation stays open: any denomination, no denomination, Jewish, or not Jewish, with Jewish values and church-state separation as the common ground.

As heard by us

Humanistic Judaism, seen through Paul Golan's story and the Society's communal life.

Michelle W. Malkin's conversation with Paul Golan, executive director of the Society of Humanistic Judaism, uses his personal path to sketch Humanistic Judaism, Jewish community, and humanism in public life.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a calm, intelligent tour of Humanistic Judaism and the communal work around it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from It's Who You Know! The Podcast