Humanistic Friday Evening Shabbat Program Celebrating Marlene Cohen
"I'm Going to Be There -- You Can, Too"
We open our Yom Kippur day services each year with a reading that states, "Our congregation is more than a congregation.... It is more than a casual assumption. It is a family of choice, a fellowship of like-minded people."
Written by Humanistic Judaism's founder, Rabbi Sherwin Wine, it reminds us that Machar isn't only Machar: we are connected ideologically and institutionally to a broader movement, which includes about 30 other congregations and havurot (smaller fellowship-type groups). But for that larger movement, there actually would be no Machar, nor would I likely be at Machar.
And like other Machar members (though for different reasons), along with the existence of a broader movement, there's another reason I'm at Machar today: Marlene Cohen.
I first met Marlene in 2014, when I was a rabbinical student. Marlene was enrolled as a lay leadership student in a class that I was enrolled in as a rabbinical student, Philosophic Guidance and Counseling. For those keeping track at home, this is the name for what at other seminaries is usually called "pastoral care," a term inherited from Christian seminaries. But you're not sheep, and I'm not a shepherd! The difference between a lay leadership student and a rabbinical student was pretty straightforward: I had a lot more homework, and I had to volunteer to go first during every role-playing scenario. (Neither of those was an unfair expectation, of course!)
My memory of that class, 11 years ago, is more than a little foggy. I was a spouse and a parent, practicing law, teaching graduate and undergraduate law classes for a state university, and taking rabbinical school classes (and doing the accompanying reading and homework), and within a year or so would become the editor of Humanistic Judaism magazine for a few years. There was a lot going on.
But I remember Marlene, because how could I not? Her energy, enthusiasm, and commitment were obvious, and stood out even in a room full of people who were all committed to the ideas of Humanistic Judaism.
This December, in about a month's time, our movement will be recognizing Marlene with the Sherwin T. Wine Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes leaders "who have 'over the years, exemplified extraordinary dedication, devotion, adherence to, and activity in the Secular Humanistic Judaism Movement and the philosophical doctrines enunciated by the Movement’s founder, Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine.'" Marlene will be the lastest of a number of Machar members and leaders over the years to win the award, including Larry Lawrence (2017), Deb Godden (2011), Bert Steinberg z"l (2005), and Devera and Michael Witkin (2023). (See https://shj.org/organize/movement-advocacy-and-news/sherwin-t-wine-lifetime-achievement-award/.)
Want to attend the ceremony? I will be -- and you can, too! There will be a Humanistic Friday Evening Shabbat Program on December 5 at 7:30 pm EST. It will be hosted by the Society for Humanistic Judaism on Zoom, and many of those with whom Marlene has worked in our movement will be involved with the ceremony. Sign up to attend via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/clBazCgQRNuSrChpTEc3YQ#/registration!
Machar isn't just Machar, and we aren't alone in the world of Humanistic Judaism. Marlene has been essential in so much of what Machar has done, and in so much of what the broader movement has done as well. I hope you'll join us in celebrating Marlene!
Jeremy Kridel
