Yesterday I attended a Rosh Hashanah program put on by the Secular Humanist Jewish Kehillah of Philadelphia. This makes a lot of sense because I am a Secular Humanist Jew. I don't do a lot there nowadays when I go to programs, although I did sing a song entitled Harbstlid/Autumn Song for Rosh Hashanah programs three years in a row. Then I didn't feel like singing it anymore. People seemed to appreciate it (they cried). I too cried. It was that kind of wonderful song (written by Beyle Schaecter-Gottesman).
The Secular Humanist Jewish Kehillah is one of the few Jewish organizations that really and truly welcomes people from other races and ethnicities. Ironically it also seems to welcome people of all body sizes and shapes. When I do mention FatLand (any and all books), every person to whom I mention it seems interested and even approving. However..(and here is where the irony comes in).. if I mentioned Fat Acceptance/Liberation as the philosophy I espouse, I would bet that many people there would look both disapproving and worried. A fair number are over 80 (although that diminishes, sadly, year by year). Their doctors have them on about ten medications per person, so I know that they are trying to stay as healthy as possible. Interestingly quite a few of the people in my generation -those in their fifties and sixties- are fat, so there may be a generational divide here. Maybe they haven't yet been put on ten medications. I don't know. Maybe it is actually possible that there are some among them who are not listening to or validating the "diet" philosophy.
As a matter of fact, I know that there are a fair number of Jewish women who attend HAES consciousness raising sessions and are finally breaking down the anti-fat and often anti-woman agenda of Big Pharma and Big Diet.
But would the Secular Humanist Jewish Kehillah listen?
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