“Forty years ago, a group of us in Toronto became actively engaged in re-inventing our approach to our Jewish identity, … and the manner in which we as individuals and as a community acted this out in a meaningful way. … It was an idea whose time had come - …that there was viability to secular Jewish life beyond strictly political, Yiddishist or Zionist ideology…. Our small organization attracted new members from a spectrum of Jewish experiences, particularly from the mainstream Jewish community whose focal point for Jewish awareness had been the synagogue and religion. The Secular Jewish Association became a comfortable home, with a youthful positive perspective, looking to the future through recognition of the power of the human spirit.”

Over the years, the membership grew, however, according to Bain, “change was inevitable as new people with new ideas found a home in the SJA.” In 1999, the group renamed itself Oraynu (meaning “our light”) Congregation for Humanistic Judaism. The congregation now has about 130 families, who identify as secular or cultural Jews, as humanists, agnostics or atheists, who want to be Jewish in a way that fits their world view. Hundreds more come to Oraynu for the High Holidays, and for Jewish life cycle services, offered by Rabbi Eva Goldfinger, Life Cycle Director, and Oraynu's Rabbi Designate, Karen Levy.

The President of Oraynu, David Morrison, said he did not consider his efforts as unpaid work because he got so much back from the community in return for his participation.

Rabbi Levy spoke about what Oraynu stands for today, as it perpetuates the values of its founders: “… Secular Humanistic Judaism is the smallest movement in the Jewish world today. Yet, our ethical principles -- secularism, equality, democracy, freedom, Jewish rationalism, creativity and social responsibility -- have had as great an impact in the Jewish world as any other set of Jewish ideas in the last 300 years. Our mode of operating is that we have the courage to speak truth to power. The spread of these humanistic ideals brings more justice and well being into the world. …

The biggest mistake of the secular humanist community at large is to call ourselves non-believers. We are not non-believers. We have very strong convictions, at the very core of our being. ”

These beliefs emphasize a strong commitment to tikkun olam. Oraynu's recent projects have supported Magen David Adom and purchased solar cookers for refugee families in the Darfur region. At the anniversary celebration, the congregation paid tribute to Avrum Rosensweig, founding director of Ve'ahavta, the Canadian Jewish humanitarian and relief organization. Rabbi Levy presented Mr. Rosensweig with a cheque for Ve'ahavta's Soroka Hospital project in Southern Israel.

In closing, Rabbi Levy added: “Our families' roots lie in many lands across the face of the earth. We are socialists and capitalists, and everything in between. We have Jewish and non-Jewish members. We are Diaspora nationalists, Zionists and universalists; Yiddishists, Hebraists, and Anglophiles who `do Judaism' only in English. Let us gain strength in sharing what unites us, … may we always be a community of friends, where each adult and child will feel welcome, … safe to explore Judaism and the world from a secular perspective, where we will celebrate the rhythms of the Jewish year, and our own life passages together, according to our beliefs, and join together in the humanistic Jewish imperative to mend the world.”