What is Secular Jewishness? The roots of Secular Jewishness reach as far back as the Prophets' opposition to priestly rituals and social injustice...to the liberating rational philosophy of Baruch Spinoza and other thinkers of the Enlightenment...even to the anti-clerical concepts of early Hasidism. The first secular Jewish organizations arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries both in Europe and in the Western Hemisphere. Those organizations defined the Jews as a people whose history, traditions, values and cultures could be researched and understood rationally, using the methods and insights of modern thought and science. The encompassing term was Yidishkayt -- Jewishness. From these secularist concepts arose the great Jewish social enterprises of our century: Zionism, communal organization and the Jewish labor/socialist movements. All the great works of modern Yiddish literature and theatre -- which form most of the core of Jewish culture in English and even in modern Hebrew--are permeated by these secularist concepts. So, too, is the overwhelming bulk of Jewish humor, folklore and folk song. The ethical values system of Secular Jewishness is also derived from these roots. It stresses the principles of social and personal justice enunciated by the Prophets and the progressive, humanistic concepts still developing in contemporary democratic thought. It draws on the understanding, gained from the Jewish historical experience, that the broader and more profound are personal and social rights and liberties in the greater societies where Jews live, the deeper and richer are the potentials for continuity and development of the Jewish people and its culture. Secular Jews, therefore, have always had a strong commitment--as a matter of enlightened self-interest --to peace, to untrammeled civil and personal liberties and to the rights of every people, nation or ethnic group to dignity and self-determination. Culturally, Secular Jews understand that a significant part of these concepts is reflected in Yiddish literature, including poetry, fiction, theatre, scientific and philosophical works, as well as the incredible richness of Yiddish folklore. Since the bulk of these treasures has not been translated we regard efforts to preserve the Yiddish language as vital to the survival of humanistic Jewish culture. Whenever possible, we use and teach Yiddish. At a minimum, we seek to instill respect for Yiddish and knowledge of its accomplishments and value.