Last update - 00:00 24/07/2007
Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of Humanistic Judaism, dies at 79
By Amiram Barkat , Haaretz Correspondent
Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the Humanistic Judaism Movement in its current form, was killed late Saturday in a traffic accident in Morocco.
Wine, 79, was dubbed "the atheist rabbi" in American media.
Wine founded the movement with a small secular congregation in Michigan in 1963.
He developed a Jewish liturgy emphasizing Jewish culture, history and identity along with humanistic ethics while excluding all prayers and references to God.
He visited Israel last December for the ordination of seven secular rabbis.