Fall 2025 Illuminator Newsletter
webmaster@oremet.org The Illuminator, our newsletter, brings to life Or Emet’s mission of creating a caring and stimulating community celebrating humanistic Judaism. Click to view or download.
Illuminator Fall 2025 FINAL
Shabbat Program: ‘American Democracy in the Age of Trump’
oremetpr On Friday, Sept. 5, from 7:30-9 p.m., Or Emet will host a Shabbat service led by Rabbi Eva Cohen, followed by a program and social time. The evening’s events will take place at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis.
David Schultz
Following the service, David Schultz will present “American Democracy in the Age of Trump.” Many fear that American democracy is at an inflection point. This talk will examine the state of American democracy today, assessing the impact that Donald Trump as well as other factors have had on its viability.
Schultz is a distinguished university professor in the departments of political science, environmental studies and legal studies at Hamline University. He also is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Minnesota and at the University of St. Thomas and an affiliate faculty member at the Lithuanian Military Academy in Vilnius, Lithuania.
A four-time Fulbright Scholar who has taught extensively in Europe and Asia, Schultz is the author of more than 45 books and 200-plus articles on various aspects of American politics, election law and the media and politics. He is regularly interviewed and quoted in the local, national and international media.
Those who cannot attend the program in person may join over Zoom. Please register in advance for the Zoom option.
Or Emet is a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective. For more information about Or Emet, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.
Spring/Summer 2025 Illuminator Newsletter
The Illuminator, our newsletter, brings to life Or Emet’s mission of creating a caring and stimulating community celebrating humanistic Judaism. Click to view or download.
Illuminator Spring_Summer 2025 final
Shabbat Program to Focus on Urban Pollution and Redlining in the Twin Cities
On Friday, May 9, from 7:30-9 p.m., Or Emet will host a Shabbat service led by Rabbi Eva Cohen, followed by a program and social time. The evening’s events will take place at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis.
Andrew Hazzard
Following the service, Andrew Hazzard, a reporter with Sahan Journal, will present “Mapping Inequalities: How Historical Discrimination Created Environmental Justice Neighborhoods.”
The talk will focus on the history of urban pollution and redlining in the Twin Cities and how that history is felt today in health disparities. Hazzard will discuss the historical redlining that kept Black and Jewish families from buying homes in certain neighborhoods, and how those geographical boundaries remain visible in modern maps of air pollution, asthma rates and poverty today.
Hazzard, who grew up in the Twin Cities, is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. After starting his career in daily newspapers in Mississippi and North Dakota, he returned to Minnesota, where he worked for local publications such as Southwest Journal. He enjoys travel, speaks Spanish and is a depressed supporter of Minnesota’s professional sports teams.
Those who cannot attend in person may join over Zoom. Please register in advance here.
Or Emet is a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective. For more information about Or Emet, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.
Program to Focus on History of Unitarianism
On Sunday, April 27, Or Emet will host a presentation by Philipp Muessig and Victor Urbanowicz on the history of Unitarianism.
The program will run from 10 a.m.-noon at Twin Cities German Immersion School, 1031 Como Ave. in St. Paul. A social time will follow.
Muessig, from First Universalist Church in Minneapolis, and Urbanowicz, from White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi, will talk about the long history and theological roots of Unitarianism. They will begin with some jokes about Unitarians and end with discussion of commonalities between Unitarian and Humanistic Judaism congregations.
Those who cannot attend in person may join via Zoom. Please register in advance here.
The Sunday adult programs are free and open to the public and meet concurrently with the Jewish Cultural Sunday School.
Or Emet is a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective.
For information about Or Emet’s Jewish Cultural Sunday School, contact JCSS director Molly Phipps at school@oremet.org. For information about Or Emet, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.