On Sunday, Oct. 1, Or Emet will host a program by author and journalist Doris Rubenstein, who will discuss the history of the Jewish people in Ecuador. The program will run from 10 a.m.-noon at the Talmud Torah of St. Paul, 768 Hamline Ave. South in St. Paul. A social time will follow. 

Doris Rubenstein

Between 1933 and the end of World War II, more than 3,000 Jews from countries across Europe fled what was an almost certain death to find freedom and safety in a small country in South America: Ecuador. 

Most of them had never heard of Ecuador before there was nowhere else to run. Some left for the U.S. or Israel after five or 10 years. Others decided to make it their permanent home. Today, there are fewer than 1,000 Jews still living in Ecuador. Why did they decide to stay? Each family’s story is different. 

Rubenstein lived in Ecuador as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1971-73 and became familiar with the Jewish community there, especially with the family of Enrique Cohen, whose family fled the Nazis when he was a toddler. She realized that the stories — even the existence of Jewish communities in small Latin American countries were untold, yet exciting, and set out to make sure the world knew about them.

The Sunday adult programs are free and open to the public and meet concurrently with the Jewish Cultural Sunday School. Attendees can choose to wear a mask and are expected to be up to date on vaccinations or have a same-day negative COVID test. 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 information about Or Emet’s Jewish Cultural Sunday School, contact JCSS director Molly Phipps at school-1@oremet.org. For information about Or Emet, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.

Do you love Jewish food, music, culture and humor? Do you want a secular community that welcomes interfaith couples? Do you want your children to learn about Jewish culture? Are you curious about Jews without God?

If you are interested in learning more about Humanistic Judaism and Or Emet, please join “An Introduction to Humanistic Judaism” from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Rondo Community Library, 461 Dale St. N in St. Paul. Parking is available beneath the library; enter from University Avenue.

The discussion, which will take place in person and via Zoom, will be led by Or Emet president Allan Malkis and former president Richard Logan. To register for the in-person option, email president@oremet.org. For the Zoom option, register here.

Or Emet, the Minnesota Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, is celebrating this year’s High Holidays with services at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, along with the option to participate over Zoom. All services will be held in a large event space to allow for physical distancing.

Or Emet invites everyone to share in our High Holiday services. We are a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective. You can join us for Rosh Hashanah, Tashlich, Kol Nidre and/or Yom Kippur services, emphasizing the history and culture of the Jewish people and the values of each celebration.

The following programs will be led by Or Emet ritual leader and rabbinic candidate Eva Cohen:

• Erev Rosh Hashanah: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15. (Register for Zoom.)
• Tashlich: 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, location to be announced. (No Zoom option. Registration required.)
• Kol Nidre: 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24. (Register for Zoom.)
• Yom Kippur: 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25. (Register for Zoom.)
• Following the Yom Kippur service, a break-fast meal will be served outdoors (indoors for bad weather) on JCC grounds. (Registration required.) 

Attendees can choose to wear a mask and are expected to be up to date on vaccinations or have a same-day negative COVID test.

In keeping with High Holiday tradition, Or Emet welcomes donations of nonperishable food and personal hygiene items to be shared with a local community center.

For more information about Or Emet’s High Holiday services, email highholidays@oremet.org. For general information about Or Emet, email  info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.

On Sunday, Sept. 10, Or Emet will open its fall programming with a continuation of an oral history project focused on its members. The program, led by Or Emet members Scott Chazdon and Michal Moskow, will run from 10 a.m.-noon at the Talmud Torah of St. Paul, 768 Hamline Ave. South in St. Paul. A social time will follow. 

In 2019, Or Emet received a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society to conduct oral history interviews with founding and long-term members. Over two years, a team of Or Emet members conducted 14 interviews, mostly over Zoom. Last September, the group compiled and presented a one-hour video with excerpts from these interviews. 

Chazdon and Moskow will use interview questions from this project to facilitate discussions among members in attendance. The goal will be to deepen members’ knowledge of each other and learn how Or Emet members formed their Jewish identities and how they discovered Humanistic Judaism. Visitors are more than welcome to join in.

Chazdon is a sociologist and program evaluator for the University of Minnesota Extension. He served as president of Or Emet from 2018-21. Moskow is a professor emerita at Metropolitan State University and is rostered at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Her major research areas include social linguistics and human rights.

The Sunday adult programs are free and open to the public and meet concurrently with the Jewish Cultural Sunday School. Attendees can choose to wear a mask and are expected to be up to date on vaccinations or have a same-day negative COVID test. 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 information about Or Emet’s Jewish Cultural Sunday School, contact JCSS director Molly Phipps at school-1@oremet.org. For information about Or Emet, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.

On Friday, May 19, from 7:30-9 p.m., Or Emet will host a Humanistic Shabbat service followed by a presentation by Dr. David Parker, a physician, author and photographer. The events will take place at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis. A social time will follow the program.

Sarah Berman-Young, the music and Hebrew specialist for Or Emet, will serve as the guest leader for the service. Following the service, Parker will present a selection of his photographs taken over the last 30 years, which depict global work and child labor. 

Brick worker, Nepal (Photo by Dr. David Parker)

Parker’s photographs have been exhibited widely in the U.S., Canada and Latin America, and his work is included in collections in the Library of Congress, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Haggerty Museum of Art and Weisman Museum of Art. He received a Christopher Award for work affirming the highest values of the human spirit, a Twin Cities International Citizen Award for his work on human rights and the Lewis Hine Award, among others. 

Parker is a physician specializing in worker health and safety. He is the recipient of numerous major grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts on a wide range of topics. 

Those who cannot attend the program in person may join over Zoom. Please register in advance here. Attendees can choose to wear a mask and are expected to be up to date on vaccinations or have a same-day negative COVID test.

Or Emet’s events and programs may change per CDC and state guidelines during the pandemic. All updates and changes will be posted in Or Emet’s events calendar. 

Or Emet is a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective. For more information, email info@oremet.org or visit oremet.org.