The ILLUMINATOR Where is my light? My light is in me. Where is my hope? My hope is in me. Where is my strength? My strength is in me. And in you. - Rabbi Sherwin Wine (1928-2007)

A Thank You from Muriel Sterne Dear Members of Or Emet Congregation: A line from Sherwin Wine’s writings that is included in Or Emet’s shabbat service reads: Where is my strength? My strength is in me and in YOU [my emphasis]. This line has always been very meaningful to me, but never more so than now. I cannot tell you how much comfort I take in the enormous outpouring of support and concern you showed to Phillip and me through your calls and cards and e-mails as Phillip seemed to be recovering from cardiac bypass surgery, only to experience a disastrous cascade of medical problems he could not surmount. I am also so grateful to you for your reaching out to Phillip’s children and their families at the time of the memorial service. Scattered around the country as they are, they had little sense of the life he had built in the Or Emet community. More than one commented later about “what lovely people” you are. Fondly, Muriel

Jazz and Shabbat on November 21 Or Emet invites you to a Humanistic & Musical Shabbat with Jazz pianist Les Block and with singer Heidi Ziman, presenting “From the Shtetl to Broadway - the Yiddish Roots of American Popular Song.” Friday, November 21, from 7:30-9:00 pm. at Minneapolis Jewish Community Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd. S., in St. Louis Park. Les Block is a native New Yorker who grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He is a pianist, band leader and producer of musical shows. After moving to the Twin Cities to join the faculty of the University of Minnesota, he had extended piano engagements at many Twin Cities' venues including Charlie's Cafe, La Tortue, and Ellington's. He continues to perform at local venues and private functions. In 1985, he formed Les Block and Company to help keep the music of the Great American Songbook alive in the Twin Cities by producing a series of musical tributes to America's great popular song writers. His first production was "I Hear Music," a centennial tribute to Jerome Kern. This was followed by the shows "Say It With Music," “Fascinating Rhythm," "I Get a Kick Out of Cole," and "Sophisticated Ellington." He has also produced centennial tributes to Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Harry Warren. Les has the distinction of having produced the first show in the country exclusively dedicated to the

Winter 2008/9 songs written by American women songwriters. This show was later revived as "Women of Note." Heidi Ziman is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a degree in Education. She also has a degree in Sign Language Interpreting and a diploma in Drama from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. She moved from the Boston area to the Twin Cities where she first worked as a singing waiter at Gustino's Restaurant, downtown Minneapolis. She taught preschool at the Minneapolis Jewish Community Centre where she was then introduced to Les Block when she was hired to sing for Centre Circle. She has been performing with Les throughout the Twin Cities area for the past 18 years. She has performed at the New Erlich Theatre in Boston and the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. She is the Tour Director for Minnetonka Orchards and teaches preschool classes in Dance and Drama. She is an audio book reader for Holton House Audio and has performed for Baby Blue Arts Presents, an online showcase for Twin City artists and musicians. She volunteers for BookPals, a program of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation where she reads to children at a local Minneapolis school and volunteers at Partnership Resources where she sings and signs with special needs adults. She lives in Golden Valley with her husband Paul and their three children, Isaac, Aaron and Moriah.

Meeting New Members – Marisol Miller Born in Buffalo, N.Y. and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Marisol is a financial analyst with a B.A. in Business and an M.S. in Finance. She and her husband live in Bloomington and she is attempting to change careers to become an actuary. Her mother and siblings live in Miami, FL, and she is an addictive learner who enjoys spending time with like-minded, stimulating and fun people. Her interests include languages, travel, reading non-fiction, and health and fitness, among others. Welcome, Marisol, and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Sukkoth Building October 2008

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The Illuminator welcomes: Letters to the editor; essays; poems; humor; announcements of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, graduations, and anniversaries; articles; photographs (black and white), if relevant to an article; and appropriate paid advertisements. Published quarterly. _____________________________ Dues: Individuals $260

Families $385 - w/school $485 - 2nd child $60 - add. child no charge

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www.oremet.org

Madrikh Harold Londer

Executive Committee

President: Margo Fox oremet@mac.com Vice President: Barry Cohen bcohen@rainbowresearch.org Treasurer: Sharon Miller

4316 Aries Ct. Eagan, MN 55123 sharonmillermn@comcast.net

At-Large: Erica Fishman Nancy Schwartz

Jewish Cultural School

Barbara Weisman 612-722-2521

wegwise@bitstream.net

Music Lionel Davis

Newsletter

Mike Persellin Alan Miller Box 22513 alanmillermn@comcast.net Robbinsdale, MN 55422 763-535-2226 mperse@spacestar.com

__________

Or Emet is affiliated with the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ) and the International Federation of Secular

Humanistic Jews.

President’s Message Hello again everyone. I have been thinking about all of you and want to take this opportunity to say “thank you.” This fall was beautiful. Mother Nature outdid herself. And so did you! Our High Holiday services were wonderful, thanks to everyone who planned and participated in them. Members have generously brought refreshments on numerous occasions. Our Friday evening services and programs have been great. We have had high quality Sunday programs for adults. Our Jewish Cultural Sunday School is off to a terrific start. Our Sukkot building party was enjoyed by all (see photo elsewhere in this edition). Our membership is growing. Or Emet is flourishing because of you. It is a joy to belong to a community of people who are bright, fun, talented, dedicated, warm and caring. Be sure to mark your calendars today for all of the Or Emet events that are planned for the winter months. I look forward to being with you and sharing in the celebration of Humanistic Judaism.

- - Margo Fox

Donations to Or Emet Received since the last issue of THE ILLUMINATOR from: Evelyn Lessin - in memory of Phil Griffin Margo & David Fox - in memory of Phil Griffin, in memory of Amy Steubenhaus’ mother; in memory of Bruce Pomerantz’ father, in memory of Erica Fishman’s mother; to celebrate the birth of Kai Rossi, son of Rob and Alex Janet Mayer & Paul Petzschke – in memory of Phil Griffin Faith & Steve Oremland – in memory of Bruce Pomerantz’ father; in memory of Phil Griffin Jan Withers & Harold Londer – in memory of Bruce Pomerantz’ father Joan & David Barnett – in memory of Amy Steubenhaus’ mother; in memory of Edith Davis Rollie Langer – in memory of Phil Griffin Lionel Davis – in memory of Edith Chernah Coblentz – in memory of Edith Davis; in memory of her uncle, Simon Coblentz Cindy Dubansky – in memory of Bruce Pomerantz’ father Jack Stuart – unrestricted gift to Or Emet Louise & Roger Jones – in memory of Edith Davis Harold Londer – donations from Madrikh services Muriel Sterne – in appreciation of the comfort Jan Withers & Harold Londer gave to both Muriel and Phil Griffin Jane & Jack Katz - in memory of Phil Griffin

Or Emet Winter 2008/9 Schedule

Time Location Program

December

Sunday 7 10 am. Friends School Cultural School and Adult Program: “King David: The Told and Untold Stories.” David Fox

Friday 19 6 pm. Friends Meeting House Hanukkah Party!

January

Sunday 4 10 am. Friends School

Cultural School and Adult Program: “Daily Life in the Second Temple Period.” Andrea Berlin, Professor of Archaeology, Depart. of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minn.

Friday 16 7:30 pm. Minneapolis Sabes JCC

Shabbat Service and Program: Participate in Disaster Response. Enhance Your Life. Get Dirty.” Steve Lear, Founder of Nechama

February

Sunday 1 10 am. Friends School Cultural School and Tu B’Shevat Seder.

Friday 20 7:30 pm. Minneapolis Sabes JCC

Shabbat Service and Program: “The Common Origins of Religious and Pagan Celebrations.” Richard Logan, Retired Professor of Human Development, Univ. Wisconsin-Green Bay

March

Sunday 1 10 am. Friends School Purim Party!

Friday 20 7:30 pm. Mpls. JCC Shabbat Service and Program (t/b/a)

April

Sunday 5 10 am. Minneapolis Sabes JCC

Shabbat Service and Program: “Plays in Search of an Ending: Values Clarification.” Faith Oremland

Saturday 11 5 pm. First Unitarian Society Or Emet Passover Seder

Minneapolis JCC is located at 4330 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park.

Friends Meeting House is located at 1725 Grand Avenue, St. Paul

Minnesota Friends School is located at 1365 Englewood Avenue, St. Paul.

First Unitarian Society is located at 900 Mt. Curve Avenue, Minneapolis.

All Or Emet Programs are free and open to the Public. A Humanistic Jewish Shabbat Service

precedes Friday evening programs and an Oneg follows.

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CONGREGATION

“If you do not know where you are going, any old road will get you there.” - - Thomas Carlyle

Mixed Messages

Many Or Emet members either were raised or are living in inter-faith households. We are not unique. The percentage of identified Jewish individuals who marry outside of the “faith” continues to rise. In 1965 10% of Jews married non-Jews; it is now over 50%! According to one study, 54% of “Jewish children” are being raised either in a different religion or with no religion. Traditional Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders have fought defiantly against these trends. They have described this as a “second holocaust,” raising the possibility of the end of the Jewish people. Families have disowned children who do not marry Jews. Most Rabbis refuse to participate in interfaith marriages. Humanistic Judaism looks at this issue differently. We believe that all people have the right to marry whomever they wish. As Rabbi Sherwin Wine states in Judaism Beyond God, “people maintain the right to pursue their own dignity in the way that their personal needs and temperament require.” We also believe strongly that this will not signal the end of Judaism. Jewish identity can be strong and enduring in a mixed relationship. Our cultural school, our programs, our life cycle events all balance Jewish and secular traditions. I often wonder how the non-Jewish members of our Or Emet families perceive this issue. I am sure many of them also feel family pressures regarding their life choices. I know many also feel a connection to their own traditions and childhood memories. I am concerned, at times, that Or Emet, while stressing our Jewish connections and traditions so proudly, sometimes overlooks the many members of our congregation who are still strongly connected, emotionally and intellectually, to their non-Jewish heritage. I also know that there relationships among our congregants where there are deep divides over the humanistic tradition. A theist and a non-theist divide in a relationship can be as daunting or more so than that of two different religious backgrounds. I have always thought than an orthodox Jew and an fundamentalist Christian have much more similar world views than an orthodox Jew and a humanistic Jew.

Every year the co-arrival of Christmas and Hanukkah seems to bring this issue to my mind. Though I am intellectually totally committed, both personally and theologically, to the concept of acceptance and tolerance of other beliefs, I know that emotionally it is not an easy task. My wife Jan grew up in Atlanta in the Southern Baptist faith. We both have evolved to a humanistic world view, but respect and understand our different childhood experiences. I will never forget the difficulty I had with our first Christmas tree. Why in the world did I find it so uncomfortable? I remember my first Christmas Eve church service. Why was it so difficult for me? I remember bringing my children, then about 6 and 9, to Louisville for Christmas with the Withers family. I literally could not bring them to church on Christmas Eve. We stayed home playing around the Christmas tree while the others went off to sing carols and rejoice. Where was my liberal, tolerant, open side? To this day, I feel a bit guilty over these feelings, yet they were powerful and real. I have grown significantly in my 20+ years of intermarriage. Do any of the non-Jewish members of our group have the same emotions when they come to our programs? Does a menorah make them feel uncomfortable? Does our lack of reference to God bother some deeply? Are they comfortable sharing these feelings with the Jewish individual in the relationship? Will it take them 20 years to understand the incredible significance of these emotional, almost primal reactions? We have a new President Elect. Optimism about our future is at a new high. The American dream of equality for all seems more attainable than ever before in my life. We respect and welcome to our community caring individuals who are dedicated to justice, peace, and personal integrity. Feel free to bring with you your Christmas wreaths and Santa Bears to enjoy with your latkes. Just understand, it just may take us a little while to appreciate them.

- - Harold Londer, Madrikh

A Touch of Humor In discussing humanism with a friend, he recently asked me, “Do Humanists pray?” “Some do,” I replied. “What do you say?” he responded. “To whom it May Concern . . .”

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SHJ

Report on the Society for Humanistic Judaism Board Meeting October 24 – 27, 2008

The October SHJ Board Meeting was the best I have attended in the three years I have been on the Board. We accomplished a significant amount of work, much of it geared toward building our movement in the 21st Century. I am currently serving as Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. Community Development Shir Tikvah (south of Boston) has reached prospective congregation status. Rabbi Miriam Jerris is working with communities in Jacksonville/St Augustine, FL, Columbus, OH, Raleigh, NC, San Francisco and Naples, FL as they work toward reaching prospective status. Field Visits/Grants Or Emet is eligible for a field visit or grant this year. One of the requirements to qualify for a grant is that it must be involve a new initiative designed to help a community grow. If you have ideas for a field visit or grant, please contact Margo Fox at foxy10@mac.com. Ethical Concerns Committee The Board voted to approve support of full voting representation in Congress for residents of the District of Columbia. Other issues the Committee is reviewing are torture and the treatment of workers (e.g., kosher slaughterhouses). Membership Committee - The Video Project was unanimously approved. Work will begin shortly with the project due to conclude at the end of 2009. - Completed text revision to Guidelines for Organizing SHJ Communities. The Guidelines will serve as an excellent tool for prospective and emerging communities who need assistance in getting their new communities off the ground. Also approved was an expenditure of matching funds to any new community for outreach development. - At large members of SHJ (current and prospective) are being contacted by members of the Committee with the goal of keeping these members connected with Humanistic Judaism even though they do not live near an existing SHJ community.

2010 Assessment Fee Increase In consideration of the economic situation and concern for the SHJ communities, the Board approved delay of increase to 2011. Strategic Planning Committee This newly established committee will review and revise the current five year Strategic Plan (in Year 4). Youth Group - Taglit-Birthright Israel trip for Humanistic Jewish young adults has 87 interested people to date. If you know of someone between 18–26 who may be interested, have them contact AJ Chalom at hujews@comcast.net AND join the Facebook group Taglit-Birthright Israel: HuJews trip for Cultural Jews Summer 2009. The cost for this trip is covered by Taglit-Birthright Israel except for getting the young adult to New York for departure to Israel. - Teen and College Conclave 2009 (Michigan). AJ Chalom, Chair of the Youth Group, reported that they have a very high percentage of students who return to the conclave year after year. The youth group representatives who attended the SHJ Board meeting said their first conclave had a tremendous impact on them. They found the experience of meeting other Humanistic Jewish teens from all over the United States amazing. Minimum age is 13. Please tell your teens and college students about this fabulous opportunity to create long-lasting friendships with other Humanistic Jewish teens. - The HUJews website www.hujews.org will be ready shortly and include an Organizing on Campus section, ways to get involved, and resource information. - Subsidized At-Large memberships to SHJ are available to young adults (Ages 18 – 25) for only $25. They receive a subscription to the Journal Humanistic Judaism and the Humanorah newsletter. It makes a great gift!! Planning for the Future The following from Bonnie Cousens is an excerpt from her Executive Director’s Report to the SHJ Board: “It is up to us to make Humanistic Judaism a major force in the Jewish community. Success cannot be achieved by one person alone. Only by working together . . . can we increase our visibility and help our movement to grow. Together we can create a warm and welcoming Jewish environment for a Jewish population that is searching for relevancy, meaning and connection in a technical age of isolation. We can build a Judaism for our generation and those to follow.”

- - Faith Oremland

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Alan Miller’s Yom Kippur Talk (edited)

When my father died 34 years ago - far too young - I realized that there were a lot of things I wanted to say to him, things left unsaid. I pledged to myself at that time to become a better communicator - not to leave items of importance unspoken. As Rabbi Josh Zweiback, a California Reform rabbi stated, “we must see life for what it is, and confront its challenges honestly and openly, such as our fear of death.” As we age, there is more and more thought given to what Woody Allen describes as “anticipating the void.” And that is where all of these things come together in my mind, especially on Yom Kippur, the “days of awe,” described by David Fox as the “days of fear,” a time to reflect on the relationship of the universe to human need and desire. Or, as our Madrikh Harold Londer stated, “it is a time for contemplation, a time for memory, a time for self-analysis, and introspection. But the dominant motif is not sadness; it is resolve.” Thinking back over my own life, my theological skepticism can be traced back to my bar mitzvah in a Conservative upbringing, to reciting prayers in Reform congregations which had little impact on me, and to the question: Is there a God, one God, and if so, whose? We live in a nation where God intrudes into our lives more and more, even in our government which professes to recognize the separation of church and state, and in our courts as well, which should be theologically neutral. We see different versions of different Gods all around us – different religions, different concepts, prayers at sporting events, recent references in the pledge of allegiance to the flag, a great diverse interpretation in religious writing, religion on the radio, preachers on television, faith healers, each espousing the certitude of their individual beliefs. I have found great satisfaction in Humanistic Judaism, which is described by Greg Epstein, the young Humanistic Rabbi at Harvard University, as follows: “Humanistic Jews do not believe in an omnipotent supernatural power, but in this day and age, the term God can mean anything you want it to be . . . we reject the notion that an omnipotent God issued 613 commandments; but if your god stands for nature, or the universe, or love, that’s fine . . . the real point is that this is the only world we will ever know, and this life is the only chance we get to make a difference.”

How brave Sherwin Wine was in 1963 when he had the courage to take this monumental step into a new phase of Judaism. Attacked as a “godless atheist,” threatened by an attempt to defrock him, he had the vision to state, “we cannot depend on an all-wise, all-powerful supernatural being to arrange for everything that happens; we must take that responsibility ourselves, have the courage to face life knowing that the good are not always rewarded, the bad not always punished, and that things do not always work out for the best. But, we have the power and responsibility to shape our own lives, connect with our Jewish heritage, history, traditions and values, to seek intellectual freedom and the pursuit of truth and knowledge without reference to a supernatural being.” So what does all this mean, this time of repentance – teshuva – as we reflect and remember those who touched our lives and who will always live as long as we remember them. It means to me and perhaps differently to each of you, as the Society for Humanistic Judaism holds, “returning to our values and ideals, renewing our commitment to the highest standards of our ethics.” It is introspection and remorse for any harms we have caused, and attempts at restitution by making this world a better place. We are responsible for our own destinies, but the bigger challenge is what we can do to improve the lot of mankind. There are so many ways we can make a difference, by doing tsedaka – charity – that can be our teshuva, our repentance. L’shana tovah tikateva – may each of you be inscribed for a good year in YOUR book of life.

Newest Member of the Family!

Alex Schwartz and Rob Rossi are delighted (if somewhat exhausted) to introduce a new member of Or Emet's expanding circle: their son, Kai Alexander Schwartz de Rossi, or just Kai Schwartz for short. Kai was born on July 18, 2008, and he cannot wait for his chance to meet those of you he has not already!

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The Hannukah Holiday In the old country, children received coins from their relatives, called Hannukah gelt, and played with the spinning top or dreidl. Hannukah was the only time that gambling was permitted and the dreidl was used for that purpose, sort of like shooting craps today. Each of the dreidl’s four sides is marked with letters nun, giml, hay and shin, which stand for Nes gadol hayo shom, meaning, "a great miracle happened there." There are two “miracles” associated with Hanukkah. The first is the victory of the Jewish revolt over the Hellenized Selucid dynasty and the establishment of a Jewish state. The second refers to the lamp oil that burned for eight days. The revolt began in 167 BCE in response to Antiochus IV's policies of imposing Greek culture on the Hebrew tribes and was sparked by conversion of the Jerusalem Temple to a shrine for the Greek gods. The followers of the Maccabee brothers were religious conservatives whose first victims were Hellenized (adopters of Greek culture) Jews. The Temple was cleared of Greek religious references and re-dedicated as the center of Judaism in an 8-day festival that included the lighting of candles. The festival took place in the fall to coincide with the anniversary of victory. It was later moved to the winter solstice in order not to conflict with the more seriously religious High Holidays. The myth of the “miracle of the oil” was invented centuries later by Talmudic rabbis in order to make a mostly secular holiday more religious. The revolt actually lasted until 142 BCE, at which time the victorious Maccabees established a dictatorship called the Hasmonean Dynasty. The Hasmoneans were unfortunately brutal imperialists, known for forcing circumcision on conquered tribes, and were themselves vanquished by the Romans in 63 BCE. Hannukah was considered a minor holiday by the rabbis. It first of all commemorated human and not divine achievements. Secondly, the rabbis had no wish to celebrate the Hasmoneans, who did not descend from King David, appointed high priests not descended from Aaron, and ruthlessly persecuted the Pharisees, the immediate predecessors of the rabbinic class. Modern-day Jews tend to look back to the Maccabee revolt with nationalistic nostalgia, ignoring the brutal realities and failures of the Hasmonean Dynasty. The revolt after all resulted in the last brief establishment of a Jewish state until 1948. Secular Jews acknowledge both historical reality and religious myth-making. We honor our ancient history by lighting candles at the winter solstice, the most anxious time of the year for pastoral cultures. We honor our more recent European history by continuing the traditions of lighting the

menorah, spinning the dreidl, and handing out gelt. We honor modern Israel without triumphalism. We acknowledge the necessity of fighting tyranny by talking about peace, justice, democracy, workers' rights and pluralism. Sholem Aleichem wrote two wonderful stories about Hannukah: “Chanukah Money” (about the custom of distributing it) and “Cnards” (about card players and swindlers), both from The Old Country.

- - Mike Persellin

Webpage Update A quick word on developments concerning Or Emet's web page, from our new web maintainer, Rob Rossi. Rob says that the process of bringing control of the Or Emet website "in house" is now complete. Over the summer, visitors to the website may have noticed slight changes, mostly in the calendar function, and a few temporary service outages, the latter growing pains resulting from the shift in domain control. Now that the control of the website and domain name are completely transferred, the pace of change will quicken. Changes in the calendar portion of the site are necessitated by the shift in the timing of daylight savings time which took place last year (our old calendar no longer works properly) and will remain a focus of future change in the near-term. Other points of focus are less obvious, including making our website come up higher in a Google search and updating details about our school and other activities. In the long term, an events page will feature follow-up and possibly anticipatory information related to our events. Feedback on any aspect of the website is always welcome, and should be addressed to webmaster@oremet.org.

Follow-up to Environmental Efficacy Presentation

I am still working on the web resources I mentioned that I would make available related to my presentation. The additional resources will appear at http://www.rrts.us/environment as I add to them. Follow-up on some specific items that came up during the presentation: compact fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury and should not be thrown in the trash - they are accepted free of charge at all Menards and Home Depot stores. (Even if thrown in the trash, a CFL would release less mercury into the air than would producing the electricity to power conventional light bulbs over the CFL bulb's lifetime!) The book I recommended for those interested in more detail is The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists by Michael Brower and Warren Leon, ISBN 060980281X. - - Rob Rossi

OR EMET Humanistic Jews of Minnesota C/O Mike Persellin Box 22513 Robbinsdale, MN 55422 ______________________________________________________________________________________

Free Summer Trips to Israel for Teens

and Young Adults The Society for Humanistic Judaism’s teen and young adult group, HuJews, will facilitate a free 10-day Taglit-Birthright Israel trip to Israel in the summer of 2009, probably in early July. The trip, open to 18- to 26-year-old high school graduates who have never been on a peer trip to Israel, will be the first oriented to Humanistic and cultural Jews. Dates will be announced later this year, registration to begin in February, 2009, on the Taglit-Birthright Israel website, who are offering this wonderful gift. To express interest in joining the trip and to receive further information, email A.J. Chalom at hujews@comcast.net with your name, email address and snail mail address, plus phone number. You can also join the Facebook group “Taglit Birthright Israel: HuJews Trip for Cultural Jews Summer 2009.

Jeffrey and Kirsten Rose and big sister Sonya with Or Emet’s newest member, Veronica. The Rose family also features Cassie the cat and Squeedals the hamster. They have been members since 2007.

Miriam Jerris Named Rabbi for SHJ Rabbi Miriam Jerris, formerly Community Development Director and who also served as the first Executive Director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, was named Rabbi of the Society at the October Board meeting. Rabbi Jerris, who visited Or Emet several years ago, will now assume expanded job functions following the untimely death of Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of Humanistic Judaism, in 2007. In her new position, Rabbi Jerris is available as consultant to affiliated communities and will work to help grow and strengthen them in a variety of ways, including traveling to them to provide holiday celebrations (including shabbat), educational programs and organizational development assistance. Rabbi Jerris, who has a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and masters’ degrees in Near Eastern Studies and Clinical and Humanistic Psychology, was the 2006 recipient of the Sherwin T. Wine Lifetime Achievement Award and currently serves as President of the Association of Humanistic Rabbis. Always available to listen with “an open and compassionate heart,” Rabbi Jerris is “honored to be recognized by the SHJ Board of Directors for the work that I do . . . [and] I am committed to doing my work with passion and compassion.”

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and updates on all our activities,

check our website. Or Emet Online www.oremet.org