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A program commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day is being held at the State Capitol this month.

Featuring the Minnesota Holocaust Survivor Portrait Project, the program is scheduled for Jan. 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Capitol rotunda.

One of the highlighted speakers of the event is Col. Edward Shames, a Jewish WWII veteran featured in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and a liberator of Dachau concentration camp.

The portrait project is by local photographer David Sherman and will be exhibited Jan. 8-18 at the North Corridor of the State Capitol in St. Paul.

“Each portrait in the ‘Transfer of Memory’ exhibit is a story of survival containing luck, determination, devotion and defying exceedingly difficult circumstances,” according to a description of the exhibit, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC).

“As a collection, these portraits focus on living. These survivors came to Minnesota with hope for a better life. It was here they fashioned their dreams, their futures and their families.”

Ever wonder about the possible astronomical explanations for a star over Bethlehem?

Learn about that and other fascinating questions surrounding the holiday season at the “Season of Light,” a program being held throughout December at Minnesota State University Moorhead’s planeterium.

The program promises to explore holiday customs like the burning of the Yule log, candles in windows, kissing under the mistletoe, gift giving and the lighting of the Hanukkah Menorah, according to a released statement from the school:

“The show narrates to not only Christian and Jewish traditions but also Celtic, Nordic, Roman, Irish, Mexican and Hopi.

“The audience will learn a variety of astronomy related details including, hemisphere winter constellations, why we have seasons and the possible astronomical explanations for a ‘Star over Bethlehem.’”
 

The presentation runs through Dec. 23. Showings will be held Mondays and Thursdays at 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

For more information about the planetarium, visit mnstate.edu/planetarium.

St. Thomas University will be holding the third in a series of five recitals and concerts marking the 25th anniversary and dedication of one of the Twin Cities' most notable pipe organs.

Organist Kraig Windschitl will perform organ chorales of Bach on the Gabriel Kney pipe organ 3 p.m. Sunday, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, located on the St. Paul campus. He will be joined by St. Thomas’ Schola Cantorum, directed by Aaron Brown.

The program, which is free and open to the public, marks the organ's installation in 1987, according to a released statement from the school:

"Built by Gabriel Kney of London, Ontario, the organ is a three-manual instrument with 41 stops of 56 ranks, with a total of 2,787 pipes. It is used for worship, teaching and concerts. Its dedicatory recital was played by Swedish organist Hans Fagius on Sept. 20, 1987.”

Concert performances have been featured on the “Pipedreams” radio program from American Public Media, and the organ has been showcased at conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

The remaining two programs in the 25th anniversary series are:

3 p.m. Sunday, March 17, 2013, French organist Michel Bouvard, professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Music in Paris, will perform a solo recital.

3 p.m. Sunday April 28, 2013, St. Thomas organists will present a concert with the university’s Liturgical Choir, directed by Aaron Brown.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is ranked among the world’s most influential Muslims, according to a just released report.

“The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims,” compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan, lists Ellison, who is the first Muslim elected to Congress.

This year’s ranking has more Muslims from the U.S. than any other country,the Religion News Service reports:

“America’s roughly 2.6 million Muslims are a tiny fraction of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, but they took 41 spots on the 500 list. Countries with the next highest number of names were Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, with 25 Muslims each, followed by Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, with 24.”

The Religion News Service also reports  the “third annual compilation lists the winners according to 13 categories, including spiritual guides, Quran reciters, scholars, politicians, celebrities, sports figures, radicals, and media leaders. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah took the list’s No. 1 spot.”

The University of St. Thomas is celebrating its annual Christmas tree and crèche-lighting ceremony.

All are welcome to the 16th annual event on Dec. 4, held at the lower quadrangle of the university’s St. Paul campus.

Besides the crèche located atop the university’s Summit Avenue Arches, the school is lighting a large pine near the Arches and the trees leading from the campus’ lower quad to its upper quad, according to a released statement from the school:

"St. Thomas has had an outdoor Nativity scene for more than six decades. Campus clubs erected the first scenes in the 1940s. Later, Dr. Hugo Reny, a Vienna-born psychology professor, fashioned flat, hand-painted plywood figures that were displayed in the quadrangle.

"In 1950, a log-wall stage – some 8 feet high and 5 feet wide – was built for the scene and installed on the Summit Avenue-facing veranda of Aquinas Hall. It later was replaced by the more elaborate and lighted statues that the university’s Physical Plant staff install each December on top of the Arches."

The Nativity story is being brought to life via expressive street theatre and life-size puppetry at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

The historic church will host In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, which will perform a special rendition of the Nativity story on Dec. 8

The hour-long event, which starts at 2 p.m., is open to everyone interested in celebrating the holidays and the story of Christ’s birth.

The event takes place throughout different locations in the basilica and audience interaction is encouraged, according to a released statement from the church. To register or for more information, check outwww.mary.org.