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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Dvar Torah

Rabbi Randy Fleisher serves Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis.

Walking the path of holiness

By Rabbi Randy FleisherPublished June 15, 2016

In Naso, we learn about the laws of the Nazirites, individuals who vow to live a certain portion of their lives with a heightened attention to holiness. I have long been fascinated by this phenomenon, most notably because as part of their vow, the Nazirites...

Rabbi Roxanne J.S. Shapiro, RJE, serves as Rabbi and Director of Life Long Learning at United Hebrew Congregation.  She is the Treasurer of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association and the Chair of the St. Louis Education Directors’ Council. 

Choice of words raises questions

By Rabbi Roxanne J.S. ShapiroPublished June 8, 2016

In our Torah portion, B’midbar, we find the Children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. In fact, our Hebrew name for the portion has a different meaning than that of the English.  In Hebrew, B’midbar refers to the “Wilderness” (or desert),...

Maharat Rori Picker Neiss is executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis.

Reflecting on our place in the world

By Maharat Rori Picker NeissPublished May 25, 2016

In a world in which we value action, speed, productivity and rapid-fire response, perhaps the most incredible thing to ask of a person is to simply stop.Yet, that is exactly what the Torah commands us to do.In this week’s Torah portion, we are commanded...

Rabbi Dale Schreiber is a board certified chaplain providing Jewish care coordination for Pathways Hospice and Palliative Care and has a private practice, Renewal-in-Action, specializing in resiliency, spiritual development, and compassion fatigue recovery.  

‘Emor’ explores death as a sacred occasion

By Rabbi Dale SchreiberPublished May 18, 2016

Emor tells us: “These are My fixed times; times set aside for Me, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions for convocation.”Emor is translated as “saying.”   The word is mentioned more than 20 times in the portion. God spoke to Moses, saying,...

Rabbi Josef A. Davidson serves Congregation B’nai Amoona.

Holiness as personal responsibility

By Rabbi Josef A. DavidsonPublished May 4, 2016

In his most famous work, “The Dybbuk,” Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport, the Jewish Russian author who wrote under the pseudonym of S. Ansky, created a character named Rabbi Azriel, who taught the following with regard to the holy confluence of time, person,...

Rabbi Hyim Shafner serves Bais Abraham Congregation.

Seder mirrors breakup, redemption of family

By Rabbi Hyim ShafnerPublished April 28, 2016

Passover is about relationships.  Over and over, the Torah expresses the Passover Seder in intergenerationally related terms, such as:  “When your child shall ask you, ‘What is this service’ ” and, “And you shall say to them, ‘With a strong...

Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael is Community Chaplain with Jewish Family & Children’s Service.

How we tell the story

By Rabbi Micah Buck-YaelPublished April 21, 2016

“Our tale begins in degradation and ends in praise.”This is more or less the entire original seder “script” outlined in the Mishnah nearly 2,000 years ago. It outlines not only the story of Exodus, but also a way of looking at Jewish and divine...

Rabbi Lane Steinger serves Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community.

The Great Sabbath: All Sabbaths are great

BY RABBI LANE STEINGERPublished April 13, 2016

We conclude this week with a special Shabbat, Shabbat Ha-gadol/The Great Sabbath, the Shabbat that precedes Passover.The name Shabbat Ha-gadol is derived from Malachi 3:4-4:24, the Haftarah, or reading from the Prophets, for this Shabbat, which declares,...

Amy Feder is Senior Rabbi at Congregation Temple Israel.

Visiting the sick: A rewarding mitzvah

By Rabbi Amy FederPublished April 6, 2016

In my teens, when I first started thinking of becoming a rabbi, I spent a summer shadowing several rabbis in St. Louis to get a sense of what they did every day and to try and imagine whether I could ever stand in their shoes. By the end of the summer,...

Rabbi Noah Arnow serves Kol Rinah.

Shushan had no Sherlock Holmes

By Rabbi Noah ArnowPublished March 23, 2016

Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. The detective’s uncanny observational and deductive powers allow him to see so much about a person, and not merely what’s on the surface.  He can tell that you’re a pediatric...

Brigitte Rosenberg is senior rabbi of United Hebrew Congregation. 

Do something: Hear the call and take action

By Rabbi Brigitte RosenbergPublished March 16, 2016

Vayikra – And G-d called to Moses …  This week, as we begin the book of Vayikra/Leviticus, the relationship between G-d and the people begins to expand, as do the relationships between the people themselves. We shift from a narrative about others...

Rabbi Jonah Zinn serves Congregation Shaare Emeth and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association. 

Dressing for self-identity success

By Rabbi Jonah ZinnPublished March 9, 2016

When I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who wore a shirt and tie to school every day. Although I remember his distinctive wardrobe choice decades later, I never spent much time thinking about his motives. Looking back, it would seem this was...

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