The last line of parashat Mishpatim reads: “And Moses came into the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18)." Don’t you want to know what Moses sees up the mountain? In the Zohar, the...

“Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ sons and wife to him in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons.’ Moses...

This weekend Jews around the world will celebrate Tu B’shvat, the Jewish new year for trees. In the Torah, fruit bearing trees are revered because of their importance in sustaining life. The name is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat. In...

Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t everyone else see things the way I see them?” It is so obvious. Or so we think. We remember it as if it happened yesterday: “Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and God drove back the sea...

Tu B'shvat or the “birthday” of all fruit trees, is a minor festival. The name is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat. In 2023, Tu B'shvat begins at sundown on Sunday, Feb. 5 and ends at sundown on Monday, Feb. 6. Tu b'Shvat is first...

In the black and white photo, the couple looked comfortable, stylish even. They were Jews who lived in Berlin during the Shoah who betrayed the hiding places of other Jews to the Gestapo. The photo and just the briefest caption is part of an outdoor exhibition...

The heart is a muscle whose sole job it is to circulate blood through the bloodstream, bringing oxygen and nourishment to the cells of the body and then removing carbon dioxide and waste. However, at times, the heart is viewed as the seat of emotions....

There has long been a tension in Judaism and in Jewish communities between particularism and universalism. Proponents of particularism would have Jews form themselves into self-contained communities, isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities,...

Every year during Hanukkah, we read part of the Joseph story. In parashat Miketz, this week’s parashah, Joseph is let out of jail and finds himself in pharaoh’s palace. He rises to power, is given an Egyptian name, an Egyptian wife, and he becomes...

WASHINGTON (JTA) — During a closely-watched press conference with Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymr Zelensky, President Joe Biden brought up the Hanukkah story, comparing Ukraine’s struggle against Russia to the Maccabees’ uprising. “Tonight...

(JTA) — Hanukkah may be considered a “minor holiday,” as rabbis will say, but its resonance and unique traditions offer a great window into Jewish communities around the world. We’ve rounded up eight images, one for each candle of the menorah,...

A large audience gathered on Monday night, December 19 braving the cold weather in Kiener Plaza downtown for a public menorah lighting organized by Chabad of Greater St. Louis. Tishaura Jones, mayor of the City of St. Louis, helped commemorate the...