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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

Judaism

 

Openness to miracles includes those we create

By Rabbi Elizabeth HershPublished July 2, 2020

Do you believe in miracles? Have you ever gazed at a sunset and wondered whether there was anything more breathtaking and awesome? Is not the birth of a child or the love between two human souls also miraculous? And what about ancient miracles? The Sea...

Rabbi Amy Feder

In challenging authority, our motives are key

By Rabbi Amy FederPublished June 25, 2020

Korach is one of the most infamous figures in Jewish history. In this week’s Torah portion, he attempts to start a revolt against Moses, suggesting that Moses and Aaron have raised themselves above the other Israelites when all should be equally holy. A...

Rabbi Josef Davidson

Walls, physical or imaginary, spotlight vulnerability

By Rabbi Josef DavidsonPublished June 18, 2020

Every semester, students were given the opportunity to sign up for required or elective classes. Before registering, students would inevitably ask others in the next grade or two ahead about the courses and, especially, about the teachers. It was the...

Cantor-Rabbi Ron Eichaker

Aspire to be a Prophet of Peace

BY CANTOR-RABBI RON EICHAKERPublished June 10, 2020

There is almost as much to unpack in this section of the Torah (Behaalotcha) as there is to unpack from these past weeks and months.  In fact, there is so much to unpack, that I will need a little help; no, a lot of help.  It’s always a good thing...

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose: Address to Mirowitz graduates

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished June 5, 2020

Below please find some words of Torah that I was able to share with the recent graduates of the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School. Though the message is clearly addressed to the graduates, I have been asked by several parents, grandparents, educators...

Rabbi-Cantor Ronald D. Eichaker

Venturing into the world again can be, well, hairy

BY CANTOR-RABBI RON EICHAKERPublished June 3, 2020

“Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair …” So goes the title song from the 1967 musical “Hair” that became a major hit for the Cowsills two years later. Some of us may look at ourselves today and recall that or another song or verse...

Rabbi Lori Levine

Lesson of inclusion is amplified by pandemic

By Rabbi Lori LevinePublished May 28, 2020

As summer begins and a period of calmer, warmer days sets in, our tradition calls us back to the wilderness. This week, Jewish communities all over the world will prepare to retell the story of the giving and receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai recounted...

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose

Unique Shavuot is celebrated every day of our lives

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished May 28, 2020

In our tradition, the Holy-Day of Shavuot, the middle of our Shalosh Regalim, our three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, is unique in several ways. First, it is the only one not assigned a specific date by the Torah on the Jewish calendar...

Rabbi Tracy Nathan

Fear, uncertainty and faith in the wilderness

By Rabbi Tracy NathanPublished May 21, 2020

With Parashat B’midbar, we begin reading Sefer B’midbar, the Book of Numbers, which recounts the stories of the people of Israel’s time living in the midbar, the desert wilderness. It is to the midbar that the Israelites go upon leaving Egypt, and...

Rabbi Scott Shafrin

The quiet work of spiritual uplift

By Rabbi Scott ShafrinPublished May 7, 2020

D’var Torah:  Parashat EMORAdonai said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall become ritually impure for any [dead] person among their kin, except for the relatives that are closest to them: their mother, their...

By Sofia Puerto

Sharing the joy of a Passover seder

By Sofia PuertoPublished April 30, 2020

Imagine sitting around a large dinner table with your family, singing and celebrating the great history and traditions of your culture. The flowing music fills your ears, the decadent scents fill your nose and the comfort of family fills your heart. This...

Rabbi Josef Davidson is affiliated with Congregation B’nai Amoona and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the Light.  

Hold on to hope for a post-pandemic world

By Rabbi Josef DavidsonPublished April 23, 2020

Imagine that a disease breaks out in the community, actually a family of diseases, perhaps, because it presents differently in many cases. No one knows exactly how it is transmitted, and no one knows who patient zero is. Worst of all, no one knows exactly...

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