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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

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...

Rabbi Mordecai “Yari” Yaroslawitz (right) holds frequent, large gatherings at his home in University City but was unable to do so this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. File photo: Bill Motchan

For St. Louis Jews, Passover seders featured more empty chairs, not empty rituals

By Eric Berger, Associate EditorPublished April 14, 2020

One might think that Passover seders, the meals during which we eat matzah, the bread of affliction, and other special foods, might have been dry occasions this year because of people’s inability to gather in large numbers due to social distancing guidelines.And...

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose

Finding the words to comfort the afflicted

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished April 14, 2020

“And Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took his offering pan, put fire in it, placed incense upon it, and brought before God a foreign fire, which God had not commanded. And a fire went forth from before God and consumed them both, and they died...

In new Passover children’s books, meet a googly eyed gator and spend a seder in outer space

Penny SchwartzPublished April 3, 2020

BOSTON (JTA) — Miriam the Prophetess, Elijah the Prophet and the Four Questions take center stage among this spring’s crop of new Passover books for kids penned by some of today’s best writers.The sparkling assortment includes stories by Jane Yolen,...

Marcie Handler conducts a Zoom videoconferencing meeting with her family.

Families will grow real memories from virtual, Zoom seders

By Ellie S. Grossman, Special to the Jewish LightPublished April 2, 2020

Passover is a cherished Jewish holiday that celebrates our journey from the bitterness of slavery to the sweetness of freedom, a paradoxical theme amidst the plague of COVID-19. During this global pandemic, we are socially distant and socially isolated,...

Gay Goldenberg seder plate

Seder plate stories

Ellen Futterman, EditorPublished April 2, 2020

When we asked readers to send us unique and/or interesting stories about their favorite seder plate, we weren’t sure what we would get back. But luckily, a few had some entertaining tales to tell.From Gay Goldenberg, 72, of Town & Country, a B’nai Amoona...

Rabbi Andrea Goldstein

The sacrifice of well-being

By Rabbi Andrea GoldsteinPublished April 2, 2020

The Book of Leviticus, especially the first few portions, are filled with intricate details of the many types sacrifices God commanded the Israelites to make. In Hebrew, the word for sacrifice is korban, which comes from a Hebrew root, meaning “to draw...

Having a solo Passover seder? There are plenty of guides for you.

Gabe FriedmanPublished March 31, 2020

(JTA) — Social distancing, stress, fear, a real-life plague — Passover amid the COVID-19 outbreak is shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. As many Jews across the country and the world prepare to hold seders on their own, apart from family...

A very overwhelmed Maya Mirsky in the Passover aisle at the grocery store. (Nina Lukacs) 

Let my people know: This is the first time I’ve had to plan a seder

Maya MirskyPublished March 30, 2020

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California) — How long does a seder really have to be? “No, we can’t just say ‘They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” I tell my daughters. There’s some negotiation until I promise it’ll be 10 minutes....

Rabbi James Stone Goodman

I hear Leviticus, and baseball, speaking

By Rabbi James Stone GoodmanPublished March 26, 2020

I hear Leviticus speaking. Leviticus and Dante got together in the form of a virus, a nonlocal reminder in the language of Leviticus – purity and impurity — that all of us are in this together. I hear Deuteronomy speaking. We will be judged by the...

Margi Lenga Kahn

Challenging times call for a different kind of seder

By Margi Lenga Kahn, Special to the Jewish LightPublished March 26, 2020

What frightening and challenging times we are living in, when our daily lingo now includes “social distancing,” “self-quarantining” and “sheltering in place.”One of the four questions asked each year at the Passover seder is, “How is this...

Passover in a pandemic: Families on Zoom, solo seders and broken traditions

Ben SalesPublished March 17, 2020

(JTA) — Rena Munster was looking forward to hosting a Passover seder for the first time.In past years, her parents or another relative hosted the meal. But this year she had invited her parents, siblings and other extended family to her Washington,...

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