Ki Tissa opens with God telling Moses to take a census of the Israelite people. Each shall contribute a half shekel. The wealthy should not pay more nor the less fortunate less. We read about details involving the priests as well as the commandment to...

This Shabbat, many congregations in St. Louis and across the country will be celebrating Repro Shabbat, a Shabbat dedicated to lifting up the Jewish values of reproductive freedom and justice.  Repro Shabbat occurs annually when Jews around the world...

How often do you mention God in your everyday speech?  Maybe more often than you might think.  God shows up frequently in our rote phrases. “God bless you,” after we sneeze. “Baruch HaShem,” “Blessed is the Name,” as an answer to “How...

In this week’s Torah portion, Va’era, Moses is revisited by God after Moses’ message is rejected by the enslaved Israelites. When God instructs him to go a second time to deliver his message to Pharaoh as well, Moses complains, “The Israelites...

When I was 9 years old and attending a Conservative Jewish day school, I witnessed the boys that were required to wear kippot, or yarmulkes, every day while there was no such obligation for the girls attending the school.  As a young girl waiting in...

“Rabbi, before my father died, he expressed a desire to be cremated. Is this permissible in Judaism?” Such questions often arise as families, amid fresh grief, are forced to make plans for the funeral of a beloved family member. Like so many questions...

Every culture has its tales of heroes, leaders and exemplars whose lives and stories serve as models for our own. Whether we look at the ancient stories of Achilles or the modern chronicles of Superman, the narratives of these characters are presented...

My family has a tradition of driving great distances. It is not unusual for us to drive to Maine or to Colorado. In the armrest of the car is a small open area where we keep stones of various shapes and sizes, collected from places we have traveled or...