Rabbi Jared Skoff, Congregation B’nai Amoona
• Published May 1, 2025
I get sinus infections. I often get them more than once a year. By the time my symptoms go from bad to worse, I’m on antibiotics, an antihistamine, a steroid inhaler, a nasal spray, a nasal rinse, an anti-inflammatory, an antacid, and chicken soup....
By Greg Yawitz, Myron Freedman
• Published April 22, 2025
“We can’t let people ever forget,” said Leo Wolf, chairman emeritus of the St. Louis Holocaust Committee and a Holocaust survivor, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s 1995 coverage of the opening of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.
“We...
Readers respond to rabbi’s commentary
The April 2 edition contains a deeply disturbing commentary (“Should illegal immigrants be deported?”) by Rabbi Ze’ev Smason, in which he begins with a highly misleading metaphor for people he refers to as...
In February I enrolled in a six-week “Decoding the Talmud” course taught by Chabad Rabbi Yosef Landa. I learned about the Gemara and the centuries-old debates it is based on. Although the latter debates for the most part have been resolved and have...
Being part of a Jewish community outside of Israel reminds me how deeply connected we all are, no matter where we are in the world.
As a Jewish people, we share many holidays and traditions that unite us across the globe. Whether we are in Israel, the...
Seeking community’s support
As we near the celebration of Passover, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you and for helping our community thrive.
The St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association (STLRCA) is the only clergy organization...
Amidst the sea of suffering the current administration is perpetrating on people here and abroad, I call your attention to anti-immigration legislation in Missouri: SB 58 and SB 72.
SB 58 does a couple of highly problematic and unconstitutional things....
To most people, the 2005 movie “Wedding Crashers” is a lighthearted comedy romp in which two lovelorn bachelors crash weddings to meet women. But imagine the following scenario: At your daughter’s 500-person wedding, a concerned friend informs you...
The Torah portion Tzav is about gratitude. While the Book of Leviticus is the shortest book of the Torah, it mainly speaks to the priests in a language and setting we may have difficulty understanding. We read about ritual observances of an ancient...
Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published April 3, 2025
So many lessons in Vayikra, “and God called,” the first word. First the lesson in form, the alef in the word Vayikra, “and God called” is writ small in every scroll. Not only does God call with a silent letter (the alef is silent), God calls...
“Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishk’notecha Yisrael.” How lovely are your tents [people of] Jacob; your sanctuaries [people of] Israel.
I often have used this prayer to teach my young students that when visiting a friend’s beautiful synagogue...
“Columbia University Loses $400 Million in Federal Grants and Contracts.”
This March 7 New York Times headline was followed by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s statement that the cuts were due to Columbia’s “failure to protect Jewish...
