Vital support for community’s older adults The Oct. 22 article, “Jewish organizations work to shift senior living to ‘aging in place’ model” highlighted the significant need for, and benefits from, helping older adults age in place. According...

Reaffirming St. Louis’ response to opera This week in New York, we saw how a small but dedicated group of activists can successfully whip up national attention and media to a condemn what they saw as an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel opera, “The Death...

St. Louis reaction to ‘Klinghoffer’ production was ‘nothing to boast about’On Oct. 20, the New York Jewish Community is protesting “The Death of Klinghoffer.” Meanwhile, the St. Louis Jewish community is bragging about the discussion of this...

An UMSL welcome to Hillel’s new rabbi As a Jewish faculty member at UMSL, I was delighted to read in the Oct. 8 edition (“Rabbi returns to St. Louis to serve at Hillel”) that St. Louis Hillel — whose mission is to serve Jewish students attending...

Cemetery upkeep concerns reader I would like to bring to the community’s attention a matter that is of great importance to me. My late husband, my mother and many cherished friends are buried at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery. Unfortunately, despite...

Pejorative term shouldn’t find its way into printI know it’s human nature to stay silent when things are good and only speak up when you have a complaint, so I’m sorry I’m not more vocal when the paper’s good, which it so often is.But I can’t...

Who is a Holocaust Survivor?I have received close to a dozen emails with a vicious attachment — an Aug. 20 blog post by Debbie Schlussel on her website regarding a “fake Holocaust Survivor” arrested during a protest of Gov. Jay Nixon’s activation...

Jewish community and FergusonFor two weeks now, the Light has published letters and editorials from local Jews who are dissatisfied with the Jewish response to the situation in Ferguson, or should I say the perceived insufficiency of such a response.As...

Bridging the divideI am a participant in Student to Student, a Jewish Community Relations Council program in which Jewish teens from St. Louis give presentations to students in schools that lack a Jewish presence, describing our lives as Jewish teens...

JCRC policy on counter-rallies needs rethinkingI read the letter from the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), expressing its position on rallies in the Aug. 6 edition of the Light. Regarding counter-rallies, the JCRC rigidly pronounced that it...

The kidnapping of the three Israeli teens in June began a period of crisis that continues into the present. The response of the St. Louis Jewish community to the crises has been extensive and sustained. Rabbis have brought focus to the situations from...

Last Tuesday evening, we gathered together to show our solidarity with Israel. Hundreds and hundreds of people showed up to deliver the clear message that we as a community support the people of Israel in this time of need. To repeat some of what I said...