Skip to Main Content
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

Opinion

Letters to the editor: May 16, 2018

Published May 17, 2018

Broad Jewish support for anti-BDS bill The process to pass the Anti-Discrimination Against Israel Act in Missouri has been an adventure from the beginning of the process. Jenny Wolkowitz created a coalition of professional and lay Jewish leaders who...

Charles Pulman

Imagine Israeli life on Gaza border

By Charles PulmanPublished May 17, 2018

 Imagine, for a moment, you live on a kibbutz in Israel along the border with Gaza within eyesight of the fence separating your home and family, including your three young children, from Gaza.Imagine you awake one morning and look out your kitchen window...

Stacey Newman is Missouri state representative of the 87th District, which includes Clayton and parts of Brentwood, Ladue, Richmond Heights and University City.

We cannot allow hate — even amongst us

Stacey NewmanPublished May 16, 2018

When we were small, we were taught there were “bad words” we should never say. In elementary school we tested them out bit by bit, knowing that our parents and teachers would punish us if they actually heard us using “bad words.” By our teen...

J. Martin Rochester, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is author of 10 books on international and American politics, including his latest: “New Warfare: Rethinking Rules for An Unruly World.”

Negotiating with North Korea: Balancing the carrot and the stick

BY MARTY ROCHESTERPublished May 16, 2018

April brought the following headlines regarding the U.S.-North Korea standoff on nuclear weapons: • “Kim Says North Korea Needs No More Nuclear or Long-Range Missile Tests”• “North Korea’s Kim Promised to Open Dismantling of Nuclear Site...

Gaza: A failed experiment by Hamas

BY JASON GREENBLATTPublished May 14, 2018

As Hamas continues to exploit protests to foment violence against Israel, finding a way to help the people of Gaza in any meaningful way becomes more and more challenging. All parties interested in bringing change to Gaza need to face the reality that...

On Shavuot, remember that Ruth was a poor immigrant

By Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin RubensteinPublished May 14, 2018

EUGENE, Oregon — A destitute widowed immigrant does what it takes to scrape by so she and her aging mother-in-law can survive. She deals with invisibility; she deals with unwanted attention; she performs manual labor; and she eventually marries up,...

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose holds the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Senior Rabbinic Chair at Congregation B’nai Amoona in St. Louis.

Shavuot: Re-encountering the epiphany

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished May 10, 2018

One of the best known and most beloved sections of the Passover Haggadah includes the words: “In every generation a person must see her/himself as emerging from the servitude of Egypt.”  This well-worn quote serves as a rhetorical device reminding...

David Ben-Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14 1948 in Tel Aviv, beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism, in the old Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Photo: Rudi Weissenstein/Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Israel at 70: Looking back and looking forward

By Andrew RehfeldPublished May 10, 2018

The 70th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel is an ideal time to reflect on the remarkable nature of Israel’s birth and what it means for the Jewish People in the years ahead.   The following essay reflects on the conditions that made...

Docent Irl Solomon leads students on a tour of the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Photo: Eric Berger

Letter: Holocaust Museum and Learning Center: A Treasured Resource

Published May 10, 2018

As a retired educator and member of the education advisory committee for the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center,  I want to thank the Jewish Light for “Keeping Memory Alive,” the inspiring front page April 18 article on the importance of the Holocaust...

Restoration work continues on Congregation Beth Yeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Houston that was flooded after Hurricane Harvey. Photo courtesy Marianne Chervitz

Healing in Houston

By Vicki Singer and Marianne ChervitzPublished May 4, 2018

What would you take if you only had moments to leave your home in a crisis?  What would you leave behind?  The stories of fear, loss, adversity, resilience, hope and strength shared by Houston’s Jewish community post-Hurricane Harvey have stayed with...

The Mintz family

Letter to the editor: Farewell from St. Louis Kollel director

Published May 3, 2018

Farewell from St. Louis Kollel directorDear fellow members of the St. Louis Jewish community, Many of you have already heard that my wife, Mindi, and I have decided to accept positions in Toronto. Before we turn the page to the next chapter, I would...

Restoration work continues on Congregation Beth Yeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Houston that was flooded after Hurricane Harvey. Photo courtesy Marianne Chervitz

A call for leadership on regional progress

By Vicki Singer and Marianne ChervitzPublished May 3, 2018

What would you take if you only had moments to leave your home in a crisis?  What would you leave behind?  The stories of fear, loss, adversity, resilience, hope and strength shared by Houston’s Jewish community post-Hurricane Harvey have stayed with...

Load More Stories