When you truly love someone, you have the right, perhaps even the obligation, to help them live up to their highest values and aspirations. Many of us who love Israel know that one important way to express our love is to lovingly urge Israel to live up...
Thank you. Two simple words that mean so much; an expression of gratitude. Thank you can be said to an individual, or to a group. Over the last couple of weeks, you may have seen in the Jewish Light thank yous from the Jewish Federation of St. Louis...
Continuing the activism after Parkland shootingIt was inspiring to read about the Jewish teens and their activism to address gun violence in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. (“Gun violence triggers student action,” March 21 edition). ...
By Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, My Jewish Learning via JTA
• Published March 28, 2018
One of the most oft-repeated themes of the Torah is that we must remember that we were slaves and strangers in the Land of Egypt, and that God redeemed us with an outstretched hand. Both the experience of slavery and the experience of redemption are meant...
Over the last few weeks, we have heard a lot of discussion of J Street’s motto, “The Political Home for Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Americans,” from AIPAC, JStreet and others.I think we first must define what it means to be “pro-Israel.” To me, that...
I was one of Rabbi Ephraim Zimand’s, of blessed memory, Melton students. Rabbi Zimand was an intellectually challenging teacher. He was insistent on the exact interpretation of the Hebrew in the Tanach, which changed the meaning of the text as most...
In their new book “How Democracies Die,” professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt of Harvard University examine the growing threat to democracy worldwide, including in the United States. A lot has been made about Donald Trump as an authoritarian...
We teach students at the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School from the first day of kindergarten that they have power and that they should use it in big ways and small. We reiterate this at every opportunity, and celebrate with them when their ideas...
IRVINE, Calif. (JTA) — When most people think about the intersection of faith and political activism, the religious right comes to mind. And there’s no doubt that the current leaders of our government are closely aligned with the agenda of religious...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dr. Stephen Hawking was a rare and inspirational man whose deep insights into the mysteries of the physical universe were matched only by his courage in the face of a cruel, debilitating illness, which he met with good spirit and...
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mired in scandal, pessimists have the edge, writes Shalom Lipner. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/JTA)JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israelis tend toward hyperbole. It’s symptomatic of their manic-depressive reality, where...
Although President Donald Trump’s released budget for fiscal year 2019 was not good news for low-income Americans, last year’s proposal from the White House prepared us to expect massive cuts to safety net programs like SNAP (formally known as food...
