I love my kids. Truth be told, though, sometimes I don’t always love feeling like I have to attend every one of their activities. For a while, I compared myself to other parents—who seemed so eager to sit through every single minute of every single...
By Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS
• Published April 5, 2018
Was the Palestinian “March of Return” a propaganda success for Hamas? If you think Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is a reliable barometer of international opinion, then maybe the answer is “yes.”On Sunday, Sanders—the former and possibly future...
Shortly before taking the oath as an associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at a program honoring women at the 1993 American Bar Association annual meeting. I was a news reporter covering the event for Reuters and lucky enough...
I fell in love with Washington, D.C., for the first time in the spring of 1964. I was one of a few dozen students on a trip to the nation’s capital, an opportunity organized and chaperoned annually by University City High School.I had no particular...
In my most recent Jewish Light blog post, “After the Cheering Stops,” I suggested that one way to think about creating a winning retirement is to reapply the approach athletes use to create a winning game plan. One thing athletes do is to get a sense...
UNITED NATIONS (JTA) — As Jews everywhere celebrate Passover, I find it fitting to share a timely lesson for Israel in navigating the often uncharted waters of the United Nations. It is an insight I shared at this year’s U.N. model seder, where dozens...
Leviticus 19:16 compels us “do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed.”
This past week, millions showed up for the student-organized March for Our Lives rallies in every major city. Missourians in Columbia, Joplin, Kansas City,...
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...
