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

Alan Spector is the author of five books and is working on books six and seven. His latest is “Body Not Recovered: A Vietnam War/Protest Movement Novel.” Spector also writes the stljewishlight.com blog “Retirement According to … Alan Spector.”

Working in retirement

By Alan SpectorPublished July 18, 2017

In 2002, I retired from a 33-year career with the Procter & Gamble Company, and I’ve been working ever since.  Wait!  What?  Retired?  Working? When coauthor Keith Lawrence and I were doing research for our book, Your Retirement Quest, we interviewed...

Alan Ludmer is the president of ARL, LLC; specializing in individual career transitions, outplacement, and career and executive coaching, search/recruitment, corporate marketing and branding. He is the lead consultant for the JF&CS LifeLine Program which has helped numerous members of the St. Louis Community successfully navigate difficult career transitions.  He is a frequent speaker and author on career transitions,  employment issues, and entrepreneurship. For more information contact alanludmer@gmail.com or visit his blog at stljewishlight.com/ludmer

Planning your career

Alan R. LudmerPublished July 14, 2017

In the business world, planning is incredibly difficult and time consuming. It isn't any different when it comes to planning your career. However planning is tremendously important to your success. Basically, planning means putting together a guideline...

Intersectionality excludes and includes. Jews must learn the difference.

David BernsteinPublished July 13, 2017

(JTA) — Last year, I wrote an opinion piece for JTA about a term and a trend few Jews over the age of 30 had ever heard of: intersectionality. Coined in the late 1980s, intersectionality posits that various forms of oppression — racism, sexism,...

Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health Coach, is a longtime fitness instructor at the Jewish Community Center. She is also a member of the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Push-ups and l’chaim

By Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health CoachPublished July 13, 2017

As Americans, we love to celebrate.  Any excuse to toast and be happy is welcome in our culture. In keeping with this tradition, August 4th just happens to be National Beer Day! (Who knew, right?)Beer has been a part of civilization since 4000 BC. In...

Letters to the editor: July 12, 2017

Published July 13, 2017

Failure to veto minimum wage bill will hurt St. LouisansGov. Eric Greitens has allowed the passage of two bills that will have devastating effects on women in our communities. Those bills take away the minimum wage increase the city of St. Louis approved...

Eric Mink is a freelance writer and editor and teaches film studies at Webster University. He is a former columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Daily News in New York. Contact him at ericmink1@gmail.com.

Health care retreat would betray founding principles

BY ERIC MINKPublished July 13, 2017

Years ago — considerably more than 20 — the legendary Fred Friendly gave me a pocket-size paperback containing the full texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the amendments.Friendly, who died in 1998,...

A plaque in a Jewish school in Helsinki commemorates soldiers who died in World War II.

Experiencing Judaism in the Baltics

By Gaby SzteinbergPublished July 13, 2017

Who would have thought that a random Google search in 2013 would bring me half way around the world to the Baltics and Finland, two places I would have never dreamed of visiting before? Even more surprising is that I would discover Jewish life in these...

More than a playground: church-state conflict

By Steven PuroPublished July 6, 2017

Principles of church-state separation are a key protection of religious freedom in America. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits government establishment of religion and allows free exercise of religion to ensure a broad scope...

Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health Coach, is a longtime fitness instructor at the Jewish Community Center. She is also a member of the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Becoming More Than Your Goal

By Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health CoachPublished July 6, 2017

I am a big fan of Zig Ziglar.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, Mr. Ziglar is a motivational speaker.  I almost always find something valuable and useful in what he has to offer, and have collected his quotes for years.This is one...

Rabbi James Stone Goodman

Out loud and above ground about the opioid epidemic

By Rabbi James Stone GoodmanPublished July 6, 2017

I moved to St. Louis from Ohio. I saw on television that one of the neighborhoods there I used to hang around in is known now for what the news called an opioid epidemic. The newscaster asked a woman on the street: How many houses on this street had someone...

Harvey Wallace

Troubling decisions on conversion, Kotel call for urgent action

By Harvey Wallace, Andrew Rehfeld & Heschel RaskasPublished July 6, 2017

We live at a time when the Jewish People in Israel and throughout the world face deep and abiding challenges, from rising global anti-Semitism to efforts to delegitimize the democratic Jewish State. These times require us to find paths to unify and bring...

Letters to the editor: July 5, 2017

Published July 6, 2017

Lives on the lineCaring for our neighbors and helping the poor should never be a controversial between political parties or religions. Yet our divided government is on the verge of passing a health care bill that would be extremely damaging for Americans...

Load More Stories