Back in the late 1200s, Rabbi Menachem Meiri wrote of the “winter season” as extending from the month of Tevet until the month of Nissan. Thus, the 15th of Shevat signified a halfway point between autumn and spring. Every year on this day, we optimistically...
It’s wonderful when your worlds come together, as mine have recently. I am filled with both pride and hope for the future, knowing I am part of two organizations, Jewish Community Relations Council ( JCRC) and Cultural Leadership, that prepare our...
Jodi Rudoren, The Forward
• Published January 30, 2023
Our Sundays here in a comfortable New Jersey suburb are often structured around how many times we have to shuttle back and forth to synagogue.
Today, we were meant to bring our 15-year-old daughter there by 9:30 a.m. for her weekly gig babysitting the...
Deserving of community’s thanks
The St. Louis Jewish community should honor a man of extraordinary piety, humility, and menschlichkeit who has selflessly helped countless Jewish families during one of the most difficult times of their lives: the...
I’ll never forget a rabbi who testified before my House committee during the 2017 Extraordinary Emergency Session on Abortion called by then-Gov. Eric Greitens.
Rabbi Jonah Zinn, wearing his yarmulke, sat directly in front of me and explained the...
In the black and white photo, the couple looked comfortable, stylish even. They were Jews who lived in Berlin during the Shoah who betrayed the hiding places of other Jews to the Gestapo. The photo and just the briefest caption is part of an outdoor exhibition...
By Marty Rochester, Special To The Jewish Light
• Published January 25, 2023
When I meet my liberal friends for coffee, I concede that the right is getting crazier and crazier. But I maintain this is partly in reaction to the left also getting crazier and crazier. How so?
The typical headlines one finds on the conservative College...
By Mitchell Bard, JNS
• Published January 12, 2023
(JNS) It seems that every Jewish organization claims it is fighting antisemitism. Yet, it is clear that they are failing. Many reasons account for the spread of this cancer. One is that some Jews are antisemites or have taken positions that are antisemitic....
(JTA) — Israel’s new governing coalition has been called the “most right-wing” in the nation’s history. That’s heartening to supporters who want the country to get tough on crime and secure Jewish rights to live in the West Bank, and dismaying...
(JTA) — On Dec. 29, Israel swore in Benjamin Netanyahu’s sixth government. The Likud leader became Israel’s prime minister once more, and one week later, Israel’s long-anticipated judicial counterrevolution began.
In the Knesset Wednesday, newly...
Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content Officer
• Published January 4, 2023
Ushering in a new year can be filled with excitement and anticipation as well as a feeling of renewal. It is with this spirit in mind that the Jewish Light is pleased to welcome a new digital columnist, Sheri Glantz. Glantz, 60, began writing "The Sunny...
Rabbi David Rosen, JTA
• Published January 3, 2023
(JTA) — I was first introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s when he was visiting Jerusalem. Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, was eager for me to meet with the cardinal, telling me that I would discover...
