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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

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What Moses’ relationship with his father-in-law reveals about his own loneliness

Rabbi Rachel Kay BearmanPublished February 8, 2023

“Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ sons and wife to him in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons.’ Moses...

(JTA illustration by Grace Yagel; Images: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund 1953, Creative Commons)

Can a Jewish fan watch the Super Bowl with a clean conscience? The rabbis had thoughts.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein, JTAPublished February 8, 2023

(JTA) — In January, 24-year-old Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field after experiencing cardiac arrest. His team and the entire NFL community rallied around him. His first words upon awakening: “Who won?” Although Hamlin’s...

Photo: Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-photogrpahy-64227/

Thawing and thinking ahead with Tu B’Shevat

Cathleen KronemerPublished February 2, 2023

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...

Alissa Barnholtz, Clara Bess and Neon Liebson conferring with State Senator Andrew Koenig. Photo by Cheryl Adelstein

Some students cut short from speaking on controversial bills. Here’s what they would have said.

CHERYL ADELSTEINPublished January 30, 2023

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...

A press conference was held Jan. 29, 2023, outside Temple Ner Tamid In Bloomfield, N.J. Photo by Jodi Rudoren

When a Molotov cocktail thrown at your synagogue scrambles your Sunday

Jodi Rudoren, The ForwardPublished 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...

Your letters to the editor of the St. Louis Jewish Light

Your letters to the editor of the St. Louis Jewish Light

Published January 30, 2023

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...

Rabbi James Bennett of Congregation Shaare Emeth addresses the crowd at a press conference announcing a lawsuit on behalf of 13 religious leaders seeking to overturn Missouri's abortion bans, asserting they violate the state's constitution.

Thank you to faith leaders supporting the separation of church, state

By Stacey NewmanPublished January 27, 2023

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...

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Pursuit of justice must include justice within our ranks

Rabbi Noah ArnowPublished January 25, 2023

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...

Photo: stock.adobe.com”

How the left is redefining morality, legality and sanity

By Marty Rochester, Special To The Jewish LightPublished 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...

Jews who defend antisemites

By Mitchell Bard, JNSPublished 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....

A law professor worries Israel could become the next Hungary

A law professor worries Israel could become the next Hungary

Published January 8, 2023

(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...

Israeli democracy may not survive a ‘reform’ of its Supreme Court

Israeli democracy may not survive a ‘reform’ of its Supreme Court

Published January 6, 2023

(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...

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