Grief seems to be the topic de jour. It’s everywhere. Anderson Cooper’s new podcast, “All There Is” touches on his grief from the deaths of his father when he was 10, his brother who committed suicide and his famous mother Gloria Vanderbilt who...

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...

Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t everyone else see things the way I see them?” It is so obvious. Or so we think. We remember it as if it happened yesterday: “Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and God drove back the sea...

When Margaret was little, she had an uncle who always held court at holiday time, receiving endless praise from relatives gathered around the table. He was a major philanthropist to many political, cultural and social causes. Having an audience was one...

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...

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...

After reading the title of this blog post, many of you might be wondering, "How bad could it be?" "To whom might she be referring?" "Did it actually come to fruition?" and "Who scraped Sheri off the floor?" My story begins with the blessing of...

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...

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...

We know you’ve heard us loud and clear talking about the delicate matter of hearing loss. We each have our own way of dealing with this deficit. Most of us are in complete denial. We avoid dealing with it because: We despise the look of hearing...