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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

Nominations are open for Amy’s Mom Awards

Nominations are open for Amy’s Mom Awards

AMY FENSTER BROWN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished June 29, 2022

As I write this, I’m watching the Tony Awards, where Broadway artists are honored for their outstanding work. I love awards shows so much: the celebrities, the fashion, the speeches in which the winners act like they’re surprised to be revered because...

The Torah supports me in an argument with my wife that I will never win

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL, JTAPublished June 26, 2022

(JTA) — For years I worked in an office where, in order to make an outside phone call, you had to dial 9 plus 1 plus your number. At least once a week, the police would show up in the lobby because someone had accidentally dialed 9-1-1. The head of...

Kids at summer camp

Spreading wings and gritting teeth: It’s time for sleep-away camp

ELIZABETH MACANUFO, Special to the Jewish LightPublished June 22, 2022

I went to Camp Herzl in Minnesota for three weeks, returning on my 13th birthday. I hated it. I missed my family, objected to spending time outdoors and, as a Reform Jew, felt lost among my more religious peers. And yet, I strongly suggested that...

Why the Israeli government failed but isn’t a failure

Why the Israeli government failed but isn’t a failure

By Abe Silberstein, The ForwardPublished June 21, 2022

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced on Monday the end of their governing coalition, which had just recently marked its one-year anniversary. Lapid will assume the premiership until the formation of a new...

Israelis, get out of Turkey right now!

Israelis, get out of Turkey right now!

By Ruthie Blum, JNSPublished June 19, 2022

(JNS) For well over a week, the Israeli government has been urging Israelis in Turkey to return home as soon as possible. It has also admonished those unable or unwilling to cut short their holidays not to frequent shops, restaurants or tourist attractions...

Religion for non-believers: It’s a Jewish thing

Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the New York Jewish WeekPublished June 19, 2022

(JTA) — There is an old joke about the Jewish atheist who is excited to meet the Great Heretic of Prague. He arrives at the great man’s house on a Friday night, and is immediately told to shush while the Heretic lights Shabbat candles. Then they sit...

Google’s ‘sentient’ AI can’t count in a minyan, but it still raises ethical dilemmas

Published June 16, 2022

(JTA) — When a Google engineer told an interviewer that an artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed by the company had become “sentient,” it touched off a passionate debate about what it would mean for a machine to have human-like...

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

Eric Mink: Defying labels in a search for truth

By Eric Mink, Special For The Jewish LightPublished June 13, 2022

Over the many years I've earned a living as a fact-driven opinion journalist, regular readers who choose to spend some of their time with my work –- for which I'm always grateful –- discover early on that my positions on public issues tend to wind...

Letters to the Editor: June 8, 2022

Letters to the Editor: June 8, 2022

Published June 9, 2022

Submit letters to the editor to [email protected]. Letters should be no longer than 250 and should include the writer’s name, municipality and a daytime phone number. The Light may edit letters for length or clarity. Author/advocate sets inspiring...

Opinion | If you’ve had it with gun violence, then it’s time to get busy

STACEY NEWMAN, Executive Director of ProgressWomanPublished June 9, 2022

How many gun deaths is enough? In the week after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on May 24th killing 19 fourth graders, two teachers and injuring 17, there were an additional 20 mass shootings in the United States. That’s...

Jewish environmental thought is not ready for the climate crisis. But our tradition is.

Published June 7, 2022

(JTA) — Smoke from California’s fires is regularly bad enough to tint the sun on the other side of the country. Pakistan and India just experienced a devastating heat wave. In the Middle East, temperatures have risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius, more...

An app that identifies trees and flowers is changing my life 

An app that identifies trees and flowers is changing my life 

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL, JTAPublished June 5, 2022

(JTA) — I have a linden tree in my front yard. Out back we have a magnificent pin oak that must be four stories tall, each of its lower branches as thick as the trunk of a normal tree. We have three northern white cedars on one side of the house, and...

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