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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

A sunflower for Ukraine? A tomato for farmworkers? Here’s why I’m sticking to the basics on my Passover seder plate.

A sunflower for Ukraine? A tomato for farmworkers? Here’s why I’m sticking to the basics on my Passover seder plate.

Published April 8, 2022

(JTA) — Olives. Tomatoes. Oranges. Artichokes. Dates. Cotton balls. And, now, sunflowers. This list might seem like a setup for a logic puzzle or a grocery run. But it is, instead, a (non-exhaustive) list that I have seen of additions to the seder...

Mimi David

Like the Hebrew women of Egypt, focus on the bigger picture

MIMI DAVIDPublished April 6, 2022

How did she know That on this journey There would be Cause to sing — “Ashira Lashem” by Ashira Morgenstern (1983) Sometimes, it’s about seeing the bigger picture. It’s about taking a step back and zooming our focus out, off...

Dr. Richard Lazaroff is the author of "Some Assembly Required, A Guide to Savvy Parenting."

What role should schools play in sex, gender education — and when?

DR. RICHARD LAZAROFFPublished April 6, 2022

Lately, the news media has been full of coverage on whether schools should “teach” children about sexual orientation and gender. Like so many issues in front of the country right now, it has become politically charged where nuance is rarely heard....

Life after 50: Been there, said that: Clichés may be overused but ring true

Life after 50: Been there, said that: Clichés may be overused but ring true

Published April 5, 2022

When it comes to language, clichés are so yesteryear. They’re the convenient fast food of communication; something to fall back on when we are trying to make a point. They pop out of our mouths like bread in a toaster—ready to serve and digest with...

Debunking liberal assumptions about Jewish security in a changing Europe

JONATHAN S. TOBIN, JNSPublished April 4, 2022
Those who decry Hungary’s Orbán for his party’s past while cheering on Ukrainian nationalism are being inconsistent. It illustrates fallacies about defending both Jews and democracy.
Marty Rochester

Finding off ramp for Putin is best case resolution for Ukraine

MARTY ROCHESTERPublished April 3, 2022

As I am writing this op-ed, Ukraine is the No. 1 subject occupying worldwide media attention. We do not know how the Ukraine conflict will end. Predictions range from Russia annexing Ukraine to its settling for regime change to its willingness to restore...

It’s a good thing journals are private; oh, wait

It’s a good thing journals are private; oh, wait

AMY FENSTER BROWN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished April 3, 2022

As an homage to the great Marcia Brady, I’ve been keeping a diary, or as the cool kids call it, a journal. Articles and podcasts aplenty tout the benefits of journaling. Apparently, it’s good for you.  Plain journals come with blank pages,...

How the big givers are looking at the post-pandemic Jewish world

How the big givers are looking at the post-pandemic Jewish world

Published April 3, 2022

(JTA) — In a good year, the annual conference of the Jewish Funders Network functions like a Jewish Aspen Institute: The Jewish fundraising elite, from private and family foundations that represent about $6 billion in annual philanthropy, gather...

For a Polish Jew like me, the war on Ukraine is about our shared futures

Published March 30, 2022

(JTA) — As a Jew growing up in Poland, I participated in the Polish democratic opposition of the 1970s, then the pro-democracy Solidarity movement and finally the anti-Communist underground of the 1980s. I was very painfully aware that some of...

6 Jewish words no journalist can live without

Published March 27, 2022

(JTA) — Philip Roth’s character Alexander Portnoy captured the insecurity of second-generation immigrants in two priceless sentences.  “I was asked by the teacher one day to identify a picture of what I knew perfectly well my mother referred...

The advice I gave Madeleine Albright when she found out she was Jewish

Published March 25, 2022

(JTA) — “How long have known me, Stu?” Madeleine Albright asked me that question with a sense of urgency I had not heard from her before. It was mid-January 1996, and I was in my hotel room in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum....

Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo.

Bill would require a ‘best practice’: Yearlong contraceptive supplies

GAIL EISENKRAMERPublished March 23, 2022

This time next year, National Council of Jewish Women-St. Louis is hoping that women in Missouri will have one less thing to worry about. Senate Bill 641, sponsored by state Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, would allow women to receive up to a 12-month...

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