By Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
• Published April 2, 2020
Simchah Rabbah, Simchah Rabbah, Aviv Hegeea Pesach Ba! Great Joy, Great Joy, spring has arrived and Pesach is upon us! Each year, as we begin to see the first signs of spring, I am reminded of this lovely song from my childhood. It is of course common...
By RABBI CANTOR HILLARY CHORNY
• Published April 2, 2020
If you glanced at my work calendar, you might not know that the world is turned inside out. As a cantor and rabbi at a Los Angeles synagogue, I am continuing to lead services and counsel congregants. But like so many others, all of my meetings have been...
During these isolating times, staying connected to friends, family and neighbors is more important than ever.While you follow orders to stay home, there is no organization that better connects you to the St. Louis Jewish community than your non-profit...
Commentary leaves out crucial contextI am writing regarding the recent op-ed in The New York Times that compared Israel’s current coronavirus quarantine to the Israel Defense Forces military curfew of the Palestinians that occurred in 2002 (“Stay...
This story originally appeared on Alma.
Two Fridays ago, on a final grocery store run before officially locking myself alone inside my Brooklyn studio apartment, I purchased a box of 72 “Standard Shabbos Candles” for the first time in my life....
Editor’s note: This column by Dr. James Hinrichs was made possible thanks to the generosity of Dr. Jonathan Root, Dr. Norman Druck and Galia Movitz. I was asked by Jewish Light to host a column on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I am board certified...
As you’re reading this, my younger son, Leo, has just turned 13. In just a few days, I turn 50. One-third of my life is over just like that. And this weekend was supposed to be Leo’s bar mitzvah.
I don’t expect 50 to be that different than...
CHICAGO (JTA) — As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, we’re all tasked with slowing its spread through social isolation. That’s not necessarily a big ask for someone like me. I can deal with people in short bursts but, for the most...
By Rabbi Seth D. Gordon
• Published March 26, 2020
Surreal.My most vivid surreal experience was on Sept. 12, 2001, or 9/12. We then lived on Long Island, about 45 minutes from the World Trade Towers in Manhattan. We saw the news the day before — an airplane had hit one of the buildings. What happened?...
Pondering my situationIn the early 1940s my late husband and his family, eventual Holocaust survivors, were incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto for 11 months. They escaped and were then hidden in a straw-lined hole under a Polish farmer’s barn, two miles...
As rabbis and cantors of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, we are reaching out as one to the members of our community during this unprecedented time. Our hearts go out to those members of our community who are ill, and those who are...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A vicious rumor has been making the rounds: Hasidim are neglecting to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously because we are selfish.But as someone born and raised in the Satmar community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who now lives...
