In these pages, you may have read of the struggles the Miriam Foundation endured in our failed attempt to purchase and renovate the site of the B’nai El Synagogue to house Miriam Academy, our rapidly growing high school for students who learn differently. This...
By Arielle Kaplan, Alma via JTA
• Published September 26, 2019
Much to my mother’s dismay, I’m not fasting on Yom Kippur and I’m not going to synagogue. Why? Because I don’t believe in God. But despite my lack of faith in a higher being, I take the High Holidays very seriously.For those who need a refresher,...
SHORT HILLS, N.J. (JTA) — Whether you watched the Emmys on Sunday night or or not, chances are you’ve been privy since the broadcast to what was likely the Jewiest moment of the show: Alex Borstein’s acceptance speech for her award as best supporting...
Remembering Al WaldmanLike a lot of us “senior-senior citizens,” the first thing I read when I get the Light is “the mitzvahs.” Next, the obits. My “group” gets thinner and thinner. But a recent issue had the passing of Al Waldman. Didn’t...
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Our sages teach us that “kol hatchalot kashot,” all beginnings are difficult.This phrase feels especially resonant this Rosh Hashanah.The man who blew the shofar last year at my Pittsburgh synagogue, New Light, is not here to...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Taglit-Birthright is one of the most successful philanthropic projects in modern Jewish history. The result of decades of collaboration between donors and Israel’s Department of Diaspora Affairs, the organization has spent hundreds...
By Cheryl Adelstein
• Published September 12, 2019
Last week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, teaches tzedek, tzedek, terdof — justice, justice, you shall pursue. But how can we pursue justice, when some systems are inherently unjust?In this case, I am referring to the criminal justice system in the United...
Psychiatric medications can save livesMoritz Farbstein’s Sept. 4 letter points out that the pharmaceutical industry has been funding the “stop the stigma of mental illness” campaign, and not for altruistic reasons. They want to sell more drugs,...
By Dennis Ross & David Makovsky
• Published September 12, 2019
With Israelis heading to the polls on Sept. 17, it is worth reflecting on the last Likud leader, Ariel Sharon, and the decisions he made on the Palestinian issue. Sharon, the 11th prime minister of Israel, was a large man who did not think small. As...
The walls, higher in memory than in reality, form the central path that leads to the gas chamber. Stacks of inorganic, valueless furnace slags raked from the top of molten steel are strewn about a vast acreage, lifeless. I stood at the entrance to the...
Action needed to end gun violenceWe’ve lost more than a dozen children in the St. Louis area this summer from violence. As a mother, I am so tired of seeing headlines with precious faces of children lost to gunfire yet I feel like our elected officials...
No partner for peaceNinety years ago this week there was no Israel, there was no Gaza, there was no “occupation.” There was no PLO, no Hamas.There was no border, no security checkpoints, and no red, yellow or green lines. There were, however, Jewish...
