Thanks for Sababa

Many thanks to Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Center for the Sababa Jewish Arts and Cultural Festival. It was a celebration of and for our St. Louis Jewish community. What a gift!

Marcy Cornfeld, Creve Coeur 

Elect candidates who support gun violence prevention 

In determining who gets your vote in the midterm elections, find out if your candidate has earned a GunSense Distinction from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement and part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country. It is a non-partisan coalition that fights for public safety measures that respect the Second Amendment and help save lives. GunSense candidates fill out a questionnaire concerning their positions that focus on keeping Americans safer through common sense gun laws.

As a Jew, I hold in deep regard the tenet of my faith that says that to save one life is to save the entire world. We all should care about supporting candidates who vow to fight the gun violence epidemic in our country. 

On average, 96 Americans are killed each day by a gun. There are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the U.S. Seven children (under age 18) are killed by guns in the U.S. each day. This includes the preventable tragedies that happen when a child finds an unsecured loaded gun in the home and shoots him or herself or another child. This is a uniquely American phenomenon. Our gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other high-income countries.

Fighting to reduce gun violence is one way I work to make a difference in the world. I want my candidates to be gun sense candidates. Find out if yours are by going to gunsensevoter.org.  

Gail Wechsler, St. Louis Faith Outreach Lead, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

Minds of Peace

I have been involved with Minds of Peace from its very beginning. I met Sapir Handelman, founder and president, approximately 10 years ago. I was fascinated by his idea.

The innovation of Minds of Peace is not discussing the question: “What is the optimal solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?” Our innovation is by discussing the question: “Who should negotiate solutions to the conflict?” Our answer is negotiations involve two levels: leaders and people. 

Sapir’s idea, based on a thorough study of the breakthroughs in Northern Ireland and South Africa, is the following: Leaders should negotiate through diplomatic channels, while the people should be involved in the peacemaking efforts through the establishment and operation of a major Israeli-Palestinian Public Negotiating Congress. 

Over these past 10 years, we have held over 40 smaller peace-negotiating sessions, involving thousands, to build public support for such a semi-permanent Congress. 

I hope that we are moving towards the “Big Congress” where 120 Israelis and Palestinians from the entire political spectrum negotiating peace for a period of time. We are building the delegations and will start simulations very soon.

Find more about Minds of Peace online at http://mindsofpeace.org.

Ronnie Y. Fredman, St. Louis, Founding member and Secretary-Treasurer of Minds of Peace, USA