Sage advice gives quiet strength in the midst of turmoil. Scholars of Torah are sometimes called sages. I might call the author Parker Palmer a sage. Palmer comes from the Quaker tradition — which like our own is committed to an abstract, indivisible...
By Edgar M. Bronfman, JTA
• Published May 17, 2012
NEW YORK -- For the past six years The Samuel Bronfman Foundation, which is named in honor of my father and that I now run with my son Adam, has held a conference called "Why Be Jewish?" It is an intimate gathering that seeks to explore an expansive question....
NEW YORK -- If your mother has never seen your face -- if you have never had a face to be seen -- if, in a sense, you have never been born -- do you have a mother? If your mother has always called you "son," can you ever really become her daughter? For...
Central Agency for Jewish Education will offer three new adult education classes in February at the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur: • "Reading the Gospel Through a Jewish Lens": This course is designed to...
Our deepest relationships are not defined by strength, but by vulnerability. Our parsha begins with Judah approaching Joseph from a position of weakness. He offers his own life in exchange for his younger brother, Binyamin. In his plea, his vulnerability...
BY RABBI JUSTIN KERBER
• Published January 4, 2012
I noticed something peculiar in the story of our ancestor Jacob's young adult life. "And G!d went up from him." (Gen. 35:13) It looked almost as if God "lifted off" from him. Could it really be, I wondered, that with the ending of Jacob's conflicts with...
BY RABBI HYIM SHAFNER
• Published November 16, 2011
This week's Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, "The life of Sarah," begins with Sarah's death following the story of the akedah, binding of Isaac, at the end of last week's portion. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known as RASHI, a famous 11th century French commentator...
In this week's Torah portion we see two very different sides of our patriarch Abraham. God tells Abraham He plans to destroy the wicked city of Sodom and instead of being happy that God is removing wickedness from the world, Abraham argues to save the...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published November 9, 2011
At the end of his lifeAbraham ascended to the top of the chariot of Ezekielit was covered with the dew of light. Abraham dressed in hand-me-down celestial garmentssaw the future -a vision of reconciliationfrom what was missing in his generationhe saw...
Bais Abraham Congregation and Torah MiTzion are offering a Parent-Child Learning and Dinner series over four Mondays. The series began Nov. 7 and continues Nov. 14, 21 and 28. Sessions take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m.Families are welcome to join the series...
BY ROBERT A. COHN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
• Published August 10, 2011
St. Louis Jewish author Allan Richard Shickman has published a vivid third installment in his critically acclaimed "Zan Gah" series, with the release of "Dael and the Painted People: Zan Gah 3" (Earthshaker Books, $9.95, paper). Shickman's first two books...
Ariel FermanCongregation B'nai Amoona In choosing her mitzvah project, Ariel Ferman wanted it to relate to her Torah portion, "Lech L'cha", which means "To Go Forth." In it, God tells Abraham to leave home and go far away from his homeland. He leaves...
