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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

Women of the Wall

Women of the Wall

Hadas Parush/Flash90Published January 11, 2017

Orthodox Jews try to prevent a group of American Conservative and Reform rabbis and the Women of the Wall movement members from bringing Torah scrolls into the Western Wall compound during a protest march against the government’s failure to deliver...

American Jews for Donald Trump?

By Henry SchveyPublished May 18, 2016

Amid the incessant election babble of recent months, there was one headline that stood out for me as an American who happens to be Jewish. That was the news that Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas casino owner, Republican party broker and supporter of Israel,...

Rabbi Seymour Rosen-bloom retired recently after 36 years as spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. He is now the president of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network. His commentary was distributed by JTA.

It’s time to allow Conservative rabbis to officiate at interfaith weddings

Uriel HeilmanPublished April 4, 2016

ELKINS PARK, Pa. (JTA) — The Conservative movement’s leadership must drop its ban on Conservative rabbis officiating at interfaith weddings — before it’s too late.The Rabbinical Assembly’s unequivocal rule is that a Conservative rabbi may...

(From left) Zahava Kiernan, Riva Stern and Daniel Shanker sit in the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School gymnasium before Simchat Gan, a ceremony marking the first day of school for kindergarten students. Photos: Yana Hotter

SMJCS starts first semester as fully merged school

Repps Hudson, Special to the Jewish LightPublished August 22, 2012

Merging two organizations of any kind may be fraught with troublesome issues that can haunt all concerned for years. So blending a Reform and a Conservative day school into a new Jewish school — with different approaches to Biblical studies and food,...

To thrive, Conservative movement requires continuity in college

Douglas Kandl, JTAPublished July 16, 2012

NEW YORK -- A Conservative Jew, I am a third-generation member of Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford, N.J., was very active in the movement’s United Synagogue Youth and helped create a presence for Koach, the movement’s college program, at my...

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate facing new wave of criticism and calls for change

By Neil Rubin, JTAPublished July 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — The latest battle over religious pluralism in Israel has unleashed a new barrage of criticism and calls for reform aimed at the Orthodox-controlled Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Unlike major flare-ups in past decades, however, this time it’s...

Editorial: Push Me, Pull You

Published June 20, 2012

Should religious institutions adapt to changing times or ought they insist on conformance to their traditional practices? It’s a tug of war that has been repeated throughout the ages, with the rope being pulled aggressively to one side or the other....

Lay leaders and rabbis of small congregations participating in United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Size Matters 2012 conference in Wilmette, Ill., June 4, 2012.

Smaller congregations experimenting to stay vibrant, gaining attention from movements

By Yisrael Shapiro, JTAPublished June 17, 2012

CHICAGO — Sinai Synagogue in South Bend, Ind., has been struggling with issues facing many small congregations in an era of dwindling budgets and shifting demographics. In particular, with only 150 families, until recently it was increasingly difficult...

Conservative rabbinic group issues guidelines for same-sex wedding rituals

By Ben Sales, JTAPublished June 4, 2012

NEW YORK — The Conservative movement — affirming that same-sex marriages have “the same sense of holiness and joy as that expressed in heterosexual marriages” — last week established rituals for same-sex wedding ceremonies. The landmark vote...

 

BSKI pays tribute to Rabbi Miller

Published May 23, 2012

Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel will hold a tribute event to honor Rabbi Mordecai Miller from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 3 at BSKI, 1107 E. Linden Avenue in Richmond Heights. The event costs $18 and will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres.  The program/tribute...

Gail Appleson is a writer for Armstrong Teasdale LLP and freelancer who lives in St. Louis.
“Dor to Dor,” is an intermittent Jewish Light series looking at various aspects of “grown-up” life and generational connections through the lens of Jewish writers living in the St. Louis area.  
   If you are interested in contributing to Dor to Dor, email efutterman@thejewishlight.com.

A Rabbi who could ‘reach’ me

By Gail ApplesonPublished April 25, 2012

Growing up, I was always taught that rabbis were an exalted lot. These were holy men—there weren’t any women rabbis at the time—who seemed above and different from the rest of us. Bigger than life, they were learned and authoritative with a special...

Israeli hotel denies Conservative group use of Torah

JTAPublished March 23, 2012

An Israeli hotel denied the use of a Torah scroll to a group that intended to use it in a mixed-gender service. The religious supervisor at the hotel at Kibbutz Shefayim refused to allow a group of students from the Conservative Solomon Schechter Day...

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