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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

Rabbi James Stone Goodman created Shalvah, an outreach on addictions, as a project of Congregation Neve Shalom. Neve Shalom also sponsors the Jewish Prison Outreach and JAMI StL, a compassionate approach to mental illness.

Lift up the remains of yesterday

BY RABBI JAMES STONE GOODMANPublished March 22, 2018

It starts with a command: Tzav. Same root as mitzvah. Here, though, there is an extra urgency. The voice of the Talmud came to me in my morning meditation. Extra urgency, Tzav, hurry! Do this thing.What thing? Lift up the ashes, thus says your Torah....

Maharat Rori Picker Neiss is executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. 

A Covenant worth its salt

BY MAHARAT RORI PICKER NEISSPublished March 14, 2018

In the Middle Ages, salt was so expensive it was sometimes referred to as white gold.Perhaps, then, it is not so surprising that as the Book of Leviticus opens to describe for us the sacrifices that the Israelites are to bring to God now that the Tabernacle...

Rabbi Noah Arnow serves Kol Rinah and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association.

We all have sacred skills (beyond goat spinning)

BY RABBI NOAH ARNOWPublished March 7, 2018

How do you spin a goat?  What would it even mean to “spin a goat?”  Why would one want to spin a goat?  Yet in describing all the work that the Israelites did to build the tabernacle, the Torah says, “All the women whose hearts inspired them...

Benjamin Chaidell is the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Rabbinic Intern at Congregation B’nai Amoona and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association.

Becoming ‘woke’ to oppression, then and now

BY BENJAMIN CHAIDELLPublished January 10, 2018

“Stay woke!” The word “woke” has increasingly come to mean not only the past tense of “awake” but also to be socially aware, especially as related to issues of racial and social justice, according to Merriam-Webster. The term originated...

Brigitte Rosenberg is Senior Rabbi at United Hebrew  Congregation and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association. 

Six amazing women who connect us with Torah

BY RABBI BRIGITTE ROSENBERGPublished January 4, 2018

“Behind every great man is a great women.”Though we don’t often hear this phrase anymore, it was once  touted by the early feminist movement. Today, we might alter the phrase and utilize the words “next to or beside.” But regardless of the...

Rabbi Tracy Nathan

Even today, sustained by the light of the last miracle

By Rabbi Tracy NathanPublished December 14, 2017

On Hanukkah, one of the blessings we recite acknowledges the miracles performed for our ancestors “in those days, at this time.” Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, known by his work, Sefas Emes, taught that Hanukkah was the last miracle performed for...

Brigitte Rosenberg is Senior Rabbi at United Hebrew  Congregation and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association. 

Parashat Vayishlach: The struggle

By Rabbi Brigitte RosenbergPublished November 30, 2017

Our portion for this week, Vayishlach, is the story of a wrestling match, a struggle between Jacob and another figure—we don’t know if this figure is another man, or an angel or if the figure is God or even Jacob struggling with himself.Jacob enters...

Orrin Krublit is assistant rabbi at Congregation B’nai Amoona and a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association. 

Look to the light in this new year

BY RABBI ORRIN KRUBLITPublished October 11, 2017

For many of us, beginnings can be simultaneously exciting and challenging. There are many “new starts” that we face throughout our lives: new schools, new years, new careers, new family members and more. Some people may approach these opportunities...

Rabbi Dale Schreiber is a chaplain providing Jewish care coordination for Pathways Hospice and Palliative Care and has a private practice, Renewal-in-Action, specializing in resiliency, spiritual development and compassion fatigue recovery.

Sing a song of holiness

BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBERPublished September 13, 2017

Netzavim-Vayelech is a double portion, although the tradition treats them like conjoined twins, inextricably linked. Netzavim  (stand) and Veyelech (go out) are bookends.  They are read just short of the High Holiday when we gather to do the work that...

Benjamin Chaidell is the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Rabbinic Intern at Congregation B’nai Amoona and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association.

Debate for the sake of heaven and those in need

By Benjamin ChaidellPublished August 30, 2017

Many of the hot-button political issues today relate to how we assist those on the margins of society. Refugees, government subsidized health care and social welfare programs are issues that divide Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives.I...

Rabbi Lane Steinger is Rabbi Emeritus at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community in St. Louis.

“Heart and Soul” An Enduring Classic

By LANE STEINGERPublished August 2, 2017

“Heart and Soul” is the title of a song composed in 1938 with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser. It soon became a jazz and big band standard. The 1961 recording by the Cleftones endures as a rock ‘n’ roll and R&B anthem....

Rabbi Dale Schreiber is a chaplain providing Jewish care coordination for Pathways Hospice and Palliative Care and has a private practice, Renewal-in-Action, specializing in resiliency, spiritual development and compassion fatigue recovery.

Hope is our antidote to fear

By Rabbi Dale SchreiberPublished July 26, 2017

Deuteronomy, the final book of the Pentateuch, is called Devarim in Hebrew. It opens with Eileh ha’Devarim – These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan in the 40th year. The book is a review of the incidents...

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