Nine years after a small group of Jews and Muslims first gathered on Christmas Day to work side-by-side in community service, the annual interfaith effort returns in 2019 with a renewed focus on the popular program’s core mission: building strong community.The...
By Ellen Futterman, Editor
• Published April 4, 2019
Picture four middle schoolers playing a game of catch-and-release. Divided into pairs, each twosome holds onto either end of a net and tosses a beanbag back and forth, trying to land it in the other pair’s net. The objective isn’t for one pair to...
Ellen Futterman, Editor
• Published January 17, 2019
Walk this wayI’ve been reading a lot in newspapers and on social media about the controversy dogging the third annual Women’s March, which is scheduled to take place this Saturday at numerous locations around the country, including St. Louis. Organizers...
By Eric Berger, Staff Writer
• Published November 23, 2018
Pastor Carlos Smith of the Journey church said he and Rabbi Noah Arnow did not get much sleep during a recent trip to Israel.It wasn’t jet lag or that the beds in the hotel rooms they shared were uncomfortable. Rather, it was because the two St. Louis...
Congregation Temple Israel is hosting a community-wide evening for interfaith couples on Thursday, Sept. 7. The evening will include wine and an assortment of other refreshments, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and an opportunity to create a hand-painted rustic-style...
By Eric Berger & Ellen Futterman, Staff writer & editor
• Published March 1, 2017
Rashidah Rafat, a home health care nurse who is a Muslim-American, came to Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery last week to help with a cleanup organized by Gov. Eric Greitens. She arrived about an hour before the official start time of 3 p.m. and wandered through...
By Eric Berger, Staff writer
• Published March 1, 2017
After Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced that he would lead a cleanup last week of the vandalism at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, he heard from an unexpected volunteer: Vice President Mike Pence.“The vice president said, ‘I am so inspired by what...
In physics, Isaac Newton told us, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That observation certainly applies to the inspirational response to last week’s horrible desecration of the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City.As...
BY ROBERT A. COHN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
• Published June 8, 2016
The life and legacy of the late Harry M. Offenbach, longtime chancellor of the Jewish Chautauqua Society and a past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, will be recognized at an Interfaith Shabbat service, in addition to the weekly Shabbat...
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...
After 26 years with the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and the last 12 years serving as Executive Director, Batya Abramson-Goldstein retired, Oct. 31. Members of the Jewish and interfaith communities recognized Batya for her years...
By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published December 28, 2011
Looking out over a sea of people in garb ranging from hijabs to yarmulkes to baseball caps, enjoying laughter and conversation with one another over bagels and coffee on a holiday few in the room even celebrate, Batya Abramson-Goldstein couldn't help...
