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

D’var Torah: Changing times

D’var Torah: Changing times

RABBI JORDAN GERSONPublished March 10, 2023

A student’s arrival on a college campus is often accompanied by a great deal of uncertainty. Students must adjust to a new environment, new schedules, and a new sense of freedom and autonomy. In response to these changes, students, even those that go...

Dvar Torah by Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham: Fuel good deeds with ‘fire and passion’

D’var Torah by Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham: Fuel good deeds with ‘fire and passion’

RABBI JEFFREY ABRAHAMPublished February 17, 2022

Parshat Ki Tissa opens with the admonition, “This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay …” (30:13) God’s command was for every male from 20 to 60, rich or poor, to be counted by their half-shekel contribution to the upkeep...

Rabbi Josef Davidson serves Congregation B’nai Amoona and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the weekly d’var Torah for the Jewish Light.

D’var Torah: A tale of two congregations

By Rabbi Josef DavidsonPublished March 11, 2021

Remember when we used to congregate together in our synagogues, at the Jewish Community Center, at restaurants, in movie theaters and in other such meeting places? Remember when people wearing masks were usually about to commit a crime rather than protect...

Rabbi Tracy Nathan

Halves make a holy whole for the Divine Presence

By Rabbi Tracy NathanPublished March 12, 2020

We have been reading this richly symbolic section of the Torah on the Mishkan, the mobile sacred dwelling place for the Divine Presence. As we complete the reading of the instructions in Parashat Ki Tissa, it is worth thinking about how we create the...

Rabbi Josef A. Davidson serves Congregation B’nai Amoona.

An uplifting Torah portion

By Rabbi Josef A. DavidsonPublished February 24, 2016

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tissa, begins with a census. Moses is instructed to count the number of men available to be conscripted in the event of the need for self-defense against any enemy forces that might be encountered during their wandering...

Judaism’s aversion to counting ourselves

By Rabbi Josef DavidsonPublished March 4, 2015

“Not-one, not-two, not-three” – those who attend daily services will recognize this as the method employed in counting the number of people in attendance in order to determine if a quorum, or minyan, has been reached. For millennia Judaism has had...

Rabbi Josef A. Davidson serves Congregation B’nai Amoona.

D’var Torah: Parenting issues have parallel in the story of golden calf

BY RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSONPublished February 27, 2013

It’s a theme that is familiar to all, whether as expressed in the cliché, “While the cat’s away, the mice will play,” or in the myriad of productions in which the adolescents, in the absence of their parents, do something wild and crazy — inviting...

Rethinking notions of wealth, poverty

Rabbi Seth D. GordonPublished March 4, 2010

Torah lessons are often surprising and distinctive, unaligned with either historic or contemporary liberal or conservative positions. This week, the Torah may challenge our conceptions of "poor." Parashat Ki Tissa opens with contributions for the...

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