Are Jews strong or weak, powerful or oppressed? The answer, of course, is, yes. Israel, the Jewish state, is a nuclear power and, although small, has the strongest military in the Middle East.  And in so many ways, Jews are a strong, proud presence...

It’s been more than a year since I began reading the Torah through COVID-colored glasses. Or perhaps more aptly, I’ve been reading Torah this year through a mask. Familiar stories and concepts in the Torah read differently from home, on Zoom, streaming,...

When Fran Zellinger was growing up, she watched TV on a black-and-white set and talked to friends using a dial phone. Now she’s a Zoom veteran. That’s why she’s enthusiastic about a new program called Jewish Senior Connection, which takes full advantage...

In 2002, David Koffman was a graduate student at New York University and planning to pursue a doctorate on two famous Jewish American anthropologists when the leader of an indigenous people in Canada made hateful comments about Jews that prompted Koffman...

Kol Rinah President Randi Mozenter, a clinical psychologist, spends plenty of time thinking about people struggling with illness, hospitalizations, anxiety and depression during the pandemic. She also thinks about the Conservative congregation’s striking,...

Bill Kaufman is spending much of his time these days managing broadcast services for one venue where people typically sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” as well as one where “Avinu Malkeinu” is a familiar song.But now, Busch Stadium and the...

D’var Torah:  Parashat EMORAdonai said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall become ritually impure for any [dead] person among their kin, except for the relatives that are closest to them: their mother, their...

The board presidents of Bais Abraham Congregation and Kol Rinah meet regularly to discuss a variety of subjects: supporting the Jewish community, governing an Orthodox synagogue. . . and whose turn it is to take out the trash.That’s because they are...

Listing below provided by the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, with additional information from congregations directly• Bais Abraham (Orthodox): Daily Tehillim, Halakha and Mishnah Monday through Friday at 7 a.m. Online at https://zoom.us/j/297962649...

Is  every mitzvah, every commandment equally important?  In some sense, of course — if we understand God as the source of mitzvot, commandments, then every mitzvah is an equal opportunity to obey or disobey God and God’s will for us.  And plus,...

When Herman Spector was approaching death in 2000, Dr. Jerry Cohen was one of the only people allowed to visit him at his home in University City.Spector, who worked in the printing industry, was anxious and asked Cohen, a podiatrist, “Who’s going...