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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

D’var Torah: The Old Man of ‘Mishpatim’

RABBI JAMES STONE GOODMANPublished February 16, 2023

The last line of parashat Mishpatim reads: “And Moses came into the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18)." Don’t you want to know what Moses sees up the mountain? In the Zohar, the...

Congregation B'nai Amoona. Photo: Bill Motchan

Why Judaism calls on us to put ideals into practice

Rabbi Jeffrey AbrahamPublished January 27, 2022

Our parshah this week, Mishpatim, embraces law after law right on the heels of the Ten Commandments.  Our foremost commentator, Rashi, points out that Mishpatim should be viewed as a continuation of the previous parshah, Yitro.  Why? How? The very...

Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham

Join a ‘virtuous cycle’ by embracing righteousness, joy

RABBI RABBI JEFFREY ABRAHAMPublished February 17, 2021

There is a psalm for every day of the week, known as Shir Shel Yom.  Wednesday’s is Psalm 94, and it tells us, “For the law shall return to righteousness, and all those of upright heart shall follow it.” Implicit is the reality that the...

Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose is the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Senior Rabbinic Chair at Congregation B’nai Amoona. Rabbi Rose is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the Jewish Light. 

Sinai Revelation reverberates in world through us

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished February 10, 2021

In Parashat Mishpatim, which we will read this coming Shabbat, we find ourselves situated between a mountain (Mount Sinai) and a Mishkan (the portable desert Tabernacle). The juxtaposition of the other-worldly grandeur of the Sinaitic revelation and the...

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.

Rules for avoiding servitude in the ‘company store’

BY RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSONPublished February 20, 2020

As a child, I used to watch the Tennessee Ernie Ford show on television every week. I loved his deep, resonant, baritone voice, and the songs that he sang were about everyday people and situations. One of my favorite songs of his was “Sixteen Tons.”...

 

Why we welcome the ‘other’

By Rabbi Josef DavidsonPublished February 1, 2019

At my most recent checkup, my physician shared with me some of his family history. It was a particularly difficult time for his family, as only recently had the hospital that his father and two Jewish physicians founded closed its doors forever. As he...

Rabbi Hyim Shafner serves Bais Abraham Congregation in University City. 

Social, legal truths are found in the stones

By Rabbi Hyim ShafnerPublished February 22, 2017

This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, literally means “laws,” and contains a large array of interpersonal civil commandments and regulations. Just before this portion, the Torah teaches about the building of an altar to G-d. The altar, which symbolizes...

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

Instructions for a life of holiness

By Maharat Rori Picker NeissPublished February 3, 2016

In the narrative that makes up the book of Exodus, Parshat Mishpatim strikes one as the nadir of the story. Marvels and miracles are revealed week after week, from the bush that was burning but never consumed, to the 10 plagues in Egypt, to the splitting...

Rabbi James Stone Goodman leads Congregation Neve Shalom, a member of the Network of Jewish Renewal Communities.

Making insiders from outsiders

By Rabbi James Stone GoodmanPublished February 11, 2015

I preside several times a month over a small synagogue that opens onto the Royal Dining Room at Covenant Place, where mostly older folks live. I get a kick out of that name. I always think I’m on some kind of cruise ship – which I am.The kaddishim...

A single letter reveals profound concepts

By Rabbi Seth D GordonPublished January 23, 2014

A Jesuit scholar is cloistered deep in the Vatican archives. He is poring over the ancient texts of his faith. Suddenly, in distress, even agony, he clasps his hands to his head and lets out an anguished shriek: “Celebrate!  It says, ‘celebrate!’”The...

Rachel LaVictoire,  is a recipient of the prestigious Nemerov Writing and Thomas H. Eliott Merit scholarships at Washington University, where she is a sophomore. She grew up in Atlanta, where she is an active member of Temple Emanu-El and the Marcus Jewish Community Center.

D’var Torah: Mishpatim

By Rachel LaVictoirePublished January 19, 2014

Remember when you were little and you wanted to do something really fun like dress your dog in human clothes, drive your plastic Barbie car in the “big kid” street, or see what would happen if you poured a glowstick’s insides on your mother’s...

Rabbi Seth D Gordon serves Traditional Congregation and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association.

Laws of justice and respect for humanity

By Rabbi Seth D GordonPublished February 6, 2013

After 61 chapters, 14 parashiyot, of dramatic, thought-provoking narrative, Exodus 12 transitions into law. At that point, the Israelite calendar, a mark of distinctiveness, is instituted and permanently inserted into the nascent nation’s rhythm.  ...

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