By Rabbi James Bennett
• Published September 12, 2019
“There was once a boy named Pierre, who only would say,’I don’t care!’ Read his story, my friend, for you’ll find at the end that a suitable moral lies there.” —from “Pierre,” by Maurice SendakMaurice Sendak’s famous children’s...
By Dennis Ross & David Makovsky
• Published September 12, 2019
With Israelis heading to the polls on Sept. 17, it is worth reflecting on the last Likud leader, Ariel Sharon, and the decisions he made on the Palestinian issue. Sharon, the 11th prime minister of Israel, was a large man who did not think small. As...
Action needed to end gun violenceWe’ve lost more than a dozen children in the St. Louis area this summer from violence. As a mother, I am so tired of seeing headlines with precious faces of children lost to gunfire yet I feel like our elected officials...
By Rabbi Scott Shafrin
• Published September 5, 2019
What is justice? What does it mean to be living in a just society? What would that look like? And how do we know when we are acting justly or when we fail to meet that loftiest of goals?From the very first word of this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim...
The walls, higher in memory than in reality, form the central path that leads to the gas chamber. Stacks of inorganic, valueless furnace slags raked from the top of molten steel are strewn about a vast acreage, lifeless. I stood at the entrance to the...
JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIAL
• Published September 5, 2019
The famous quote from the opening of Charles Dickens’ classic “A Tale of Two Cities” could be read as a description of the St. Louis area today: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of...
TEKO’A, WEST BANK — When Israel announced that it would be banning lawmakers Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting Israel, it caused a huge debate to erupt in the Jewish community for all sorts of reasons. Supporters of the ban argue that if...
Unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama, President Donald Trump doesn’t think more “daylight” between the United States and Israel is needed, and he has had Israel’s back on all the major issues regarding the peace process and threats like Iran.But...
It is a regrettable injustice that the major contribution of the resistance to the creation of the State of Israel is almost entirely absent from our collective memory.This July and August mark the 72nd anniversary of the journey of the Exodus 1947 (originally...
JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIAL
• Published August 22, 2019
Last week, Israel was all over the news, in media outlets around the globe. Unfortunately, the story capturing the world’s attention was Israel’s abrupt decision to deny entry to Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota....
By Maharat Rori Picker Neiss
• Published August 22, 2019
What do you say to someone when all their dreams are about to be realized? This is the role that Moses faces as the people prepare to enter the land of Israel. In this week’s Torah portion, Moses instructs the Israelites: “Take care lest you...
I suspect I will get in trouble for saying this, even though it would clearly seem a logically and morally grounded statement: Men and women should get equal pay for equal competence at the same job. As compellingly simple as this proposition might...
