Mad magazine is on life support, and I can’t say I’m either surprised or all that sad about it. DC Entertainment announced last week that the satirical magazine will stop publishing new content. It was like hearing about a beloved old relative who...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published July 11, 2019
This week’s portion opens onto the mystery mitzvah of the Torah: the red heifer, the little red cow, parah adumah. We have a category of Torah mystery mitzvahs called chukkot — the reasons remain undeciphered. I’m exhausted by the reasons given...
Missouri’s abortion lawThe recent abortion law passed by the Missouri Legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Parson, which prohibits an abortion after eight weeks and does not allow an exception for incest and rape, is an egregious travesty.The law would...
Kudos to the Jewish Light for several inspiring articles written last month: Eric Berger’s “Move-in day approaching at Covenant” on June 13; an editorial on “Fulfilling the Covenant” on June 20; and Ellen Futterman’s “Couple gets second...
JERUSALEM — Growing up, everyone seemed to have a “Rebbe story.” The Lubavitcher Rebbe was an outsized character. He led the Chabad-Lubavitch movement for over 40 years until his death in 1994 and changed the face of Judaism across the world. Some...
I’m tired. This is a common sentiment shared by many Jewish students across campus at the University of California, Berkeley.Before continuing, I would like to emphasize that I am just one voice, one student in an extremely diverse Jewish community....
Jews and the BluesI am writing to supplement your June 5 article “Jews and the St. Louis Blues: 7 things you might not know.” There is one more “thing” your readers may not know. My late brother-in-law, Joseph Oppenheim worked for the St. Louis...
By Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael
• Published June 27, 2019
This week’s Torah portion, Shelakh Lekha (Numbers 13:1-15:41), strings together several episodes. The most famous of these is the story of the Twelve Spies. On God’s command, Moses appoints 12 spies to gather information about the land of Canaan...
With his last-minute decision to back away from a military strike against Iran, President Donald Trump dodged a dangerous bullet for the United States and his own presidency. But despite the positive outcome, no one should be happy about the unorthodox...
By Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
• Published June 6, 2019
This coming Shabbat, Jews the world over will once again initiate the public reading of the fourth of the Five Books of Moses known as Sefer Bamidbar (or more accurately BeMidbar), the Book of Numbers. For me, this Torah portion holds special significance...
In 1939, the year World War II started with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Germany had a Jewish population of 270,000. Austria, Hitler’s birthplace, which was merged into Germany in the Anschluss, had 60,000 Jews.By 1945, Germany’s Jewish population...
As in all life matters, when it comes to abortion, Judaism doesn’t speak of rights but of responsibilities and obligations. Seeing things through that lens can be a real eye opener.The concept of “rights” is deeply ingrained in our Western minds....
