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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 Neal Rose

D’var Torah: Judaism recognizes power of coming together as community

RABBI NEAL ROSEPublished March 3, 2022

The late Rabbi Bernard Lipnick kept a plaque on his desk that read, “No One of us is smarter than All of us.” In this week’s Torah reading we hear about the final stages in the construction of the portable sanctuary known as the Mishkan or the...

Rabbi Jessica Shafrin is PRN Chaplain at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital and a community chaplain with Jewish Family & Children’s Service. She is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association, which provides the weekly d’var Torah for the Light. 

Experiencing God in the world

BY RABBI JESSICA SHAFRINPublished March 7, 2019

When was the last time that you experienced God in the world? I experience God on the face of a stranger, in the beauty of the snow, in the intricacies of a flower. I know that the way I experience God in the world is different from the way you do.  We...

Rabbi Jonah Zinn serves Congregation Shaare Emeth and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association. 

Dressing for self-identity success

By Rabbi Jonah ZinnPublished March 9, 2016

When I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who wore a shirt and tie to school every day. Although I remember his distinctive wardrobe choice decades later, I never spent much time thinking about his motives. Looking back, it would seem this was...

Rabbi Dale Schreiber

D’var Torah: Redemption in time

BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBERPublished March 6, 2013

The book of Exodus ends with two portions, Vayakheil and Pekudei, one of the seven possible double portions calculated to keep the alignment of the Jewish year.  Each of the five books in the Torah has several names.  In Hebrew, the Book of Exodus is...

Rabbi James Stone Goodman

D’var Torah— A reflection in poetry

By Rabbi James Stone GoodmanPublished February 22, 2012

Parashat Terumah Make [of] Me a Mikdash/holy placeand I will dwellwithin them- Exodus 25:8 The Zohar understands the Sanctuary as a place where two worlds are unified. It is built out of terumah, which is read by many from a Hebrew root which means to...

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