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

Local groups react to leaked Supreme Court draft that might overturn Roe v. Wade

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished May 4, 2022

Local Jewish advocacy groups reacted Tuesday to news of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito about the future of Roe v. Wade as it relates to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic case currently before the Court. Rori...

Activists from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the National Council of Jewish Women attend a demonstration outside the Supreme Court in early 2020. Courtesy of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Jewish leaders pledge ‘fight’ on abortion following Supreme Court report

Arno Rosenfeld, The ForwardPublished May 3, 2022

Jewish groups reacted with alarm and outrage at the news reported late Monday that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would enable states to outlaw abortion. “We will fight for abortion rights with all of our strength,”...

New Assaults on the Church-State Wall

New Assaults on the Church-State Wall

JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIALSPublished April 4, 2019

One of the most fundamental tenets of American democracy, the separation of church and state, is facing new assaults on the public-school front.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2017 in the case out of Columbia, Mo., known as Trinity Lutheran that tax money...

Jewish Light Editorial

Kavanaugh and the Scales of Justice

JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIALPublished August 2, 2018

Outside of sending American troops into harm’s way, perhaps no decision by a president of the United States has more lasting potential effect than nominating a justice for the Supreme Court. When Justice Anthony Kennedy, who often has been the decisive...

Keep Church-State Barrier Strong

Jewish Light EditorialPublished April 26, 2017

A dispute involving public money going to religious institutions has ridden on shredded tires from mid-Missouri all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court – with a slight detour courtesy of the state’s new governor.Now that the justices have heard arguments...

Letters to the Editor: February 22, 2017

Published February 22, 2017

Clarifications from Jewish FederationThank you for your story on the renovation of Federation’s 35-year-old Kopolow Building and its 20-year-old Holocaust Museum and Learning Center. I would like to clarify two details about our plans.First, while we...

Vote to uphold voting rights for all

By Jessica Farber Igielnik and Malissa ShawPublished October 26, 2016

In March of 1965, thousands of protesters marched from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery to fight for full voting rights and participation in the democratic process. Our country was in the midst of political, moral, and ethical turmoil. Dr....

By Jeffrey RosenYale University Press, 256 pages, $25.Brandeis biography celebrates the ‘Jewish Jefferson’

New biography commemorates Louis Brandeis, the ‘Jewish Jefferson’

By Burton Boxerman, Special to the Jewish LightPublished October 19, 2016

On June 1, 1916, the U.S. Senate confirmed Louis D. Brandeis to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, making him the first Jew to hold such a post. To commemorate the centennial of this event in June, Yale University Press published “Louis D. Brandeis:...

Epstein (far right) is shown with some of Israel’s Supreme Court justices in Jerusalem. Epstein is the Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University. 

Washington University professor pioneers data-driven legal system research

By Eric Berger, Staff WriterPublished July 13, 2016

Lee Epstein, a Washington University professor, has spent time analyzing and comparing the United States and Israeli legal systems. Among her less important conclusions is that Israel’s judges are a “little more relaxed” in their attire.Epstein,...

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. 

The stakes changed after Scalia died

BY ERIC MINKPublished March 2, 2016

With Super Bloated Tuesday 2016 now relegated to the dustbin of history, the key presidential campaign questions confronting Republicans and Democrats are fewer and clearer.On the Republican side, party leadership, if such a thing still exists, has to...

Op-Ed: Obama, Jewish tradition agree on universal health care

By Ezekiel J. Emanuel, JTAPublished July 30, 2012

PHILADELPHIA -- "My son, the doctor." Why does every Jewish mother have to have a doctor in the family? It might be because the immigrant mentality desperately desires a secure and well-paid profession, but in fact, there is a deeper reason why Jewish...

A good deed for health care in a weary world

By Alan van Capelle, JTAPublished July 8, 2012

NEW YORK — The U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act is far more than a narrow legal decision. It is a decisive affirmation of what is right. Health care surely is right — and a right. This issue is highly personal, hitting home...

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