“Representation matters. It matters to see people who look like you. Who dress like you. Who speak your language. Who understand your fears,” said Rori Picker Neiss, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Her post and comments were made after watching Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles, speak on the Missouri House floor on the first day back in session after the horrific terror attack at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. Schwadron spoke of rising antisemitism, of the fear in our Jewish community, of security needs, all while wearing a yarmulke.

The Student to Student program, founded 30 years ago by the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, is going national. It will be headquartered in St. Louis, under the auspices of a new nonprofit, Student to Student Inc. In 1992, Student to Student was launched with roughly six student presenters and a handful of schools. Today, Student to Student in St. Louis involves roughly 120 Jewish area teens and reaches at least 4,000 non-Jewish teens each year in over 100 classrooms. From 2017 to 2020, Student to Student was able to expand to nine cities, operating through their local federation and/or JCRC.

Rabbi Seth D. Gordon of Traditional Congregation shares his perspective on the latest JCRC Council Meeting and offers thoughts on tolerance, diversity, and divisiveness.