Dear Friends,
As we enter this Shabbat, I’ve been reflecting on the powerful Talmudic phrase: Elu V’Elu Divrei Elokim Chayim “These and those are the words of the living God.”
This concept—that multiple, even opposing, truths can coexist—feels especially relevant right now. In our daily lives, we see this all the time. You can love your job and still feel exhausted by it. You can be grateful for your family and still need time for yourself. You can feel joy at a simcha and carry sorrow for what’s happening in the world. Life is not binary. It’s complex. And Jewish tradition embraces that complexity.
During my first 120 days here in St. Louis, I have had the profound pleasure of meeting many of you, joining congregations for Shabbat, attending events, and visiting our agencies. My conversations have given me a wonderful chance to listen and learn.
Being Jewish in St. Louis comes with complex experiences and diverse views. While I am still only at the beginning of my journey, one conclusion is very clear: despite some of our differences in opinions, our Jewish values remain core to who we are as a community. As the President & CEO of our community institution, I welcome that my job is to understand and embrace each person’s views and do my best to ensure a vibrant Jewish life and future for all of us.
But in this moment, especially with what continues to unfold in Israel and Gaza, holding multiple truths can feel more painful than profound.
We can support Israel’s right and responsibility to defend itself from the barbarity of Hamas and still ache for the suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.
We can demand the return of every hostage and still wish that IDF soldiers were not putting their lives at risk in the pursuit of their freedom.
We can feel pride in the strength, courage, and unity of Israelis, and still worry deeply about the emotional and political toll this war is taking on its citizens.
We can feel empathy for people suffering from starvation in Gaza and question the circumstances and motivations that are causing this humanitarian crisis.
At the Federation, we are grounded in our love and unwavering support for Israel. We stand in solidarity with our Israeli family, and we are in constant contact with our partners on the ground—sending aid, supporting trauma care, and advocating for global Jewish security.
At the same time, we recognize that people within our own Jewish community are experiencing this war in different ways—emotionally, politically, spiritually. And that’s okay. Elu V’Elu reminds us that disagreement doesn’t mean disloyalty. That we can listen to each other with compassion, even when we don’t agree.
This idea came home to me in a deeply personal way recently during a conversation with my 10-year-old daughter, Nora. She had thoughtful, hard questions about the war. About what’s happening to children her age in Israel and in Gaza. About why this war continues, and how the end always seems possible, but distant.
As a parent, I wanted to give her clarity. But instead, I gave her honesty. I told her it’s okay to feel both heartache and hope. To be proud of Israel and still feel compassion for others. To believe in justice and to pray for peace—all at the same time. That being Jewish doesn’t mean having one answer; it means wrestling with many.
The strength of our St. Louis Jewish community has always come from our diversity—of backgrounds, of beliefs, of passions. Our vision at the Federation is to build a space where all Jews, regardless of perspective, come together in unity (not uniformity), to care for each other and for the world around us.
As Shabbat approaches, I invite each of us to sit with the discomfort of complexity and to find comfort in community. Light the candles. Breathe deeply. Pray for peace. And remember that our tradition teaches us that light and darkness, joy and grief, hope and fear all coexist.
Elu V’Elu. These and those.
Danny Cohn
President & CEO
Jewish Federation of St. Louis