Rabbi Susan Talve
On a recent Shabbat afternoon, in the shadow of disappointment surrounding the thwarted gun reform legislation, a group of concerned locals gathered on Red Bud Avenue, a street in St. Louis notorious for gun violence. They stood together by the middle school and the corner grocery and somberly named each of the 46 children who died from handguns on that very corner. They stood together with Rabbi Susan Talve. Having been there in the weeks prior, rallying for gun reform, she had come to be known affectionately by the neighbors as their “Jewish friend.” They marched, Rabbi Talve told me, arm in arm with the grocer, who is a Palestinian from East Jerusalem and opens his store up to the local kids as a safe haven from the violent streets just outside his door. They marched with the neighborhood minister, who was once a drug lord on Red Bud Avenue. They marched, during the count of the Omer, with Christians, Muslims and Jews, until they reached a lot that they are now turning into a community garden.
— Jennifer Bernstein and Jen Fishering
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
