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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

Jewish Pop Culture

Eli Sharabi. Courtesy of Blake Ezra Photography

He survived Hamas captivity. Now Eli Sharabi speaks in St. Louis

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 1, 2025

Eli Sharabi spent 491 days in Hamas captivity, surviving the tunnels of Gaza only to return home to devastating news: his wife and daughters had been murdered on Oct. 7. His story of survival, grief and faith has already broken publishing records in...

Jennifer Stempel and the cover of her new book.

St. Louis author weaves her Cuban-Jewish heritage into new children’s book

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 30, 2025

When Jennifer Stempel sat down to write her new children’s book, she was searching for light in a dark time. “I wrote the story for this book shortly after Oct. 7, and took great comfort in working on a story about Jewish joy and continuity, at...

The world’s biggest Jewish humor group is up for sale — 245,000 members and counting

The world’s biggest Jewish humor group is up for sale — 245,000 members and counting

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 30, 2025

Here at the Jewish Light, we take Jewish humor seriously. When we introduced a weekly “Jewish Joke of the Week,” I was once stopped in line at Protzel’s by the mother of a high school friend. With half a smile, she asked why I’d do such a thing....

June Squibb as Eleanor (R), and Rita Zohar as Bessie (L) in "Eleanor the Great." (Anne Joyce/Sony Pictures Classics)

Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut tells Holocaust story in ‘Eleanor the Great’

Grace Gilson, JTAPublished September 28, 2025

(JTA) — When Rita Zohar stepped into the role of Bessie Stern, a Holocaust survivor whose death sets in motion Scarlett Johansson’s new film “Eleanor the Great,” she wasn’t simply acting. Zohar, 81, is a childhood survivor of the Holocaust....

The outside of the newly renovated Powell Hall.

Powell Hall reopens with its Jewish heartbeat intact

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 24, 2025

  When the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra reopens Powell Symphony Hall this weekend, it won’t just be cutting a ribbon — it will be turning the page on a story more than 50 years in the making. And as we look ahead to the hall’s future,...

Chabad of Chesterfield transformed a pavilion in Chesterfield’s Central Park into a Shofar Factory on Sunday, helping participants craft their own horn instrument and learn the traditional sequence of notes sounded on Rosh Hashanah.

L’Shana Tova: Rethinking resolutions with humor and a little anxiety

By Amy Fenster Brown, Special to the Jewish LighPublished September 22, 2025

L’Shana Tova. As we kiss 5785 goodbye, we look forward to starting fresh in 5786. Between the American New Year and the Jewish New Year we, the Chosen People, have been chosen to celebrate twice.  You probably think more about making resolutions...

The Netflix series "Long Story Short" features a scene in a synagogue on Yom Kippur. (Courtesy Netflix)

Why one rabbi says binge Netflix’s Long Story Short for the High Holidays

Rabbi Benjamin Resnick, JTAPublished September 21, 2025

This past Saturday night, during Selichot services, I led members of our congregation in our first recitation of “Ashamnu,” the confessional acrostic that we accompany by striking our hearts. There will be many recitations of the confessional...

Lenny Bruce arrested.

From Lenny Bruce to Sarah Silverman: Why Jewish humor is funniest when it’s controversial

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 21, 2025

Editor’s note: No lawsuits were filed, no careers were canceled, and nobody was forced to explain a Sacha Baron Cohen sketch to their rabbi during this interview. This Thursday, Sept. 25, local journalist and reluctant public speaker Jordan Palmer...

Actor Robert Redford relaxes in the Belle Meade Theater manager's office for the conclusion of the Nashville premiere of his "All the President's Men" movie June 10, 1976. 760610 H

Robert Redford’s legacy is surprisingly Jewish

By PJ Grisar, The ForwardPublished September 16, 2025

Robert Redford, the actor, director and film festival visionary, has died at 89. Remembered for his ruddy good looks, accomplished pivot to directing and helping to usher the film industry into its independent era by spearheading the Sundance...

Two paintings believed to be by Ambrosius Bosschaert recovered by the Monuments Men and Women Foundation. (Courtesy Monuments Men and Women Foundation)

From Hitler’s headquarters to Ohio: Holocaust-looted art resurfaces

Grace Gilson, JTAPublished September 15, 2025

(JTA) — Two 17th-century paintings have been taken off the auction block after a Holocaust art restitution organization determined that they had been looted from a German Jew’s collection in France during World War II. The two paintings, believed...

Wanderers Production Photos NJT by Jon Gitchoff

Secrets, faith and marriage collide on this St. Louis stage

BY GERRY KOWARSKY, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished September 15, 2025

At New Jewish Theatre, “The Wanderers” drops audiences into two marriages on the edge — one inside Brooklyn’s cloistered Hasidic world, the other in the freewheeling literary scene — and asks how love survives when faith, ambition and desire...

Seth Rogen accepts the award for Lead Actor In A Comedy Series for The Studio at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Jewish talent shines big at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 14, 2025

Well, that was quite a show. The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards wrapped up at just after 10 p.m. Sunday and if there’s one thing we can say, it’s that Jewish performers, writers and creators had a serious moment on TV’s biggest night. There were...

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