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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

Drs. Joan and Sherman Silber

Trailblazers honored: Drs. Joan and Sherman Silber receive AJC Netzach Award

Published December 4, 2024

On Nov. 21, Drs. Joan and Sherman Silber received the 2024 AJC Netzach Award. Given by AJC St. Louis (American Jewish Committee), the Netzach Award honors Jewish families whose philanthropy has positively changed the lives of the people in our region. Sherman...

Traci Goldstein-Holdener and Richard Senturia

Goldstein-Holdner, Senturia honored for working to strengthen our community

Published December 4, 2024

On Dec. 8, Traci Goldstein-Holdener and Richard Senturia will be honored by the Jewish Student Union of St. Louis at its 22nd annual gala, titled “1 Year Later,” held at The Factory in Chesterfield. JSU is paying tribute to Goldstein-Holdener (with...

Jacob’s Ladder and Your Daily Climb: Finding Faith in Unexpected Places

Jacob’s Ladder and Your Daily Climb: Finding Faith in Unexpected Places

Rabbi Elizabeth HershPublished December 4, 2024

“A young boy was standing along the edge of the river. A man approached him and inquired, ‘What are you waiting for?’ Without hesitation the youth replied, ‘I am waiting for that steamboat to pick me up.’ ‘Foolish boy,’ said the man, ‘boats...

Jewish Jokes: Did you hear one that Paul Reiser told?

Jewish Jokes: Did you hear one that Paul Reiser told?

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished December 4, 2024

I was once asked by the mother of an old friend, 'Why I publish a “Jewish Joke.' I responded and she thought I should share my answer. I believe as Jews, we love to laugh. I believe Jews love to laugh at themselves and laugh at the very things we...

Above, from left, Harvey Iken, Rabbi Daniel Sentell and Bruce Waxman take part in a Partners in Torah session at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion in November.  Photo: Bill Motchan

St. Louis Torah study group forging friendships while exploring ancient texts

Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished December 4, 2024

The heavy rains that closed multiple St. Louis County roads in early November reminded Shelley Dean of another watery disaster she’d recently studied: The Great Flood in the parsha Noah.  “We had all that rain, and everyone’s basement flooded,”...

Arlo Guthrie’s antiwar staple “Alice’s Restaurant” was inspired by a Thanksgiving Day visit to Alice Brock’s diner in western Massachusetts. (Larry Bessel, Los Angeles Times, via Wikipedia)

Jewish woman who inspired Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” dies at 83

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

“Running a restaurant isn’t really satisfying,” wrote Alice Brock. “In fact, next to running a hospital emergency ward, I think this is the worst thing you can do.” But her time running a restaurant gave Brock a measure of pop immortality:...

Shalom Nagar

The guard who hanged Adolf Eichmann, passes away at 88

By Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

Israel has carried out the death penalty just once, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was sentenced in 1962 to death by hanging. “We placed the rope on his head. I pressed [a handle] and he fell downward,” Shalom Nagar, the guard who carried...

Parents who are carriers of genetic diseases can test embryos for genetic mutations using preimplantation genetic testing during the in-vitro fertilization process. (Abraham Gonzalez Fernandez / Getty Images)

For women using IVF to screen embryos for genetic diseases, these peers can offer support

Eric Berger, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

(JTA) — In March 2020, around the time B. and her husband started planning to have children, they learned they each carried genetic mutations with significantly elevated risks for a variety of cancers. BRCA genetic mutations, which are 10 times more...

Sam Fox.

Sam Fox, self-made entrepreneur, civic leader and former U.S. Ambassador, dies at 95

Published December 3, 2024

Sam Fox, a self-made businessman who became a prominent civic leader in his hometown of St. Louis and U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, died in St. Louis on Monday, Dec. 2, surrounded by his family.  He was 95 years old. As founder of Harbour...

Ellen's 'Hanukkah Gift Guide' for 2024

Ellen’s ‘Hanukkah Gift Guide’ for 2024

Ellen Futterman, Editor-In-ChiefPublished December 3, 2024

A few weeks ago, I sat the adult children down and told them, in no uncertain terms, I planned to cut back on gift giving this holiday season. Let’s put the money toward a week-long family summer vacation. Making memories through an experience together,...

Linda Sandmel

“Crabby Linda” reveals her secret to a life of joy, love and why some call her “Crabby Linda”

BY MEGAN RUBENSTEIN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished December 3, 2024

Linda Sandmel began volunteering at age 13 as a candy striper. For nearly 70 years since then, her passion for helping others has not wavered. Through raising three children, surviving non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and all of the other various trials and...

Hate in our hometown? Holocaust Museum's new virtual classroom isn't just for students

Hate in our hometown? Holocaust Museum’s new virtual classroom isn’t just for students

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished December 3, 2024

When a St. Louis-based white supremacist group waves Nazi flags over local highways or marches through downtown Columbus chanting hate, the ripple effects are felt close to home. Antisemitism isn’t a distant problem for St. Louisans—it’s an issue...

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