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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 Books

The JCC will hold a Used Book Sale from Aug. 26 to 30 at the Staenberg Family Complex’s  Arts & Education Building.

J Used Book Sale surpasses fundraising goal

Jordan PalmerPublished February 19, 2025

The numbers are in, and this year’s J Used Book Sale wasn’t just a success—it was a record-breaker. Surpassing its fundraising goal by over 10%, the sale has solidified its role as a cornerstone of the Jewish Book Festival’s (JBF) year-round literary...

Ancient Wisdom Unlocked: Decoding the Talmud in just six weeks

Ancient Wisdom Unlocked: Decoding the Talmud in just six weeks

Published February 19, 2025

What is the Talmud, and why does it remain a cornerstone of Jewish learning after 1,500 years? Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 6:30 p.m., Rabbi Avi Rubenfeld will lead “Decoding the Talmud,” a six-week course offered by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute...

Ari Richter depicts his visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in his graphic memoir "Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz." (Fantagraphics Books, Inc.)

A gift shop at Auschwitz? New films and a graphic memoir explore the contradictions of ‘dark tourism’

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished January 26, 2025

In a fraught moment in the film “A Real Pain,” Kieran Culkin, playing the more volatile of a pair of Jewish cousins who go on a roots tour of Poland, berates his fellow travellers for riding in a first-class train car in a country where so many Jews...

A fly finds a home — now its book needs one! Help 89-year-old Jan Baron bring her story to life.

A fly finds a home — now its book needs one! Help 89-year-old Jan Baron bring her story to life.

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished December 17, 2024

When Jan Baron called to say she wanted to talk about a children’s book she had written, I jumped at the chance. I don’t know how long I’ve known Jan, probably 15 years or so, but it was when she was chosen as a Jewish Light Unsung Hero in 2013...

Dr. Fran Levine brings women’s forgotten stories on the Santa Fe Trail come to life

Dr. Fran Levine brings women’s forgotten stories on the Santa Fe Trail come to life

Jordan Palmer, Special To The Jewish LightPublished December 9, 2024

Dr. Fran Levine is someone who knows a thing or two about history. As the former president and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society and Missouri History Museum, and the interim executive director of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in 2022,...

"Oy, Santa" is among the Hanukkah children's books that also deal with Christmas that have come out in 2024. (Collage by Joseph Strauss)

New Hanukkah children’s books highlight 2024’s rare Christmas overlap

Penny Schwartz, JTAPublished December 6, 2024

To celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, Max and Sophie, siblings in an interfaith family, bake up a batch of gingerbread dreidels. That’s the plot of a new children’s book out this year, but it could be a real-life occurrence this month, when the...

A carving of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on the facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Proponents of public displays of the decalogue say it has historical, not just religious, significance. (Steve Petteway/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

The 10 Commandments, Christian nationalism and the Jewish future of church and state

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished June 30, 2024

One week after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public classroom in the state, nine families — including three Jewish families — filed suit in federal court saying the law was...

Photo: Sharon Mccutcheon, Pexels

10 books to read before you visit Israel

Naama Barak, Israel21c.orgPublished March 27, 2024

Israel is one complex, complicated and fascinating place – and one definitely worth visiting, war permitting, of course. Should you be planning a visit here, whether now or a bit further down the line, we recommend you check out these top reads before...

In his new book, “Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978,” he writes about an early, formative era before American Jewish institutions had unequivocally embraced Zionism, and when American Jewish leaders disagreed with the Israeli government over the fate of the 750,000 Palestinians displaced by Israel’s war for independence.

When ‘nice Jewish boys and girls’ first took up the cause of Palestinian rights

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished January 28, 2024

(JTA) — In the four months since the Hamas attacks on Israel touched off war in Gaza, Jewish protesters have joined demonstrations in the streets of New York, San Francisco and other cities condemning Israel and demanding an immediate ceasefire. But...

JCC Used Book Sale

9 things to know before attending the Winter Used Book Sale at the J

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished January 21, 2024

The St. Louis Jewish Community Center’s biannual Used Book Sale returns to the Staenberg Family Complex Arts & Education Building from Sunday, Jan. 28 – Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Patrons can once again stock up on a new selection of used reading...

(JTA collage by Mollie Suss)

The best Jewish books I read in 2023

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished December 31, 2023

(JTA) — When I spoke with novelist Elizabeth Graver in August about her novel “Kantika” — inspired by her own Turkish Jewish family — I asked her how she managed to breathe life into a tired genre like the Jewish family saga. “I want the...

Exploring American Jewish history through "Kugels & Collards"

Exploring American Jewish history through “Kugels & Collards”

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished November 27, 2023

Food can be a vehicle for telling stories, connecting with people, and understanding our history—including the uncomfortable parts. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler heads to Charleston, South Carolina to learn about Southern Jewish history...

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