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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

Notes from a Jewish mother

Notes From A Jewish Mother: Happy double New Year to all; and now, the news

Notes From A Jewish Mother: Happy double New Year to all; and now, the news

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished October 3, 2024

One of the best things about being Jewish is celebrating holidays. There are the standard American and Hallmark ones like Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving. Jews get so many extra holidays, including our gift of having two New Year’s celebrations.  When...

Notes From A Jewish Mother: Outrageous (half-written) book ideas you’ll wish were real

Notes From A Jewish Mother: Outrageous (half-written) book ideas you’ll wish were real

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished August 27, 2024

In my last column I mentioned an advice book I wanted to write for my older son, Davis, titled, “Quantity Over Quality: The College Years.”  It’s a guide to navigating your years in higher education, featuring practical advice about dating, partying...

Amy Fenster Brown

Notes From A Jewish Mother: When your firstborn leaves for college

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished August 13, 2024

It’s been said that God gives her toughest battles to her strongest soldiers. Parents sending their kids off to college are training in boot camp, prepping to march on the front lines of an emotional combat zone. We need the strength of a full platoon...

‘Lowcuterie’ and other random ideas I have to share

‘Lowcuterie’ and other random ideas I have to share

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished July 24, 2024

I have a lot of random ideas swimming around in my head. They’re doing laps, jumping off the high dive and frankly just taking up space. It’s time to purge my flooded brain.   • Charcuterie boards can be so impressive, elaborate and inviting....

Amy Fenster-Brown and friends.

For ‘professional overthinkers,’ choosing a restaurant can feel like solving a Rubik’s Cube

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished June 24, 2024

There are three judgments I will make with conviction and confidence that I am right, and you won’t ever be able to change my mind: 1. Listening to music selected by today’s teenagers makes me feel like I’m being drugged for surgery. 2. Nothing...

Pish posh! Enough with the creepy buzzing

Pish posh! Enough with the creepy buzzing

AMY FENSTER BROWN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished June 4, 2024

Is it difficult to concentrate on reading this right now because of the distracting noise across the St. Louis area? It’s a constant buzz with crescendos and rhythms in unison that get so loud you lose focus on your task at hand. Oy with the freakin’...

Amy Fenster Brown

Caps in the air, parents in despair: The graduation gloom

BY AMY FENSTER BROWNPublished May 22, 2024

By press time, my oldest child will officially be a high school graduate. Also by press time, I will be swimming in deep waves of emotion, texting and calling all of the other parents who are stranded at sea with me. What do we do now? How did this happen...

Momming Never Stops

Momming Never Stops

BY AMY FENSTER BROWNPublished May 2, 2024

When I cook dinner for my family, I tend to announce what each dish is. There’s really no need because it’s usually pretty obvious with foods like chicken that look like chicken, broccoli that looks like broccoli, and noodles that look like noodles....

Buzz Off! Why I’m serving up unfiltered truth to nosy advice-givers

Buzz Off! Why I’m serving up unfiltered truth to nosy advice-givers

BY AMY FENSTER BROWNPublished April 18, 2024

Recently I read an article about home organization. The expert suggested vacuuming in natural light to really be able to see dirt and debris, so you won’t have to go back and do touch ups. Until that moment, I had no idea going back and doing touch...

Amy Fenster Brown with her father, Ron Fenster.

Remember my ‘sweet guy’ dad with a big dose of his humor

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished March 21, 2024

My family and I just experienced a bummer of a milestone: my dad’s 10-year yahrzeit. Ugh.  After a stroke and some cardiac issues, my dad, Ron Fenster,  lived a handicapped life for many years but managed to keep his sense of humor. Frankly, I never...

Teen sons’ road trip chats offer mom a dose of humor

Teen sons’ road trip chats offer mom a dose of humor

By Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished March 10, 2024

Cute story — a few months ago we were on a family trip, driving from Flagstaff, Ariz., to the Grand Canyon when the following scene played out between my teenage sons. AAANNNDDD ACTION! Leo – Will there be signs saying we are at the Grand Canyon? Davis...

We've decoded the latest 'teenglish' lingo so you don't have too

We’ve decoded the latest ‘teenglish’ lingo so you don’t have too

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished February 26, 2024

Kids these days. The older mine get the less I understand what they’re saying. I hear the words and I know they are words, but when strung together and spoken, they just don’t make sense.  In the past, I’ve helped you de-code what in tarnation...

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