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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

Meet Zach Wurtenberger, Jewish Wash U student on "Survivor 42"

Meet Zach Wurtenberger, Jewish Wash U student on “Survivor 42”

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished March 8, 2022

CBS' “Survivor” is returning this week with its 42nd edition. Among the new players is a fresh face who has called St. Louis home for the past four years. Zach Wurtenberger, a Jewish senior at Washington University, is set to make his debut on March...

Remembering St. Louis legend Rosa Sonneschein, a woman before her time

Remembering St. Louis legend Rosa Sonneschein, a woman before her time

Jordan Palmer and Bob CohnPublished March 8, 2022

If there had been a local Jewish version of the National Enquirer in St. Louis back in the 1860s, the tabloid would no doubt have devoted oceans of ink to Rabbi Solomon Hirsch Sonneschein and his wife, Rosa Fassel Sonneschein, who can truly be described...

Don't read this weeks' 'Yiddish Word(s)', it's just a 'bubbe meises'

Don’t read this weeks’ ‘Yiddish Word(s)’, it’s just a ‘bubbe meises’

Published March 7, 2022

Bring on the ‘bubbe meises’: A look at Jewish superstitions Never toss a hat on a bed. Always close a holy book when you finish reading it. Spit three times when you hear good or bad news. Many of us grew up hearing and adhering to these...

Understanding the "Yale or Jail; Harvard or Homeless" misconception

Understanding the “Yale or Jail; Harvard or Homeless” misconception

Adam Birenbaum, CEO, Buckingham Wealth PartnersPublished March 7, 2022

When it comes to planning for and financing higher education - especially in this mid-pandemic, geopolitically fragile environment - there are a lot of complex factors to consider. And for families considering major and state universities can be challenging...

airbnb

Jewish Trivia: Airbnb

MARK ZIMMERMAN, Special For The Jewish LightPublished March 7, 2022

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Airbnb users have booked rooms in Ukraine with a value of more than $2 million. This represents more than 60,000 nights of rental of Ukrainian houses, apartments and guest rooms....

Do you know this Jew? His punim helped define the look of Hollywood gangsters

Do you know this Jew? His punim helped define the look of Hollywood gangsters

Published March 6, 2022

Who knew that the actor with the scarred face, who would define the onscreen tough guy stereotype of Italian mobsters was just a Jewish guy with a "Shanya Punim." Born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund in what is now Lviv, Ukraine, Paul Muni began...

Pro-Tip: Pajamas Make the Best Purim Costumes

Pro-Tip: Pajamas Make the Best Purim Costumes

Lior Zaltzman, KvellerPublished March 6, 2022

Purim is a-coming on March 17, 2022, which means that you may just be scrambling to get a Purim costume together for your little ones (unless you already have those costumes, in which case, you are a wonderful, organized paragon of virtue and I...

Menemsha Films

Ed Asner’s final role and other ideas for what to watch this week in Jewish entertainment 

Dan Buffa, Special For The Jewish LightPublished March 5, 2022

There are some good options of shows both new and old to watch this week in Jewish entertainment. Give me some "Mitty" Certain actors need to be utilized correctly in order for the role they're playing to be successful. Whether it's comfort with the...

 6 things to know about the WWII drama, 'I'll Find You'

 6 things to know about the WWII drama, ‘I’ll Find You’

Dan Buffa, Special For The Jewish LightPublished March 3, 2022

Imagine playing the violin in front of an audience you despise in a building that you would rather see burned to the ground and being saved by two unbeatable things: the beauty of the music and the eyes of the person you love locked with your own. That's...

The Factory concert venue making donation to help refugees after Ukrainian band cancels show

The Factory concert venue making donation to help refugees after Ukrainian band cancels show

Published March 2, 2022

With their country under siege since the Russian invasion,  the Ukrainian four-piece Progressive Groove metal band known as JINJER has alerted fans that it is canceling its upcoming U.S. tour, which included a stop at The Factory in Chesterfield...

'Neighbours'

With humor and satire, film gives child’s-eye view of roots of hate

CATE MARQUIS, Special to the Jewish LightPublished March 2, 2022
One of the highlights of this year's St. Louis Jewish Film Festival is “Neighbours”  (“Nachbarn”), a Swiss film set in Syria 40 years ago, in a small village where Kurdish and Jewish families are neighbors. Actually, at this point, there is only one Jewish family left in the village, a change due to the increasingly hostile policies of the ruling Baathist party. 
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