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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

William Shatner may be going to space (please alert space)

William Shatner may be going to space (please alert space)

PJ Grisar, ForwardPublished September 26, 2021

Rocket Man indeed. William Shatner, abusive Twitter gadfly and erstwhile Starfleet captain will go to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin per a TMZ report. If true, Shatner, 90, some few decades older than the cast of “Space Cowboys,” would be...

Lost Tables: Remembering Balaban's

Lost Tables: Remembering Balaban’s

HARLEY HAMMERMAN, SPECIAL FOR THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished September 26, 2021

Have you ever wondered what happened to that restaurant you once loved and have memories of dining at with your family and friends? We did! There is an amazing website called Lost Tables, dedicated to celebrating the restaurants of our past. We are partnering...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

8 ways Covid has impacted teen mental health, and what we can do about it

Published September 26, 2021

(Israel21c) - A year and a half of lockdowns, school closures and social distancing caught adolescents at a vulnerable time in their emotional development, says Dr. Shelly Ben Harush Negari, a physician specializing in adolescent medicine. Many kids...

Two Auschwitz prisoners escape in a scene from "The Auschwitz Report." (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

‘The Auschwitz Report’: Slovakian film follows real-life escapees who tried to warn the world

Andrew LapinPublished September 24, 2021

(JTA) — Were it not for Rudolph Vrba and Alfréd Wexler, would the world today know the true extent of the mass murder the Nazis inflicted during the Holocaust?  The two men, both Slovak Jews who escaped from Auschwitz, secretly recorded fastidious...

Universal Pictures

A disconcerting Ben Platt is the chief failure of the ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ movie adaptation

Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish LightPublished September 24, 2021

Ninety-five percent of movies manipulate the viewer. At some point, the story and acting are twisted or presented in a manner that is supposed to grab your emotions, or evoke some memory. There's a moment that just seems like a huge reach. The key is...

Children's books for Sukkot from PJ Library

Children’s books for Sukkot from PJ Library

JEN BAER, Special to the Jewish LightPublished September 24, 2021

Sukkot 2021 sure does feel a bit more like Sukkot 2020 than I thought it would a few months ago. We are still in the midst of a pandemic, still physically distancing, still not seeing each other’s lips. Luckily, a sukkah is mainly an open, outdoor...

Isaac Asimov’s epic ‘Foundation’ series is now a TV show. His Jewish life was complicated.

Stephen SilverPublished September 23, 2021

(JTA) — This Friday, following a pandemic delay, Apple TV+ will debut “Foundation,” the first-ever screen adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s bestselling, award-winning science-fiction book series. First announced in 2018 and produced in association...

‘Memory’s Shadow’ by Gail Benick, Inanna Publications, 146 pages, $22.95

Holocaust survivors’ children grapple with past in new novel set in St. Louis

Robert A. Cohn, Editor-in-Chief EmeritusPublished September 23, 2021

Gail Benick, a proud alumna of University City High School Class of 1963 who now lives in Toronto, has published “Memory’s Shadow,” a gripping novel that traces how three generations of Holocaust survivors deal with the never-ending trauma of the...

‘The Remnant: On Burning Wings — To a Dis- placed Persons Camp and Beyond’ by Michael G. Kesler, Vallentine Mitchell, 149 pages plus index, paper, $22.95. Sold online via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sellers.

Polish WWII survivor’s memoir reads like a thriller

Robert A. Cohn, Editor-in-Chief EmeritusPublished September 23, 2021

The brief notice of a loved one’s death was not unlike many similar items sent to the St. Louis Jewish Light: “With great sorrow we announce the passing of Michael G. Kesler, Ph.D., at the age of 97, at his home in East Brunswick, N.J., surrounded...

Kathryn Hahn’s next Jewish role: Joan Rivers

Gabe FriedmanPublished September 23, 2021

(JTA) — Showtime is producing a limited series on the late Jewish comedy legend Joan Rivers, and its lead actress should not come as a surprise. Kathryn Hahn, the non-Jewish star known for playing a rabbi on the very Jewish series “Transparent”...

Ellen Allard

Jewish Song of the Week: A celebratory tune for Simchat Torah

Eric Berger, Associate EditorPublished September 23, 2021

Shemini Atzeret, followed by Simchat Torah, begins next Monday, Sept. 27 and concludes after nightfall Sept. 29. Simchat Torah celebrates the conclusion of reading the Torah over the past year, followed by the beginning of a new round of Torah reading. To...

Michael Gandolfinii (left) and Jon Bernthal in ‘The Many Saints of Newark,’ a prequel series to ‘The Sopranos.’

Jews on Jeopardy, in the ‘Sopranos’ prequel and more

Nate Bloom, Special to the Jewish LightPublished September 22, 2021

As I write this on Sept. 16, “Jeopardy” contestant MATT AMODIO is still winning games. He has the third-longest winning streak in “Jeopardy” history and has won over $750K. Amodio, about 30, is a Yale University computer science grad student....

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