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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

When Marty Funkhouser (right, played by Bob Einstein) tells Larry David he can’t compete in the big golf tournament because it’s on Shabbat, David says, “You’re Koufaxing us?” Courtesy of HBO

The oral history of ‘Palestinian Chicken,’ Larry David’s favorite episode of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’

Louis Keene, The ForwardPublished February 4, 2024

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. One of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s most beloved episodes had been rattling around its creators’ heads for a quarter century....

Why you shouldn't miss Jewish storyteller, musician Alicia Jo Rabins as she enchants St. Louis

Why you shouldn’t miss Jewish storyteller, musician Alicia Jo Rabins as she enchants St. Louis

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished January 30, 2024

Internationally touring musician, poet and Jewish storyteller Alicia Jo Rabins has made a career out of bringing ancient Jewish legends to life, but you might remember her as a member of the klezmer-punk band Golem or from her widely praised musical...

Ben Shapiro, left, and Tom MacDonald in the music video for their new single "FACTS." (Screenshot from YouTube)

Ben Shapiro raps about his ‘yarmulke’ in new song that’s topping iTunes

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished January 29, 2024

(JTA) — Jewish right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro has made his disdain for rap music well-known, tweeting in 2012, “Rap isn’t music. And if you think it is, you’re stupid.” That made it all the more surprising when Shapiro released his first-ever...

Five things to know about Jon Stewart’s Jewish mother

Five things to know about Jon Stewart’s Jewish mother

Beth Harpaz, The ForwardPublished January 28, 2024

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. Jon Stewart returns in February as a once-a-week host for his old late-night program, The Daily Show. Stewart, whose original...

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...

Israeli actor Idan Amedi talks to reporters upon being released from Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Gideon Markowicz/TPS.

‘Fauda’ star Idan Amedi recounts Gaza blast

Sveta Listratov, JNSPublished January 25, 2024

Israeli actor-singer-songwriter Idan Amedi, best known for starring in the hit Netflix show “Fauda,” recounted to reporters on Thursday his experience fighting in Gaza and the blast that had him hospitalized for over two weeks. “We are dealing...

Free advice to teens from Aunt Amy, that they didn't ask for

Free advice to teens from Aunt Amy, that they didn’t ask for

Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished January 25, 2024

Dear Teens and Young People, You are special and wonderful and perfect just the way you are. But there are some things you need to know to be even better. Well, good news! Aunt Amy has got your back with some advice you didn’t ask for. It’s easy...

The historical drama ‘The Zone of Interest’ focuses on the SS Nazi Commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss  who lives with his family in a home next to the concentration camp.

Oscar nominated Nazi drama ‘Zone of Interest’ opens in St. Louis

CATE MARQUIS, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished January 25, 2024

The Zone of Interest” is the euphemism the Nazis used to describe the area around the Auschwitz concentration camp, including where the SS Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig lived with their children, in a house right next to the camp....

Jon Stewart to return as part-time host of ‘The Daily Show’

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished January 24, 2024

(JTA) — As the 2024 presidential election appears headed toward a Trump-Biden rematch, another familiar face is returning to help Americans keep up with — or at least joke about — the news. Jon Stewart, the iconic Jewish comedian and longtime host...

National Jewish Book Awards for the best books of 2023 were presented to works by, from left, Sabrina Orah Mark, Ruth Madievsky, Jeremy Eichler and James McBride. (Random House, Catapult, Knopf, Riverhead)

Jewish book of the year is announced

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished January 24, 2024

(JTA) — Music critic Jeremy Eichler’s study of how classical composers made music after the Holocaust was named the book of the year by the Jewish Book Council, which will present the National Jewish Book Awards Wednesday at the Marlene Meyerson...

Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer." (Universal Pictures)

‘Barbenheimer,’ ‘Maestro’ and ‘The Zone of Interest’ lead large crop of Jewish-inspired Oscar nominations

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished January 23, 2024

(JTA) – The year’s biggest movie phenomenon was a one-two punch of blockbusters with Jewish roots — and they both came up big at Tuesday’s Oscar nominations. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the Jewish “father of the atomic...

Fanny Brice Baby Snooks 1940.JPG
Photo of Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks from the radio program of the same name. (Public Domain)

The story of Fanny Brice, the original Jewish ‘Funny Girl’

By Barbara Wallace Grossman, Special To The Jewish LightPublished January 21, 2024

(This story originally appeared on JWA.org)  One of America’s great clowns, Fanny Brice built her career on a Yiddish accent and a flair for zany parody. In an era when ethnic comedy was the norm, she delighted audiences for more than forty...

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