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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

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Frankfurt cancels Roger Waters concert, calling him ‘one of the world’s most well known antisemites’

David I. Klein, JTAPublished February 27, 2023

(JTA) — Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd bassist who is a leading proponent of the movement to boycott Israel, has been blocked from performing in Frankfurt after the city called him “one of the world’s most well known antisemites.” Waters...

Jeff Passan on the set of "Baseball Tonight" during the 2021 AL Wild Card game at Fenway Park. (Allen Kee/ESPN Images)

ESPN’s Jeff Passan opens up on his Hebrew school upbringing, interviewing Sandy Koufax and Jewish baseball history

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished February 24, 2023

(JTA) — For tuned-in baseball fans, Jeff Passan is everywhere. As ESPN’s senior MLB insider, he frequently breaks some of the sport’s biggest news and appears on several of the global sports network’s television, radio and podcast programs. After...

‘Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me’

The real story behind Sammy Davis Jr.’s conversion to Judaism

By Beth Harpaz, The ForwardPublished February 23, 2023

Sammy Davis Jr. was a short and skinny Black man with one eye. His wife was white, his mother was Puerto Rican and he was a convert to Judaism. In the crass and racist world of mid-20th century comedy, he was a walking punchline, even in his own routines. “When...

A caricature of Richard Belzer and his dog from "Even More Old Jewish Comedians," by Drew Friedman. (Courtesy Drew Friedman/Fantagraphics Books, Inc.)

Richard Belzer was a Jewish comedian. Why didn’t his obituaries say so?

Eddy Portnoy, JTAPublished February 23, 2023

(JTA) — Ever hear Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” sung in Yiddish dialect? It used to be a regular bit performed by comedian and actor Richard Belzer, who died this week at 78. He also used to do a routine about Bob Dylan’s bar mitzvah in...

Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in Guy Nattiv's film "Golda." (Jasper Wolf)

A Golda Meir biopic starring Helen Mirren avoids politics. It premiered as Israel’s government faces widespread scrutiny.

Gabe Friedman, JTAPublished February 22, 2023

(JTA) — When a film about a group of Israeli youths who visit former concentration camps in Poland premiered on Sunday at the Berlin Film Festival, its Israeli producer took the microphone after the screening to decry the state of his nation. “The...

Image taken by Cass Anderson

Q&A with rising musician Noah Levine

Katie Wallace, Junior, Parkway West High SchoolPublished February 22, 2023

Noah Levine, also known as Noah in the Open, is a talented 20-year-old Jewish singer/songwriter from Austin, Texas. In addition to making his own music, he has recently been touring with folk-pop singer Noah Kahan, who is also Jewish, as his lead guitarist....

The Bee Play

New Jewish Theatre receives 10 St. Louis Theater Circle nominations

Published February 22, 2023

The New Jewish Theatre received 10 nominations for work it produced in 2022, the St. Louis Theater Circle announced earlier this month. Every aspect of NJT’s work was recognized, from acting to directing to design.  The award winners will be presented...

Image courtesy of paradebroadway.com/press/

Neo-Nazis rally outside Broadway preview of ‘Parade,’ about an antisemitic murder

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished February 22, 2023

(JTA) — Members of a neo-Nazi group rallied Tuesday night outside the Broadway theater that is hosting “Parade,” a play about the 1915 lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia. “It was definitely very ugly and scary, but [also] a wonderful reminder...

Marc Maron in From Bleak to Dark. Courtesy of HBO

You want it darker? Marc Maron’s game.

By PJ Grisar, The ForwardPublished February 21, 2023

Marc Maron knows there’s one topic he just can’t leave alone.  “I don’t know why — every show, there’s part of me that just wants to keep poking the Jew thing,” the stand-up comic says in his new HBO special, From Bleak to Dark....

Book launch announced for Adina Talve-Goodman's memoir

Book launch announced for Adina Talve-Goodman’s memoir

Published February 21, 2023

Central Reform Congregation is teaming up with Left Bank Books for a special event to mark the release of a memoir written by Adina Talve-Goodman the daughter of Rabbis Susan Talve and Jim Goodman. Talve-Goodman was born with a congenital heart condition...

A stack of books by British author Roald Dahl. Credit: Shutterstock.

Publisher puts softer words in mouth of controversial writer Roald Dahl

By Menachem WeckerPublished February 20, 2023

(JNS) One of history’s great literary revisionism discussions ensues when Moses and God converse after the Golden Calf fiasco. If God does not forgive the Israelites, “Erase me, now, from the book You wrote,” Moses says. In Exodus 32:34, God answers,...

Mikey Pauker, seen here performing at Cornerstone Brewery in Berkeley, is one of the musicians behind a petition to add a Jewish music category to the Grammys. (Photo/Courtesy Pauker)

Why these two musician friends want the Grammys to add a Jewish music category

ANDREW ESENSTENPublished February 20, 2023

This article first appeared in J. The Jewish News of Northern California There is a Grammy Award for just about every kind of music — from pop to metal to New Age to Contemporary Christian — but there’s no Jewish category. Two Jewish musician...

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