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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 History

A still from "Sevap/Mitzvah." (©geminisnakeproductions)

St. Louis screens powerful film on Muslim-Jewish rescue during WWII

Shira Li Bartov, JTAPublished July 8, 2025

(JTA) — In 1941 Sarajevo, a Muslim woman hid her Jewish friend from fascist roundups. Half a century later, that same Muslim woman was trapped in the besieged capital during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War — and her Jewish friend made sure she got out. These...

The cattle car that is the "No Hate Now" exhibit.

Immersive Holocaust cattle car exhibit coming to St. Louis

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished July 7, 2025

The door closes behind you, and suddenly, you're in the dark. The air is still. A cold floor beneath you. Around you, shadows flicker—portraits of people once packed inside this very kind of railcar. Some clutch children. Some look out, searching for...

Israelis rejoice while awaiting the arrival of the rescued Entebbe hostages at Ben Gurion Airport on July 4, 1976. Photo Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: June 30-July 6

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished June 30, 2025

June 30, 2012 — Yitzhak Shamir Dies Israel’s seventh prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, dies at 96. Born Yitzhak Yzernitzky in Poland during World War I, he made aliyah in 1935 and enrolled in the Hebrew University. He joined the Irgun in 1937, then...

“Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers,” oil on canvas, painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo between 1725 and 1730. Credit: Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington/Samuel H. Kress Collection.

Third-century queen, target of Syrian government, may have converted to Judaism

Menachem Wecker, JNSPublished June 30, 2025

(JNS) -- The third-century Palmyra queen Zenobia, who ruled in present-day Syria from about 267 or 268 to 272, stands on a dais among her soldiers in Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s c. 1725-1730 painting in the collection of Washington’s National Gallery...

Men from the 329th Infantry at Rosh Hashanah Eve services in 1944 at a location between Beaugency and Orleans, France. The image is featured in the new PBS documentary ‘GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II,’ which airs in St. Louis at 9 p.m. April 11 on the Nine Network. Photo courtesy National Museum of American Jewish Military History

An age-old antisemitic trope about Jews avoiding services re-emerges as Israel and Iran are in conflict

By Arno Rosenfeld, THE FORWARDPublished June 20, 2025

(THE FORWARD) -- As tensions grow over the Israel-Iran conflict, far-right influencers are reviving an antisemitic trope that claims Jews avoid military service and manipulate American soldiers into fighting wars for Israel. These false narratives echo...

4,000 years of Jewish history in one hour?

4,000 years of Jewish history in one hour?

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished June 2, 2025

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to make sense of Jewish history — from Abraham to Herzl, from Sinai to the state of Israel — you’re not alone. But what if someone promised to cover the biggest turning points of the last 4,000 years… in...

Yitzhak Rabin, shown in 1975, became prime minister June 3, 1974, less than five months after he was first elected to the Knesset. Photo: Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: May 29-June 4

Published May 29, 2025

May 29, 1979 — Dayan Addresses Peace Process Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan speaks to the Knesset about the events that culminated in the peace treaty Israel and Egypt signed two months earlier. Dayan emphasizes Israel’s commitment to peace and its...

Dark comedy “The Anne Frank Gift Shop” to make streaming debut

Dark comedy “The Anne Frank Gift Shop” to make streaming debut

Published May 29, 2025

A darkly funny, Oscar-shortlisted short film about Holocaust memory and modern marketing is heading to ChaiFlicks, the Jewish themed streaming service. Starting June 12—Anne Frank’s birthday—viewers can stream “The Anne Frank Gift Shop,” a 15-minute...

B’nai B’rith’s final gift to St. Louis: A plaque, a legacy, a quiet goodbye

B’nai B’rith’s final gift to St. Louis: A plaque, a legacy, a quiet goodbye

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished May 29, 2025

It wasn’t a ribbon-cutting or a gala. There was no long list of speeches, no formal program. Just a small group gathered quietly near the Kindertransport section of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum on Wednesday morning, May 28 to dedicate...

Jazz in Nazi Germany: The music that wouldn’t die

Jazz in Nazi Germany: The music that wouldn’t die

By Joe Alterman, Special To The Jewish LightPublished May 28, 2025

This story was originally published on Moment.com. Sign up for the Moment Minute.  Music, at its core, is freedom. It cannot be caged by ideology or controlled by propaganda. The Nazis understood that, which is why they tried so desperately to suppress...

Alex Kor, son of Holocaust survivor Eva Kor

Could you forgive a Nazi? She did—for herself

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished May 28, 2025

While listening to the incredible program that was last month's Yom HaShoah Holocaust Commemoration 2025 at Congregation Temple Israel, I thought I had heard all the stories one could hear about surviving the Holocaust. I was wrong. The featured...

The band 'Kiss,' including Gene Simmons, shown here, brings 'The End of the Road World Tour' to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, in Indianapolis.

Gene Simmons meets 100-year-old veteran who liberated his mom from Nazi camp

Jonathan Duschnitzky (JNS)Published May 27, 2025

An extraordinary moment unfolded Monday evening in Washington when Gene Simmons, the 75-year-old frontman for legendary rock band KISS, encountered Harold “Hal” Urban, a 100-year-old World War II veteran who participated in the liberation of the...

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