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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

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and Jordan’s King Hussein shake hands in front of U.S. President Bill Clinton after signing their peace treaty Oct. 26, 1994, in the Arava. By Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history: Jan. 31 to Feb. 7

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished January 31, 2024

Jan. 31, 1922 — Hebrew ‘Dybbuk’ Opens in Moscow The Hebrew version of “The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” begins its successful stage run at Moscow’s Habimah Theater. Written in Russian and then Yiddish by S. Ansky and translated into Hebrew...

Missouri schools transform Holocaust education with innovative pilot program

Missouri schools transform Holocaust education with innovative pilot program

Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished January 25, 2024

As Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches on Jan. 27, a cross-section of Missouri schools are using a new framework for Holocaust education. The pilot program of up to 25 school districts is the result of legislation signed into law by Governor Mike Parson...

How to watch the much anticipated 'Symphony of the Holocaust' documentary

How to watch the much anticipated ‘Symphony of the Holocaust’ documentary

Published January 18, 2024

The much-anticipated “Symphony of the Holocaust” documentary World Premiere about child prodigy violinist and Holocaust Survivor Shony Alex Braun’s inspiring life and final wish being fulfilled in 2023, will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024,...

How St. Louis' Holocaust Museum is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day

How St. Louis’ Holocaust Museum is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Published January 18, 2024

Each year on Jan. 27, the world commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet soldiers. This year, the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is planning a weekend-long...

Alanis Morissette shown on PBS' celebrity genealogy series "Finding Your Roots." (Screenshot from YouTube)

Understanding Alanis Morissette’s Jewish roots will enhance St. Louis’ experience of her music

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished January 2, 2024

Before the Broadway musical “Jagged Little Pill,” based on Alanis Morissette’s music, arrives at the Fabulous Fox Jan. 19-21, and prior to her performance at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre slated for July 23, audiences can learn more about the...

This week in Israeli history: Dec. 14-20

Center for Israel Education, (israeled.org)Published December 14, 2023

Dec. 14, 1981 — Israel Annexes Golan Heights The Knesset votes 63-21 to pass surprise legislation to annex the Golan Heights and apply Israeli law there in place of military administration. The Labor Party boycotts the vote because of the bill’s...

Guy Stern, who escaped Germany in the run-up to the Holocaust, speaks to a group of lawmakers in Hanover, Germany, May 14, 2019.

St. Louis war hero, WWII ‘Ritchie Boy,’ Guy Stern dies at 101

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished December 13, 2023

(JTA) — Guy Stern, a German Jewish refugee who was one of the last known surviving members of the celebrated World War II military intelligence unit known as the “Ritchie Boys” and who became an accomplished Holocaust scholar after the war, died...

Roberto Benigni in a scene from his film "Life is Beautiful."

Remembering when ‘Life is Beautiful’ hit US theaters 25 years ago and rocked Hollywood

Stephen Silver, Gabe Friedman, JTAPublished December 11, 2023

(JTA) — Ferne Pearlstein re-watched “Life is Beautiful,” Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winning Holocaust film, around 2015. She was working on her documentary “The Last Laugh,” which focused on the possibilities — and limits — of Holocaust humor. Pearlstein...

Blue Bus Productions

Two Holocaust survivors, reunited after 80 years apart

Published December 5, 2023

(New York Jewish Week) — In March 2022, Jack Waksal thought he recognized Sam Ron, the keynote speaker at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual South Florida dinner in Boca Raton. But he couldn’t quite place him — after all, at 97, Waksal...

The Boxcar

St. Louis artist shares story behind this haunting piece of Holocaust art

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished November 27, 2023

As a young boy growing up in St. Louis, metal sculpture artist Dale Dicker, 74, was surrounded by many family members who survived the Holocaust. His grandfather, Joseph Barg, saw the rise of Nazism early on and successfully got his wife Yetta's family...

Exploring American Jewish history through "Kugels & Collards"

Exploring American Jewish history through “Kugels & Collards”

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished November 27, 2023

Food can be a vehicle for telling stories, connecting with people, and understanding our history—including the uncomfortable parts. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler heads to Charleston, South Carolina to learn about Southern Jewish history...

What is Neturei Karta, the Orthodox group at many pro-Palestinian protests

What is Neturei Karta, the Orthodox group at many pro-Palestinian protests?

By Mira Fox, The ForwardPublished November 26, 2023

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. Photos of pro-Palestine rallies in the U.S. since the outbreak of the war often feature a group of Orthodox Jewish men,...

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