Skip to Main Content
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

AUG. 23: Israeli soldiers are stationed at the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition in 1969. Egypt’s president threatened to shift from the continual skirmishing along the canal to all-out war after the Al-Aqsa arson Aug. 21, 1969. Photo: Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history: Aug. 18-24

Center for Israel EducationPublished August 18, 2022

Aug. 18, 2000 — Archaeologist Claire Epstein Dies Archaeologist Claire Epstein, a London native who participated in many surveys and excavations in Israel, including discovering the culture of the Chalcolithic Period (4500 to 3300 B.C.E.) in the Golan,...

Zuzanna Surowy as Sara, in “My Name Is Sara.”  Photo courtesy of Strand Releasing.

‘My Name Is Sara’ tells true story of Jewish girl concealing her identity in Nazi-occupied Ukraine

Cate Marquis, Special to the Jewish LightPublished August 18, 2022

“My Name Is Sara” is a searing drama based on the true story of a 13-year-old Jewish girl who survived in Nazi-occupied Ukraine by posing as Ukrainian Orthodox Christian while living with a family of farmers who were unaware of her true identity....

Texas school district pulls the Bible and a version of Anne Frank’s diary from shelves

Texas school district pulls the Bible and a version of Anne Frank’s diary from shelves

ANDREW LAPIN, JTAPublished August 16, 2022

(JTA) – A school district in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, has ordered its librarians to remove an illustrated adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” from their shelves and digital libraries, along with the Bible and dozens of other books that were...

Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of ‘Holocausts’ and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes heat for not responding

Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of ‘Holocausts’ and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes heat for not responding

RON KAMPEAS, JTAPublished August 16, 2022

(JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing “Holocausts” at a press conference after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, and Scholz’s muted initial response is spurring criticism. Abbas...

How every Holocaust story, memory or artifact in our new Holocaust Museum will be sharable

How every Holocaust story, memory or artifact in our new Holocaust Museum will be sharable

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished August 16, 2022

"Memory is what shapes us. Memory is what teaches us. We must understand that’s where our redemption is," said Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin. Preserving memories of Holocaust survivors, liberators and others is the everyday function at the...

Why conspiracy theorists keep turning to Jewish mysticism — from early Nazis to modern-day MAGA

Why conspiracy theorists keep turning to Jewish mysticism — from early Nazis to modern-day MAGA

By Mira Fox, The ForwardPublished August 15, 2022

Are Trump’s most rabid supporters getting into Jewish mysticism? If a new viral clip from “The Daily Show” is any indication, the answer appears to be yes. In the clip, a woman in a flower crown at a MAGA rally in Wisconsin tells “Daily...

The KKK once bombed this Mississippi synagogue. Now it’s thriving.

The KKK once bombed this Mississippi synagogue. Now it’s thriving.

Madison Hahamy, Hey AlmaPublished August 12, 2022

Growing up in a heavily Jewish suburb near Chicago meant running between multiple bar mitzvah services each weekend. It meant attending a public school that gave us Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and sometimes even the first days of Passover off because so...

Trump wanted his advisors to be like ‘German generals in WWII,’ according to a new book

ANDREW LAPIN, JTAPublished August 8, 2022

(JTA) – Former President Donald Trump wanted his military advisors to be more like “the German generals in World War II,” according to a new book about the Trump presidency that quotes from his administration’s top personnel. Trump reportedly...

The Jewish history of Arby’s

The Jewish history of Arby’s

Published August 7, 2022

“We have the meats.” Ever wonder who the “we” is behind that Arby’s slogan? The answer is Forrest and Leroy Raffel, Jewish brothers from New Castle, Pennsylvania. While the Raffel brothers were certainly not the only Jewish creative giants...

A memorial to the victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre in Ben Shemen forest, Israel. Photo: Dr. Avishai Teicher

The 1972 Munich Olympics slaughter from the other side of the street

By Eldad Beck, JNSPublished August 3, 2022
Fifty years after Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 members of the Israeli delegation to the 1972 Munich Olympics, German handball player Klaus Langhoff, who was right across the street, recalls the horrific events.
Today In the Jewish Light History: July 27, 1983

Today In the Jewish Light History: July 27, 1983

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished July 26, 2022

The St. Louis Jewish Light has been serving the St. Louis Jewish Community since 1947 when the first issue of the St. Louis Light, the predecessor publication of the St. Louis Jewish Light, which first appeared on Feb. 20. The St....

 Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, appears in a French court in 2011. Source: Screenshot.

Jewish filmmakers get rare interview with “Carlos the Jackal

By Yaron Niski and Danny LiberPublished July 25, 2022
Notorious terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, aka “Carlos the Jackal,” recalls how he joined the PFLP after getting expelled from university and abducted dozens of ministers at the behest of Libyan revolutionary Muammar Gaddafi, only to be betrayed by the leader he held in high regard.
Load More Stories