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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 Humor

From left: Jen Weinman & Winston, Ed Reggi, Peter Barg and Julie Bieniek Brown.

For these comic actors, ‘improv’ also means ‘improvement’

By Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished June 7, 2023

Jen Weinman was going through a really hard time in her life. She was dealing with depression and had a bad breakup. Then she met a group of people who had a common interest: improv theater. “I asked them why they chose improv and one of them told...

Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman’s new special is her best argument yet for loving Jews (with digestive issues)

By PJ Grisar, The ForwardPublished May 29, 2023

Early in the pandemic, Sarah Silverman tried (and largely failed) to win us back with diarrhea. When Gal Gadot’s infamous “Imagine” video went off like a fart in shul — and Silverman’s own grunting contribution drew groans — the comic...

Amy Fenster Brown and the TV-inspired decor in her home office.

What’s TV good for? Learning life lessons, of course

By Amy Fenster Brown, Special To The Jewish LightPublished May 24, 2023

I love television so much that it inspired my home office décor, as you can see from this photo. Television can simultaneously be a huge waste of time, a way to stay informed, and educational, depending on what you’re watching.  Which category do...

Coffee Talk for May features Amy Fenster Brown and her sidekick Jordan Palmer   

Coffee Talk for May features Amy Fenster Brown and her sidekick Jordan Palmer   

Published May 19, 2023

Tuesday, May 23 marks another round of “Coffee Talk with SnL,” the nearly three-year-old gathering of local St. Louis voices hosted by National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis’ Past President, Susan Katzman, and Vice President of Membership, Lisa...

What's so Jewish about Mr. Potato Head? Truth revealed.

What’s so Jewish about Mr. Potato Head? Truth revealed.

AVISHAY ARTSY, JTAPublished May 4, 2023

Imagine that the decade is the 1950s, and you’re safeguarding your spuds from kids trying to stick little plastic face pieces with pushpins into them. If you’re guessing this was the precursor to the mustachioed, bulbous figure known as Mr. Potato...

Judith Rosenbaum welcomes audience after JWA's screening of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Celebrating and challenging Margaret in book and film

Judith Rosenbaum of the Jewish Women's Archive, Special To The Jewish LightPublished May 2, 2023

Last Sunday, the Jewish Women’s Archive held an advance screening of the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, and it felt like a party. Not only because it was JWA’s first big public event since Covid, not only...

‘Thou shalt make them laugh’: Orthodox Jewish comedians talk of faith and humor

‘Thou shalt make them laugh’: Orthodox Jewish comedians talk of faith and humor

DAVID SWINDLEPublished May 2, 2023

Have you heard the one about Moses who—having just led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to miraculous freedom, culminating in the waters of the Red Sea splitting—nonetheless impressed his father-in-law so little with his judicial acumen...

Guttenberg plays himself in “Tales From the Guttenberg Bible.”

​​Steve Guttenberg, and his very Jewish life, take the stage for a play adaptation of his memoir

Stephen Silver, JTAPublished April 30, 2023

(JTA) — Actor Steve Guttenberg has had the kind of career that put him in touch with nearly every trend in Hollywood. There were prestige films like “Diner” and “Cocoon” and the lighter but wildly successful fare like the first four movies in...

The final season of ‘Mrs. Maisel’ undermines TV norms. It saves the show

The final season of ‘Mrs. Maisel’ undermines TV norms. It saves the show

By Mira Fox, The ForwardPublished April 13, 2023

Mrs. Midge Maisel has always struggled with her identity. She’s a dutiful-ish mother and talented homemaker, but also a standup comic who roasts her family each night. She’s charming, lovable, peppy and independent, but also pushy and prone to tantrums...

Five questions for science comedian Ben Miller coming to Helium comedy club

Five questions for science comedian Ben Miller coming to Helium comedy club

BILL MOTCHAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished April 6, 2023

Jewish stand-up comedian Ben Miller works in a somewhat unusual genre of comedy. He uses science as the jumping-off point. This makes sense, since the New York-based comedian entered the entertainment industry after earning a science degree from Columbia...

Undertanding "The Jews of Summer"

Undertanding “The Jews of Summer”

Rebecca Brenner Graham, Special To The Jewish LightPublished March 9, 2023

As a child growing up in a predominantly Protestant town, I was never heavily involved in the Jewish community, and instead chose to attend an all-girls YMCA camp five years in a row. Back at home in Rhode Island, I opted out of starting Hebrew study...

9 Surprising facts about Purim you may not know

9 Surprising facts about Purim you may not know

Leah Kadosh, KvellerPublished March 6, 2023

I’m definitely in need of a laugh right about now, and what do you know? Purim is here! Purim – an exceedingly joyous, fun, and humorous holiday — celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from evil Haman’s plot of genocide. Purim...

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