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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 Holidays

Mimi David

Destruction of second Temple is a loss felt through centuries

MIMI DAVID, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished July 20, 2022

Yael was a recent college graduate looking for her first teaching job in Israel. She finally found a position she thought she would enjoy, teaching beginner Hebrew skills to new Israeli immigrants in an ulpan. Nervous but confident in her creative classroom...

Norwegian Jews seek changes to national calendar that ignores most of their holidays

Published June 27, 2022

(JTA) — Norway’s Jewish community said it will petition the country’s Supreme Court unless observant Jews get more of their holidays recognized in the national calendar system. The current law on national holidays, which was updated last year,...

Rabbi Noah Arnow

D’var Torah by Rabbi Noah Arnow: Torah helps us see world beyond our ‘normal’

RABBI NOAH ARNOWPublished June 2, 2022

What happens when we look at a painting?  We see a familiar world through the eyes and brushstrokes of another, and suddenly it looks different from the way we normally see it. Poetry uses words we know to create unexpected images and comparisons...

Dairy all round. An Israeli family celebrate the holiday of Shavuot in Tzur Hadassah. Photo by Nati Shohat/flash 90.

8 fun facts about Shavuot in Israel

NAAMA BARAK, Israel21c.orgPublished June 2, 2022

Now that summer is upon us, it’s time to get ready for what is commonly considered the best holiday on the Jewish calendar: Shavuot. Coming seven weeks after Passover (Shavuot means “weeks” in Hebrew), Shavuot begins this year at nightfall on June...

6 delicious dishes to celebrate Shavuot

6 delicious dishes to celebrate Shavuot

Israel21cPublished May 31, 2022

The holiday of Shavuot is almost upon us, and here in Israel the country is opening up steadily day by day, bringing new festivity into the air. This will be the first chance for many families to celebrate a holiday together since Tu Bishvat in February,...

Lag b’Omer can be as fun and yummy as a hole in the ground

Lag b’Omer can be as fun and yummy as a hole in the ground

BILL MOTCHAN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished May 18, 2022

Lag b’Omer begins tonight (May 18) at sunset. It’s a bit of a weird holiday because it commemorates a number: the 33rd day of the Omer, the 49-day period between Passover and Shavuot. Lag b’Omer is also an oddity because there’s no real consensus...

What is the Lag BaOmer pilgrimage?

Joshua Shanes, College of CharlestonPublished May 17, 2022

The annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage to Mount Meron in Israel – which in 2022 falls on Wednesday night, May 18 – until recently has attracted as many as half a million visitors every year. The annual gathering, which takes place at what is believed to...

Jewish Trivia: Lag B'Omer

Jewish Trivia: Lag B’Omer

MARK D. ZIMMERMAN, Special For The Jewish LightPublished May 16, 2022

Lag B’Omer will be celebrated this Thursday. The name of the holiday means “the 33rd day of the Omer,” a period that begins on the second day of Passover. Counting the Omer historically references the harvesting of the new barley crop to be brought...

Former Soviet Union natives celebrate Passover with a special seder at Crown Center

Former Soviet Union natives celebrate Passover with a special seder at Crown Center

Bill Motchan, Special For The Jewish LightPublished April 21, 2022

A tri-lingual Crown Center Senior Living Passover event on April 21 combined food, wine, and memories. The occasion was a special seder for the Jewish Russian immigrants who call Crown Center home. A joyous group of 20 residents gathered at the Circle@Crown...

Thanks to digitization, these centuries-old haggadot are now available for download to use at your Passover seder

Thanks to digitization, these centuries-old haggadot are now available for download to use at your Passover seder

Published April 15, 2022

(JTA) — A 13th-century Sephardic haggadah from Catalonia, Spain. A 15th-century haggadah from Prague. A 20th-century haggadah from Fez, Morocco. For the first time, a selection of some of the most historic haggadahs from the National Library of Israel’s...

Heirs of Holocaust victim sue Israel Museum over rare medieval hagaddah

Heirs of Holocaust victim sue Israel Museum over rare medieval hagaddah

Published April 15, 2022

(JTA) — Just days before Jews around the world gather with their families and friends to read the Haggadah as part the Passover holiday, one family of reunited Holocaust survivors filed a lawsuit to reclaim a 700-year-old haggadah that they say was...

My First Passover

My First Passover

Julia Silverberg Nemeth, Special For The Jewish LightPublished April 15, 2022

Passover was on March 30 the first year I ever celebrated it. I remember it was a stormy spring in Los Angeles. Rainwater roared through the city aqueducts. I had never witnessed so much rain in Southern California before. Everything seemed to be moving...

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