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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

Passover

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...

Despite danger and disruption, Ukrainian Jews prepare to celebrate Passover in public seders

Despite danger and disruption, Ukrainian Jews prepare to celebrate Passover in public seders

Published April 14, 2022

(JTA) — Between air-raid sirens in Odessa, Svetlana Niselevitch, an 84-year-old Ukrainian-Jewish Holocaust survivor, has been preparing to join a Passover seder for the first time in her life. “We didn’t observe Jewish traditions in my family,”...

Among Ukraine’s refugees, I found new meaning in Passover’s open door 

Among Ukraine’s refugees, I found new meaning in Passover’s open door 

Published April 14, 2022

(JTA) —  When the war came, Galina Chornobyl fled so fast she left her teeth behind. That’s one of the first things she shared with me when I met Galina at the Siret border crossing in Romania late last month. Kyiv had become untenable —...

U City "matzah maven" takes his skills to Persian Gulf Jews

U City “matzah maven” takes his skills to Persian Gulf Jews

Bill Motchan, Special For The Jewish LightPublished April 14, 2022

Ethan Schuman is a dentist, collector of Judaica, violinist, woodworker and, at this time of year, a matzah maven. The earthen matzah oven in his University City garage was the subject of a 2016 story in the Jewish Light. Baking matzah from scratch...

Who is this kid on the Haggadah? We (I) think he's a Hollywood star

Who is this kid on the Haggadah? We (I) think he’s a Hollywood star

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished April 14, 2022

Dear Jewish Light reader, Please help me put an end to a mystery. I'll just say it straight up, I think the kid, featured on the cover of my very own Maxwell House Haggadah, is now grown up and is a major Hollywood star. Many of his fans simply know...

Yes, Passover cocktails are a thing. Here are 6 straight from the seder plate

Yes, Passover cocktails are a thing. Here are 6 straight from the seder plate

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished April 14, 2022

You've heard it before. Purim is the Jewish holiday in which the imbibing large amounts of alcohol is practically mandated. But, don't forget about Passover. Four cups of wine? And while no one is suggesting you become farschnickert, Passover is certainly...

The cover of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” edition of the Maxwell House Haggadah features an illustration of the hit show’s cast. (Maxwell House)

A “brief” history of the Maxwell House Haggadah

Kerri Steinberg, Otis College of Art and DesignPublished April 13, 2022

For more than a millennium, the haggadah has been the centerpiece of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The book sets out the ceremony for the Seder meal, when families tell the biblical Exodus story of God delivering the ancient Israelites from slavery...

Artist Loren Ludmerer created a Passover charcuterie board by reimagining the various components typically found on the seder plate.

From seder to sewing: St. Louis artist creates from what she collects

ELLEN FUTTERMAN, Editor-in-ChiefPublished April 13, 2022

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into Loren Ludmerer’s Ladue home on a recent Wednesday. Our meeting had been scheduled for 10 a.m. but that morning the rain was coming down hard.  At 7:59 a.m. I got an email from Ludmerer asking if...

D'var Torah: Breaking matzah signifies oneness of Jewish people

D’var Torah: Breaking matzah signifies oneness of Jewish people

RABBI JEFFREY ABRAHAMPublished April 13, 2022

Passover is a time that accentuates the importance of oneness and unity.  On seder night, we remember our historic roots and re-experience both the dark days in Egypt and our miraculous redemption from bondage. Jewish people across the globe feel...

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