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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

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Parents who are carriers of genetic diseases can test embryos for genetic mutations using preimplantation genetic testing during the in-vitro fertilization process. (Abraham Gonzalez Fernandez / Getty Images)

For women using IVF to screen embryos for genetic diseases, these peers can offer support

Eric Berger, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

(JTA) — In March 2020, around the time B. and her husband started planning to have children, they learned they each carried genetic mutations with significantly elevated risks for a variety of cancers. BRCA genetic mutations, which are 10 times more...

Amy Bach's organization, Measures for Justice, uses data to help improve the U.S. justice system. (John Schlia)

For legal crusader Amy Bach, data is the key to holding America’s justice system accountable

Larry Luxner, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

Nearly 20 years ago, Amy Bach, a young lawyer and journalist, spent time in a courtroom in rural Georgia to write about routine injustices in the legal system.  She watched as a public defender pleaded 48 of his clients guilty in a single day. “He...

(L-R) Writers and directors Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker attend the 30th Anniversary screening of "Airplane!" at the Walter Reade Theater on August 9, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Jim Abrahams, the filmmaker who co-piloted ‘Airplane!’ into comedy history, dies at 80

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

This article is also available as a weekly newsletter, “Life Stories,” where we remember those who made an outsize impact in the Jewish world — or just left their community a better or more interesting place. Subscribe here to get “Life Stories”...

A view of the Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Allegations of Christian influence surface as World Zionist Congress election heats up

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTAPublished December 4, 2024

Around the time he was preparing to release his new book earlier this year, David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel under Donald Trump, was approached by an advocacy group that focuses on fostering support for Israel among Christians.  The...

A police car pictured in Chicago on April 13, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Suspect in October hate crime shooting of Orthodox man found dead in Chicago jail

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished December 2, 2024

The man accused of shooting a Jew on his way to synagogue in Chicago in late October has been found dead in his jail cell. Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, had been arrested and charged with terrorism and hate crime charges for shooting the Orthodox man...

Shirel Golan, at left, died by suicide in October. Her family says she didn't get the help she needed after surviving the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Courtesy Golan family)

Horror at Nova: Survivor crisis deepens with shocking new suicide claims!

Deborah Danan, JTAPublished December 2, 2024

PORAT, Israel — Eyal Golan sat at a table flanked by two citrus trees in his parents’ garden in the tranquil community of Porat — a makeshift office that, reluctantly, has become his command center. From here, he has given countless media interviews...

Israeli soldiers seen at a staging area near the Israeli border with Lebanon, Oct. 1, 2024.

Report: Israeli Security Cabinet approves truce with Lebanon

Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNSPublished November 26, 2024

The Israeli Security Cabinet voted on Tuesday to approve a 60-day truce with the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, CNN reported. All Israel Defense Forces soldiers are expected to withdraw from Southern Lebanon over a 60-day “transition period,”...

First responders stand next to a crater where a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in northern Israel's Haifa district on October 31, 2024 (Ahmad Gharabli/ AFP)

Israeli security cabinet approves ceasefire with Hezbollah

Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished November 26, 2024

(JTA) — Israel’s security cabinet has approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah, which would end more than a year of conflict with the terror group on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested...

How Judaism makes every day Thanksgiving Day

How Judaism makes every day Thanksgiving Day

Kohenet Rabbi Sarah Bracha GershunyPublished November 26, 2024

Our last thoughts before sleep and our first thoughts upon waking have a powerful impact on our minds. This may be why Judaism instructs us at bedtime to dwell on the central Jewish creed, the Shema, and shortly after we rise to recite the prayer Elohai...

Security and rescue forces work on the remains of the bus destroyed by a suicide bomber in Haifa on Dec. 2, 2001. By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: Nov. 28-Dec. 4

Center for Israel EducationPublished November 26, 2024

Nov. 28, 1961 — Operation Yachin Begins for Moroccan Jews After a two-year ban on Jewish emigration from Morocco, Israel launches Operation Yachin to help Moroccan Jews make aliyah via France or Italy. By the operation’s end in 1964, more than 97,000...

Sharona Dahan cooks at Asif in Tel Aviv, in a rare respite from takeout nearly a year after being evacuated from her home in Sderot, October 2024. (Deborah Danan)

For Israelis still displaced from their homes, reclaiming the kitchen can be an act of hope

Deborah Danan, JTAPublished November 26, 2024

(JTA) — TEL AVIV — With no formal training but with all the aplomb of a seasoned chef, Sharona Dahan serves up plate after plate of Moroccan fish — a dish rooted in her family’s culinary traditions — in the bustling open kitchen of Café Asif...

Since the United Arab Emirates made peace with Israel four years ago, Dubai has become an increasingly popular travel destination for Jews. (Envato)

Killing of Israeli rabbi in UAE could strengthen ties between Israel and Arab neighbors, experts say

RON KAMPEAS, JTAPublished November 25, 2024

WASHINGTON — The killing of an Israeli Chabad rabbi in the United Arab Emirates shocked many, and illustrated the dangers Jews face around the world.  But if the aim of the attack was to to undermine the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE and...

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