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

Commentary

Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, joins university union representatives and  other lawmakers at a press conference to advocate for the protection of free speech on campuses, at the U.S. Capitol, May 23, 2024. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Progressive Jews of St. Louis defend Cori Bush’s record

Published July 11, 2024

As members of the St. Louis Jewish community, we are compelled to respond to a recent letter by some area Rabbis that mischaracterizes the record of Congresswoman Cori Bush. Bush is a supporter of peace and as a co-sponsor of Representative Haley Steven’s...

We’ve been here before: Reproductive rights redux

We’ve been here before: Reproductive rights redux

By Frances LevinePublished July 11, 2024

What would Vivian do?  Vivian Zwick was a pillar of the pro-choice and the Jewish community of St. Louis. She was the first woman elected as the president of the Jewish Light Board of Trusteess in 1975 (Jewish Light Aug. 10, 2022). I met her at several...

Bean counting racial outcomes  is no way to achieve equality

Bean counting racial outcomes is no way to achieve equality

Marty RochesterPublished July 11, 2024

Yes, unfortunately, there is still racism in America. There will probably always be a degree of racism in America, as there is in virtually every country on earth. It is almost impossible to rid the United States and any other nation of the last bigot.  Still,...

St. Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell speaks at a Salvation Army community fair in St. Louis, June 4, 2024. (Via Facebook)

Clergy Call To Action- Let’s seize the moment and get Wesley Bell to Washington

Published July 8, 2024

With a month to go until the MO-01 primary, we, rabbis and cantors from across the Jewish spectrum, write once again, in our personal, private capacities, with a clear and unified message: Let’s get Wesley Bell to Washington. It’s time for our...

New York Citys daily newspapers have very different headlines the morning after former President Donald Trump was convicted in the hush money trial, May 31, 2024.

The Jewish problem with saying a guilty verdict is ‘rigged’

Rabbi Avi ShafranPublished June 7, 2024

(JTA) -- When the guilty verdicts in former President Donald Trump’s recent New York trial were handed down, Trump and his supporters — including some in my own Orthodox community — rejected the decree, saying that the legal system had been rigged...

A Rabbi, a Nun, and the ensuring a Jewish Burial

A Rabbi, a Nun, and the ensuring a Jewish Burial

By Rabbi Ze’ev SmasonPublished May 22, 2024

Fourteen years ago, I received an unusual phone call. The call was from a nun. Sister Mary called to tell me that Dale, a Jewish man who was a student of mine, had suddenly passed away at the age of 45.  She asked if I could assist her in raising enough...

Unlocking Futures: Why Missouris Clean Slate initiative offers hope

Unlocking Futures: Why Missouri’s Clean Slate initiative offers hope

Mary Schuman and Susan GlassmanPublished April 30, 2024

Think of the worst thing you ever did. Then imagine being punished for it for the rest of your life. Half a million Missourians have criminal records stemming from nonviolent, nonsexual offenses, including some arrests without conviction or jail time....

Stacey Newman and Sophie Legenzoff.

Retracing my family’s painful history at the Paris Shoah Memorial

Stacey Newman, Special To The Jewish LightPublished April 24, 2024

Among all the other reasons one goes to Paris on holiday, I had one primary mission during my long-planned bucket-list trip there last month with my daughter. I was compelled to visit the Wall of Names at the Shoah Memorial, in the old Jewish quarter...

World leaders, journalists should not blindly trust information from Hamas

By Jenny WolkowitzPublished April 3, 2024

In his State of the Union last month, President Joe Biden referenced Hamas’s “Gaza Health Ministry” casualty numbers, saying that “more than 30,000” Gazans have been killed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now said that Israel must make...

Rabbi Jordan Gerson

Why Jewish education is more important than ever after Oct. 7

RABBI JORDAN GERSONPublished February 8, 2024

In the days immediately following Oct. 7, Jewish professionals around the world knew that the landscape of Israel education would change forever. As the full spectrum of the atrocities carried out by Hamas terrorists came to light and the Israeli response...

‘Let’s take a close look at the open letter’s assertions’

By Galit Lev-HarirPublished December 20, 2023

On Dec. 6, the Jewish Light published a letter signed by 75+ Jews who expressed concern with the organizations that raised them and quoted “facts” regarding the war between Israel and Hamas. Below is a response to some of the points in the letter. Claim:...

Hamas weaponry confiscated and displayed by the Israel Defense Forces, Oct. 15, 2023. Credit: IDF.

Getting the facts is critical in understanding conflict with Hamas

By Ryan Snyder, Junior, Ladue Horton Watkins High SchoolPublished December 6, 2023

The day of Oct. 7th was one that did not play out how I expected. What started off as a normal day for me as Jewish high schooler was flipped on its head when I awoke to the news that Israel was under attack and at war. It took a while for me to assess...

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