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

Editorial

Jewish Jokes: Did you hear the one about Marks first day at work?

Jewish Jokes: Did you hear the one about Mark’s first day at work?

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 20, 2024

I was recently asked by the mother of an old friend, “Why I do a “Jewish Joke of the Day.” I responded and she thought I should share my answer. I believe as Jews, we love to laugh. I believe Jews love to laugh at themselves and laugh at the...

Prayer, memories, fears and a first trip to Israel

Prayer, memories, fears and a first trip to Israel

Mia KweskinPublished October 6, 2022

I never pray during silent prayer.  At age 6 or 7, while sitting beside my parents in a sanctuary full of worshippers bowing their heads and swaying back and forth, I convinced myself that too many people were talking to G-d at once. I reserved my prayers...

Dear Reader: Our love / hate relationship with honey cake

Dear Reader: Our love / hate relationship with honey cake

Published September 19, 2022

Dear reader, Honey cake is the sweet baked treat many Jews eat on Rosh Hashanah to bring in a sweet Jewish New Year. For many, the cake has come to be a symbol. As children, the smells and flavors that emanated from the kitchens of our families are...

It’s okay to be angry. Judaism says so.

It’s okay to be angry. Judaism says so.

Kate Hennessey, KvellerPublished May 10, 2022

I’ve never really been an angry person per se. In general, I’m more of a bottle-up-your-issues kind of a person (yes, I’m working on it). I have an incredibly long fuse and it’s hard to make me truly angry. This applies even to those days...

The St. Louis chapter of the Israeli American Council (IAC) held, in conjunction with other local Jewish groups, a drive-in celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. The event took place Thursday, April 15 in the back parking lot of the Jewish Community Center’s Staenberg Family Complex near Creve Coeur.

Celebrating Israel’s freedom

Cathleen Kronemer, Special For The Jewish LightPublished May 3, 2022

This year on May 4, we usher in Yom HaZikaron, or Israeli Memorial Day, marking the observance of silence and respect for the martyrs of Israel’s War of Independence. The following day we celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, which commemorates Israel’s Independence...

Credit: Searchlight Pictures

Supporting Mila: What to watch and know this week in Jewish entertainment 

Dan Buffa, Special For The Jewish LightPublished April 25, 2022

Ever since the war in Ukraine broke out, actress Mila Kunis has taken on her greatest role yet: activist. One that could be called recurring due to the ferociousness of the war. Kunis and her partner, Ashton Kutcher, have donated time and money to the...

Today is Earth Day: Here’s what its local Jewish stewards have to say

Today is Earth Day: Here’s what its local Jewish stewards have to say

Bill Motchan, Special For The Jewish LightPublished April 22, 2022

We’ve become accustomed to hot, muggy summers in St. Louis, but temperatures are slowly rising here and around the world—an increase of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit from 1901 to 2016, according to the EPA. That may not sound like much, but sea levels are...

A Jewish guys idea on viewing art, and the new exhibit to try it out

A Jewish guy’s idea on viewing art, and the new exhibit to try it out

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished April 13, 2022

At the start of 2022, my goals were to be more creative, get more satisfaction out of life and find more happiness. One of the ways I'm doing this is to add more art to my life -- more live music, more book reading, and more visits to art galleries. Along...

Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, answers questions at the press conference at the federal chancellery in Berlin.

Debunking liberal assumptions about Jewish security in a changing Europe

JONATHAN S. TOBIN, JNSPublished April 4, 2022
Those who decry Hungary’s Orbán for his party’s past while cheering on Ukrainian nationalism are being inconsistent. It illustrates fallacies about defending both Jews and democracy.
Rabbi Mark Shook

Rabbi Shook: Isaac Mayer Wise is spinning in his grave

Mark L. Shook, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Temple IsraelPublished March 21, 2022

June 3, 2022, will mark fifty years since I was ordained a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Looking at photos taken at the time, I am appalled to realize I was wearing a powder blue polyester suit. In...

When Jewish pregnancy superstitions meet supply chain delays

When Jewish pregnancy superstitions meet supply chain delays

Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, From KvellerPublished March 17, 2022

When I saw the plus sign on my pregnancy test, I was shocked. Coming off a miscarriage and two failed rounds of IUI, by the time the third cycle actually worked, I had pretty much written it off. As much as I longed to be a mother, and hoped that...

Is the West is selling out to Iran to lower gas prices?

Is the West is selling out to Iran to lower gas prices?

Jonathan S. Tobin, JNSPublished March 12, 2022

(JNS) Like politics, wars can make for strange bedfellows. In the Second World War, even a staunch anti-Communist like Winston Churchill saw no problem with an alliance with the Soviet Union. Making common cause with a totalitarian state led by a mass...

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