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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

Opinion

Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports

Do the Cardinals want a better manager than Mike Shildt, or just another “Yes Man?”

Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish LightPublished October 20, 2021

It's been six days since the St. Louis Cardinals abruptly fired Mike Shildt, which came only eight days after the Cardinals were eliminated by the Dodgers in the National League wildcard game. Easily one of the most bizarre firings in the recent memory...

How To Interview Your Elders

How To Interview Your Elders

By GABRIELLE BIRKNER, My Jewish learningPublished October 19, 2021
Judaism places a high value on passing stories from generation to generation. Here’s how to get the most out of your conversations with your parents and grandparents.
Children attend a rally for peace and unity in Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to remember victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, Nov. 9, 2018. (Flickr Commons/Gov. Tom Wolf)

What the Tree of Life shooting revealed about American Jewry

Andrew Silow-CarrollPublished October 19, 2021

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — A few years ago a colleague called to interview me for a book he was writing about journalists who worked for Jewish publications. I told him that it would be the first book in history whose readership would overlap...

Warner Brothers Pictures

Jewish actor Timothee Chalamet’s blockbuster looks gorgeous but falters on story

Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish LightPublished October 19, 2021

Paul can't sleep. Due to a wicked combination of terrifying nightmares and enlightening visions, his nights are distorted; a young man destined for high purpose (leader of galaxies?) who isn't exactly ready for what is about to come. I don't think...

Vote buttons stack with red and blue colors (Adobe Stock)

Local synagogues, Jewish groups: Act now to support the Freedom to Vote Act

Published October 18, 2021

Rabbi Hillel, the prominent first century Jewish sage, famously said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”  Now is the time we must stand up and tell our elected officials, “Let...

The Jewish stake in resisting the war on school-board critics

The Jewish stake in resisting the war on school-board critics

JONATHAN S. TOBIN, JNSPublished October 16, 2021
The Department of Justice’s attempt to frame protests against critical race theory as “domestic terrorism” is wrong. It’s also a defense of ideas that give a permission slip to anti-Semitism.
Netflix

Thank you, Jonah Hill, for setting the record straight on body image comments

Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish LightPublished October 14, 2021

"WOW! You look so good. Did you lose weight?" One of the worst things about looks is that they are the first thing people see. Sometimes, the only thing they see. Before our mouths can even open and apply context, a preliminary grade and overall look...

The Charles Dickens Museum in London is featuring the book “Dear Mr. Dickens” as part of its current exhibit, "More! Oliver Twist, Dickens and Stories of the City." (Charles Dickens Museum" (Charles Dickens Museum)

Sally Rooney’s Israel boycott distressed me. I take solace in knowing that a Jewish reader schooled Charles Dickens on antisemitism.

Erika DreifusPublished October 13, 2021

(JTA) — As a writer, literature professor and one of the 82% of U.S. Jews who report that “caring about Israel” is either “essential” or “important” to their Jewish identity, I am pained when I see authors whom I admire launch exaggerated...

The ‘Jewface’ debate about casting non-Jews as Jews betrays an Ashkenazi bias

MaNishtana (Shais Rishon)Published October 13, 2021

(JTA) — Actress and comedian Sarah Silverman, in comments on her Sept. 30 podcast, railed against the practice of casting non-Jews as Jewish characters in TV and films. She referred to the castings as “Jewface,” a play on the historically racist...

A New Yorker article about circumcision features an illustration by Javier Jaén. (Jewish Week)

We may be talking about Gary Shteyngart’s botched circumcision for a long time

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLLPublished October 11, 2021

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — There’s a lot to say about Gary Shteyngart’s New Yorker essay on the botched circumcision he suffered as a 7-year-old Russian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn. The novelist doesn’t explicitly come out against circumcision,...

Letters to the Editor: Oct. 5, 2021

Letters to the Editor: Oct. 5, 2021

Published October 8, 2021

Reactions to Iron Dome vote, representative’s ‘apartheid’ comment St. Louis Friends of Israel expresses our appreciation to the members of the U.S. House of Representatives who passed legislation on Sept. 23 to replenish the Iron Dome defensive...

"Two By Two" by Barbara Reid is a whimsical version of the Noah's Ark story. (Scholastic)

Noah’s ark is one weird bedtime story

Andrew Silow-CarrollPublished October 8, 2021

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Our oldest son is named Noah, and as a result we collected a lot of children’s books based on the Bible story (which will be read in synagogues this Shabbat). On its face, the story of Noah and the flood, with its...

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