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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

Sports

Ohio high school football coach resigns after players use ‘Nazi’ in play calls

Ohio high school football coach resigns after players use ‘Nazi’ in play calls

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished September 26, 2023

(JTA) — A high school football coach in suburban Cleveland has resigned after his team used the word “Nazi” in addition to racial slurs in its play calling during a game on Friday against a team in a heavily Jewish town. Tim McFarland, the coach...

Dean Kremer, left, and Max Fried, right, are among the best Jewish players in the MLB. (Getty Images)

Baseball has more Jewish players than ever — but none of them will be faced with a Yom Kippur dilemma this year

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished September 21, 2023

(JTA) — For Jews and baseball fans, this is one of the most important weekends of the year. Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, begins Sunday evening. That day will also kick off the final week of the MLB regular season, when the fight to make the...

Kanye West at Milk Studios for an Adidas + KANYE WEST partnership announcement on June 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.

Adidas CEO: Kanye West didn’t mean his antisemitic comments

Published September 20, 2023

(JTA) – The new CEO of the athletic wear giant Adidas said he doesn’t believe the company’s former collaborator, Kanye West, “meant what he said” when the rapper went on a months-long series of antisemitic tirades that cost him the company’s...

A view of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge Stadium, May 2021.

England’s storied Chelsea soccer team launches Jewish fan group

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished September 18, 2023

(JTA) — Chelsea Football Club has launched a group for Jewish fans, becoming the second English Premier League team to do so this year. The storied London-based club announced its new Jewish supporters group on Friday, timing the launch to Rosh Hashanah,...

Hank Greenberg scores after hitting a home run to give the Detroit Tigers a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox, Sept. 10, 1934.

Remembering Jewish baseball legend Hank Greenberg’s 1934 Rosh Hashanah dilemma

Published September 14, 2023

(JTA) — Sandy Koufax’s decision to sit out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur is well-documented. But in a lesser-known dramatic tale just over 30 years earlier, fellow Jewish Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg faced a dilemma...

Boston Red Sox fire Chaim Bloom, former Jewish baseball wunderkind

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished September 14, 2023

(JTA) — The Boston Red Sox fired Chaim Bloom on Thursday, ending the Shabbat-observant baseball executive’s nearly four-year tenure as the team’s chief baseball officer. Bloom, who also keeps kosher, was seen as a wunderkind with his previous...

From sportswriter to playwright, Ben Hochman's 'The Game’s Afoot' takes St. Louis soccer history center stage

From sportswriter to playwright, Ben Hochman’s ‘The Game’s Afoot’ takes St. Louis soccer history center stage

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 11, 2023

Before Ben Hochman, the award-winning (and Jewish) St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist, ever penned a word about the Cardinals or the Blues, he was a budding creator of musical theater. “It was my senior year, 1998 at Clayton High School and...

Alexander Zverev. Credit: François Goglins via Wikimedia Commons.

German player stops match after Nazi slogan yelled at US Open

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished September 6, 2023
A spectator was ejected from a U.S. Open tennis match early Tuesday morning after allegedly chanting a Nazi anthem at German player Alexander Zverev.
Jake Curhan of the Seattle Seahawks looks on before the game against the Chicago Bears in Seattle, Dec. 26, 2021.

All the Jewish NFL players to watch in the 2023-2024 season

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished August 31, 2023

(JTA) — As the calendar turns to September, many Jews eagerly await an annual fall tradition that signals a new beginning: Week 1 of the NFL season. This year, the season begins on Sept. 7, just about 10 days before Rosh Hashanah. Read on for our...

Aug 30, 2023; Flushing, NY, USA; Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves to Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain on day three of the 2023 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Jewish tennis champ explains why announcers say ‘bagels’ so often at U.S. Open

Beth Harpaz, The ForwardPublished August 30, 2023

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. The U.S. Open tennis championship is underway in New York, and if you’re paying even casual attention, you can’t help...

Iran's athlete delegation at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Iran banned a weightlifter for life after he took a photo with an Israeli opponent

Published August 30, 2023

(JTA) — Iran’s weightlifting federation banned one of its athletes for life after he shook hands and posed for a photo with an Israeli athlete at an international competition in Poland. Mostafa Rajaei finished second in his category at the 2023...

Rob Friedman, left, interviews three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw at MLB's 2023 All-Star Weekend in Seattle.

How ‘Pitching Ninja’ Rob Friedman accidentally became one of the most popular Jewish personalities in baseball

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished August 24, 2023

(JTA) — It’s safe to say that few people watch more baseball than Rob Friedman. During the MLB season — which features 30 teams playing 162 games each from April through October — Friedman spends countless hours every day watching as much of...

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