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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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Five plays, countless emotions, that dares to ask what it means to be Jewish today

Five plays, countless emotions, that dares to ask what it means to be Jewish today

Published October 20, 2025

  New Jewish Theatre 2026 season features five productions that hope to deliver laughter, tears and thought-provoking conversations. The line-up includes three new to St. Louis productions, a Tony Award–winning comedy and one of Broadway’s...

My birthday brain forgot to write this story about the brain games Jewish Light readers swear by

My birthday brain forgot to write this story about the brain games Jewish Light readers swear by

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 20, 2025

On Oct. 16, in the Morning Light, I wrote: “I play Sudoku to keep my mind in shape. But lately, I’m crushing it too easily and looking for a new brain exercise. What do you all do to keep your brain up and at ‘em?” Then, on Friday, Oct. 17,...

The story behind 23 words that define the Jewish Light

The story behind 23 words that define the Jewish Light

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 19, 2025

Stories about mission statements don’t usually make people stop scrolling or click to read from a morning newsletter. But hopefully you did, because the story behind a few simple words can say everything about a community. I’ve been part of more...

Mark Feuerstein plays Rabbi Mo Zaltzman (center), a small town Rabbi who has to unravel a complex conspiracy. Courtesy of Salvador Litvak

Guns and Moses streaming: The rabbi with a Glock rides into your living room

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 17, 2025

  Before “Guns and Moses” even hit theaters, my inbox was flooded with emails from readers asking the same questions: “Have you heard about this movie?” and “Is it coming to St. Louis?” The buzz was real, and now, "Guns and Moses"...

Summer camp

Find your kid’s summer match at Jewish Camp & Beyond

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 17, 2025

  The power of summer camp is timeless. The lessons, laughter and lifelong friendships that grow from those few weeks each summer are universal. Every child should have a chance to spend time under the stars, away from screens and surrounded...

Holocaust Museum opens fall grant cycle for educational and artistic projects

Holocaust Museum opens fall grant cycle for educational and artistic projects

Published October 17, 2025

The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum has opened applications for the fall grant cycle of the Rubin and Gloria Feldman Family Educational Institute, which funds projects focused on the history and lessons of the Holocaust. Grants of up to $5,000...

Prof. Jonathan Judaken

WashU professor honored for groundbreaking book on antisemitism

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 17, 2025

  It’s not every day a St. Louis scholar makes national headlines in the world of history. But this week, Washington University’s Jonathan Judaken joined the ranks of the American Historical Association’s top honorees, receiving the...

Can faith save the planet? St. Louis leaders say yes — and they’re proving it

Can faith save the planet? St. Louis leaders say yes — and they’re proving it

Published October 17, 2025

The Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis will bring together representatives from more than 30 religious traditions on Oct. 28 for its 33rd Annual Interfaith Dinner and Celebration. The event, titled “Sharing Our Common Home,” will focus on...

How Israel Bonds helped shape St. Louis Jewish life — and why the bond still holds

How Israel Bonds helped shape St. Louis Jewish life — and why the bond still holds

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 16, 2025

On Thursday, Oct. 16, more than two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, as a ceasefire holds, Israel Bonds announced a record-breaking $5.7 billion in global investments since 2023, the largest fundraising total in the organization’s 74-year history....

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (a Louisiana Republican (center) leads a news conference with Republican committee chairs, including, left to right, House Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, House Committee on Education and the Workforce Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York, to decry pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, April 30, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Un-American and vile’: Mike Johnson slams GOP group’s Hitler chat

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTAPublished October 16, 2025

(JTA) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said Republicans “roundly condemn” a leaked group chat in which Young Republican officials joked about gas chambers, praised Adolf Hitler and used racist, antisemitic and homophobic slurs, as well...

Nathan Litz reunited with his first grade bookmark.

The handmade Hanukkah bookmark that found its way home — 30 years later

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 16, 2025

When your fifth grade teacher sends you a homework assignment for the first time since 1978, you sit up and listen. That’s how this whole story started: a note from Mrs. Davis (yes, I still call her that) telling me a handmade Hanukkah bookmark with...

Top Row: Gerty Cori, Daniel Nathans, Arthur Kornberg.
Second Row: Paul Berg, Robert F. Furchgott
Third row: ? , Aaron Ciechanover, Joseph Erlanger

Nine Jewish geniuses who put WashU and St. Louis on the Nobel map

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished October 15, 2025

  As they do every October, this year’s Nobel Prize announcements have once again made headlines. As of 2025, there have been 990 individual Nobel laureates and about 22% of them are Jewish. Of those 990, 26 Nobel winners are affiliated...

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