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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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The exterior of Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland.

Banned for wearing a Star of David? Coffee shop at center of explosive lawsuit

By Gabe Stutman, jweekly.comPublished February 18, 2025

A team of lawyers is preparing to file a civil rights lawsuit against Jerusalem Coffee House, an Oakland, CA café that has drawn controversy over its treatment of a Jewish customer. Attorneys say they are finalizing the legal complaint and expect to...

Israelis hold photographs of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas at a gathering calling for their release at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, on November 28, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Hamas official says bodies of Bibas family will return to Israel on Thursday

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 18, 2025

This is a developing story.  A Hamas official has announced that the terror group will return the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, among them the Bibas family. Hamas is also due to release six hostages on Saturday, the final captives...

PHOTOS: Music, faith & leadership: Inside the nation’s premier Songleader Boot Camp

PHOTOS: Music, faith & leadership: Inside the nation’s premier Songleader Boot Camp

Bill Motchan, Special To The Jewish LightPublished February 18, 2025

Hundreds of Jewish song leaders, educators, cantors and rabbis from around the country gathered on Feb. 17 at the Jewish Community Center for three days of training and seminars. The 17th annual Songleader Boot Camp provided the participants with tools...

Kanye West seen in Los Angeles, May 13, 2023. (MEGA/GC Images)

Kanye West, back on X again, says he is ‘not under Jewish control anymore’

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 18, 2025

Shortly after Kanye aired a Super Bowl commercial for a website selling a swastika T-shirt, and two days after posting an antisemitic rant on X, the rapper Ye announced that he was quitting the platform. One week later he was back — and tweeting...

Promotional photo of Gregory Peck and James Mason in the American film The Boys from Brazil (1978)

Netflix remakes “The Boys From Brazil” with Jeremy Strong in lead role

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 17, 2025

Back in 2021, I wrote a heartfelt, nostalgia-drenched piece about my love for the 1978 film "The Boys From Brazil"—and let’s just say it did not go over well. Maybe I overestimated the number of people who still appreciate seeing Laurence Olivier,...

Deportation of Jews in Bielefeld, Germany, on Dec. 13, 1941.

Newly discovered photos of Nazi deportations show Jewish victims as they were last seen alive

Wolf Gruner, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesPublished February 17, 2025

The Holocaust was the first mass atrocity to be heavily photographed. The mass production and distribution of cameras in the 1930s and 1940s enabled Nazi officials and ordinary people to widely document Germany’s persecution of Jews and other...

Ken Rosenthal

Ken Rosenthal, founder of St. Louis Bread Co., leaves behind a lasting legacy

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 17, 2025

In the Wednesday, Jan. 6, 1988, edition of the St. Louis Jewish Light, on page 12, in the "In Business" section, the eighth blurb of nine read: Who knew what was to come? Kenneth “Ken” Rosenthal On Feb. 14, Rosenthal, 81, died peacefully in his...

Jewish teens from the United States and abroad at the opening ceremony of BBYO's International Convention in Denver on Feb. 13, 2025. Credit: Jason Dixson Photography.

BBYO kicks off annual convention; teens find it ‘overwhelming,’ ‘awesome,’ ‘bittersweet’

Vita Fellig, JNSPublished February 16, 2025

Some 3,500 Jewish teens from 50 countries gathered in Denver on Thursday night for the opening ceremony of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) International Convention, kicking off the youth movement’s annual weekend-long retreat. Organizers...

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff looks on, at the White House, in Washington, U.S. February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Middle East envoy Witcoff says the second phase of the ceasefire is proceeding

By Jacob Kornbluh, The ForwardPublished February 16, 2025

Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Sunday that Israel and the mediators have agreed to advance to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which could lead to a withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces from the enclave...

U.S.-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are escorted by Palestinian Hamas militants and Islamic Jihad militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

3 hostages released from Gaza, including American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 15, 2025

Three Israeli hostages were released from captivity in Gaza Saturday, including Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American citizen. Dekel-Chen was freed along with Yair Horn, an Argentine-Israeli, and Sasha Trufanov, a Russian-Israeli. All three were abducted from...

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy  (not pictured), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany February 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Rubio: Hamas can’t stay in power, I’m open to Gaza plan alternatives

JNS StaffPublished February 14, 2025

Any plan allowing Hamas to rule Gaza would be unacceptable to Israel and ineffective in resolving the conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday. President Donald Trump is willing to take the lead on rebuilding Gaza, as no other viable...

(L-r) Dr. Max Gerson in 1929; a Works Progress Administration poster warning against "cancer quacks" in 1936-38. (ullstein bild Dtl./public domain)

Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ features a Jewish-run ‘cancer clinic.’ What is it?

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished February 14, 2025

This story contains spoilers for “Apple Cider Vinegar.” Early in the new Netflix miniseries “Apple Cider Vinegar,” the central character of Millie Blake is diagnosed with a rare cancer and told she must amputate her arm.  Desperate for...

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