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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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WashU stepping up on world stage as antisemitism surges

Published May 30, 2025

Washington University (WashU) Chancellor Andrew D. Martin will represent the United States at the AJC-CRIF Forum on Antisemitism in Paris on June 5, joining global academic leaders to address rising antisemitism on college campuses. The forum—organized...

Angela Sandler and Lisa Litvag—co-owners of Xplor Marketing and The Scout Guide St. Louis

Meet the Jewish duo turning St. Louis branding into a mitzvah

Published May 30, 2025

What do you get when you mix two Jewish entrepreneurs, a love for local business and a pair of podcast hosts known for eating their way through St. Louis? The newest episode of “Jews in the Lou” dropped on June 1 and features Angela Sandler and Lisa...

Smuggled rabbis. Forgotten thinkers. 4,000 years of Jewish survival—in one wild hour.

Smuggled rabbis. Forgotten thinkers. 4,000 years of Jewish survival—in one wild hour.

Published May 30, 2025

Jewish history spans more than four millennia—and Richard Gavatin is aiming to unpack it all in just one hour. On June 17, the Mirowitz Center will host his fast-paced presentation, “4,000 Years of Jewish History in One Hour,” where Gavatin will...

Owen Whalen, 18, and Jake Goldfarb, 17

Future Senior Olympians? Meet the teens behind the clipboards

Bill Motchan, Special To The Jewish LightPublished May 27, 2025

Two St. Louis Senior Olympics volunteers love sports and plan to enter the competition, but not for another 30-plus years. Owen Whalen, 18, and Jake Goldfarb, 17, could be seen at multiple 2025 St. Louis Senior Olympics venues, clipboards in hand. Both...

100 and going strong: Jewish centenarian veterans share their WWII memories — one last time

100 and going strong: Jewish centenarian veterans share their WWII memories — one last time

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished May 19, 2025

Imagine living through one of the most pivotal conflicts in modern history — and making it to 100-years-old to tell the tale. That’s exactly what three Jewish Centenarian World War II veterans will do on Tuesday, May 20, at Washington, D.C.’s Arena...

President Donald J. Trump meets with business leaders at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump: ‘A lot of people are starving in Gaza’

Ben Sales, JTAPublished May 16, 2025

(JTA) — President Donald Trump said people are “starving” in Gaza and the United States will help “get that taken care of” as he wrapped up his trip to the Middle East. | RELATED: Pregnant Israeli woman killed in a terror attack on her way...

A Torah is held up overlooking alongside the shoreline of a lake in Colorado where a bar mitzvah is about to begin.

This former St. Louis rabbi leads bar mitzvahs in hiking boots—and it’s transforming Jewish tradition

By JIM WINNERMAN, Special to the Jewish LightPublished April 1, 2025

When Rabbi Alan Shavit-Lonstein was a first-year student at Washington University in 1984, he never expected he would be a rabbi conducting bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies for a congregation of 340 families with no building, and which only practices Judaism...

Children and their teachers and parents dressed up for Purim, some as Batman in honor of the slain Bibas brothers, at the Gabrieli Carmel School in Tel Aviv, March 13, 2025.(Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Children in Israel and beyond are dressing as Batman for Purim to honor the slain Bibas brothers

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished March 13, 2025

For over a year, an image of the Bibas family in Batman pajamas symbolized the global call for their return from captivity in Gaza. This Purim, children in Israel and beyond are dressing as Batman for Purim to honor Ariel Bibas, the 4-year-old who was...

WashU maintains strong rating in ADL’s antisemitism report card while some schools are failing Jewish students

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished March 3, 2025

Washington University (WashU) has once again received a B grade in the latest Campus Antisemitism Report Card, an annual assessment by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that tracks antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. The ADL report evaluates colleges...

Cupid vs. Yenta: A Battle of the Matchmakers

Cupid vs. Yenta: A Battle of the Matchmakers

Jordan Palmer and ChatGPT, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 13, 2025

Unless you’ve been in hibernation—or off tending your flock on a remote mountainside—you’ve probably noticed that Artificial Intelligence, or AI as the kids call it, has been dominating the headlines. Everywhere you turn, the world is grappling...

Aliza Gettenberg, a third-year dental student at Touro University, knew she wanted to become a dentist after someone’s description of the occupation as the “perfect combination of doctor, engineer and artist” struck a chord with her. (Dmitriy Kalinin)

With cutting-edge digital tools and a new research clinic, leading Jewish dental school doubles in size

Eric Berger, JTAPublished February 9, 2025

(JTA) — Aliza Gettenberg of Lawrence, New York, knew she wanted to become a dentist after someone’s description of the occupation as the “perfect combination of doctor, engineer and artist” struck a chord with her. But first she had to find...

IDF field observers Karina Ariev (top left), Daniella Gilboa (top right), Naama Levy (bottom left) and Liri Albag (bottom right) were redeemed from Hamas captivity in Gaza, Jan. 25, 2024. Credit: Courtesy

Israel redeems four female IDF soldiers from Hamas captivity in Gaza

JNS STAFFPublished January 25, 2025

Israelis on Saturday rejoiced at the return of four female IDF soldiers—Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19—who were abducted from the Nahal Oz base during the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct....

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