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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

War In Israel

President Donald Trump is seen in an Oval Office address on June 4, 2025. (Screenshot)

Trump announces ‘complete and total ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran

Andrew Silow-Carroll JTAPublished June 23, 2025

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce that Israel and Iran have agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire.” In a post sent shortly after 6 p.m. ET, the president said the ceasefire would start to take effect in about six hours...

Dr. Gal Rosen (right) examines a 6-day-old girl in Tel Aviv on June 16, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Magen David Adom.

Israeli rescue workers risk all amid missile strikes

Canaan Lidor (JNS)Published June 20, 2025

(JNS) -- Israeli rescue workers are risking everything as Iranian missile strikes devastate cities across the country. Defying orders to wait for clearance, these first responders often enter unstable buildings to pull out civilians—driven by duty,...

Edan Alexander, an American taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, returned his hometown in Tenafly, New Jersey, on June 19, 2025. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Edan Alexander returns home free

By Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished June 20, 2025

(JTA) -- Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli soldier freed after 584 days in Hamas captivity, received a hero’s welcome in New Jersey. His emotional return marks the longest any known hostage was held since Oct. 7 and highlights ongoing concerns for...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visits the grave of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during his official visit to Beirut, Lebanon, on June 3, 2025. (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Trump delays Iran move as missiles fall

By Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished June 20, 2025

As Israeli cities come under renewed missile fire from Iran, Donald Trump says he’ll decide within two weeks whether the U.S. will intervene. Meanwhile, Iran flatly rejects renewed talks unless Israel halts its bombing campaign, intensifying global...

Rabbi Arie Zeev Raskin and his team have been greeting the stranded throngs at the airport, ensuring the hundreds of Jews in limbo are being looked after.

“They took us in”: A St. Louis story of refuge, faith and fear in Cyprus

By Moshe New, Chabad.orgPublished June 19, 2025

(Chabad.org) —When 1,500 exhausted travelers disembarked from a cruise ship at Cyprus’ Limassol port yesterday, they found something unexpected waiting for them: a full-scale humanitarian operation run by a handful of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries...

Smoke billows from a building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack, on June 19, 2025. (Maya Levin/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian missile strikes Israeli hospital as Trump remains coy about whether US will intervene

By Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished June 19, 2025

(JTA) -- As Iran escalates its assault on Israel by striking a hospital, Donald Trump remains publicly noncommittal about potential U.S. intervention. With pressure mounting from Israeli leaders and conflicting reports about Trump’s plans, his ambiguity...

Tucker Carlson, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds  of Florida, U.S. President Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, July 15, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As Trump signals willingness to join Iran fight, tensions roil MAGA movement

Ami Eden, JTAPublished June 18, 2025

(JTA) -- If, as Irving Kristol wrote, a neoconservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality, then what do you call an “America First” president who is cheering Israel’s attacks on Iran, increasingly claiming credit for them and seemingly...

Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit and caused damage in Tel Aviv, June 16, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Death toll rises in Israel after another night of Iranian missiles; US Embassy in Tel Aviv damaged

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished June 16, 2025

(JTA) — The death toll rises in Israel at least eight people were killed early Monday in multiple locations across Israel as Iranian missiles rained down across the country for the third straight night. The death toll in an earlier strike in...

Emergency personnel operate after missiles were launched from Iran to Israel, in Haifa, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem

At least 11 killed across Israel amid multi-day barrage of missiles from Iran

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished June 15, 2025

(JTA) — At least 11 Israelis have been killed in multiple cities as Iran continues to pound the country in response to Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Most missiles sent from Iran were shot down but ones that got through...

Ultra-Orthodox soldiers of the IDF Hasmonean Brigade attend their swearing-in ceremony on Feb. 27, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Shaul/Flash90.

First Haredi IDF unit enters Gaza Strip

JNS StaffPublished June 8, 2025

The Israel Defense Forces’ new Hasmonean Brigade made history on Sunday by becoming the first ultra-Orthodox unit to enter the Gaza Strip, according to Channel 12 reporter Amit Segal. The unit joins the fight against Hamas amid a fierce debate over...

Israeli troops preparing for battle during the Six-Day War in 1967.  (Three Lions/Getty Images)

Six surprising stories you didn’t know about the Six-Day War

Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished June 3, 2025

Nearly sixty years after the Six-Day War, certain moments are etched into history: paratroopers at the Western Wall, soldiers swimming in the Suez, and Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold,” rewritten to celebrate reclaimed access to the Old City. But...

Lisa Turnquist of Louisville, Colorado, lays flowers and a flag at the site of the attack outside the Boulder County Courthouse on June 2, 2025 in Boulder. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

Man charged with hate crime in Boulder firebombing wanted to ‘kill all Zionist people,’ FBI says

JTA StaffPublished June 3, 2025

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the man accused of firebombing people marching to raise awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza, had planned the attack for over a year, local and federal authorities said on Monday as they charged him with attempted murder and a...

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