Skip to Main Content
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

Unexpected wisdom: A St. Louis TSA agent’s words echo a timeless Jewish lesson

Unexpected wisdom: A St. Louis TSA agent’s words echo a timeless Jewish lesson

By Rabbi Mike RovinskyPublished August 13, 2024

A fundamental concept in Judaism states that God is always sending us messages. However, it’s up to us to adjust our dials (think old school transistor radios) to hone in on the frequency to be able to hear those messages. Recently, I received a...

An Israeli child holding the Giborei Israel toy soldiers. Photo courtesy of Giborei Israel

Israeli company debuts IDF action figures for kids

By Yulia Karra, Israel21cPublished August 6, 2024

Two years ago, Marvel Studios announced it will bring its 1980s comic book character “Sabra,” a former spy for Israel’s Mossad agency, to the big screen in its upcoming Captain America: Brave New World film. Popular Israeli actress Shira...

Eylon Levy in Toronto. Credit: Courtesy.

Words as Weapons: How one man is giving us the words we need to defend Jews and Israel

Dave Gordon (JNS)Published August 5, 2024

Eylon Levy became an Internet meme after the Sky News presenter Kay Burley asked him on Nov. 23 if the Jewish state values Palestinians less than Israelis since it is willing to engage in lopsided prisoner swaps, with each Israeli exchanged for many more...

An image of the soccer field in Majdal Shams following the attack that killed 12 children and teens.

Rocket from Lebanon kills 12 children and teens in Israel, raising prospects of broader war

Ben Sales, JTAPublished July 27, 2024

A rocket fired from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Golan Heights, killing 12 people ages 20 and under, in the worst attack on civilians in Israel since Oct. 7. The attack, which Israel has attributed to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah,...

Netanyahu tells Congress Israel ‘will not relent’ until it defeats Hamas

Ben Sales, JTAPublished July 24, 2024

In a defiant speech to the U.S. Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting in Gaza until Israel achieves “total victory” over Hamas and, in the face of virulent opposition at home and abroad, argued that the war was a shared fight for...

Or Garti takes a selfie with her campers at Camp Ben Frankel.

An ‘American Dream’: How 18 Israeli kids spent their summer at Camp Ben Frankel

BY MOLLY LEVINE, JEWISH LIGHT INTERNPublished July 24, 2024

MAKANDA, Ill. – For the past month, 18 Israeli children have explored the ins and outs of something foreign to them: Jewish sleepaway summer camp.  “I was nervous but more happy because I [knew] that I was going to meet tons of friends,” said...

Netanyahu meets with hostage families in DC as pressure mounts for a deal

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished July 23, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington, D.C. with families of Israeli hostages, one of his first stops on a highly anticipated trip to the United States and a sign of how much focus is being placed on talks over a hostage release...

Pictures of civilians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem, Nov. 22, 2023. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Israel, Hamas agree to hostage deal framework, PA-led force in Gaza

Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNSPublished July 11, 2024

(JNS) The Hamas terror group has agreed to a hostages-for-ceasefire framework and mediators are negotiating the details and implementation, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday night. The Post‘s David Ignatius said that though the framework...

A statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Nov. 26, 2010. The statue was defaced with graffiti reading "Gaza" on July 9, 2024. (Gus Maussen via Creative Commons)

Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam tagged with ‘Gaza’ graffiti

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished July 10, 2024

A statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam was defaced Tuesday, with the word “Gaza” painted in red on the base. The statue sits in a public park near the famous annex where Frank and her family hid from the Nazis, and where they were later discovered.  Mayor...

"The most important tattoo I ever did’: Artists volunteer to ink Oct. 7 survivors

“The most important tattoo I ever did’: Artists volunteer to ink Oct. 7 survivors

By Rebecca Massel, The ForwardPublished July 8, 2024

The artists who gathered in Tel Aviv Thursday to offer free tattoos to survivors of Oct. 7 know their work is rooted in trauma. They want it to be a source of strength. Twenty tattooists — half from Israel, half from abroad — are volunteering...

Mothers  of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza protest for their release outside the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, July 8, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Netanyahu issues list of demands for ceasefire deal as pressure mounts

Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished July 8, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out conditions for a ceasefire deal with Hamas as pressure ramped up at home and abroad for an outcome that would bring home the more than 100 Israeli hostages held by the terror group in Gaza. Netanyahu’s...

Police officers use water cannons as haredi Orthodox Jewish men block a main highway during a protest against drafting into the Israeli army on June 2, 2024 in Bnei Brak, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Haredim warn of ‘religious war’ after Israel Supreme Court orders yeshiva draft

By Susan Greene, JTAPublished June 25, 2024

BNEI BRAK, Israel — Members of Israel’s Haredi community are warning of a religious war after this country’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government must start drafting yeshiva students into its military.  “If our young men have to...

Load More Stories