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

World news

The Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center smolders after burning in the Eaton Fire in Pasadena, California, Jan. 8, 2025. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Jewish community springs into action as devastating Los Angeles-area fires widen

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished January 10, 2025

(JTA) — Daniel Sher’s voice broke as he related the latest to members of his Pacific Palisades synagogue. Kehillat Israel had just sent a message saying that its building had so far survived the devastating Palisades Fire, but, the associate rabbi...

Thousands of Israeli protesters wave flags during a rally against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bills in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023.

Israel’s judicial overhaul is back. So are the protests.

Ben Sales, JTAPublished January 9, 2025

Before Oct. 7, 2023, before the hostages, before the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond, Israel was being torn apart by a fight almost entirely within its own borders: the judicial overhaul.  Now, that debate is on its way back.  It feels like ancient...

Kehillat Israel in the Pacific Palisades on Wednesday afternoon, as firefighters battled blazes on either side.

Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes

By Louis Keene, The ForwardPublished January 9, 2025

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. Louis Keene is covering the fires in Los Angeles, where he is based. Follow him on X for live updates on the fire. LOS...

America should declare UNRWA a terrorist organization

Rami Chris Robbins, JNSPublished January 9, 2025

The opinions and facts presented in this article are those of the author, and neither JNS nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. The last few weeks have not been good for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)....

Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, speak at a press conference on Jan. 7, 2025.

Trump again threatens ‘all hell will break out’ over hostages as envoy signals optimism on a deal

Ben Sales, JTAPublished January 7, 2025

Donald Trump repeated his threat that “all hell will break out” if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages it is holding in Gaza as his Middle East envoy signaled optimism about a ceasefire deal that would see some of the captives go free. The president-elect...

Peter Yarrow of the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, take a bow during their sold-out concert at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on March 24, 1984. The capacity-plus Jackson Hall audience of 2,462 was one of the largest crowds in the facility this year.

Peter Yarrow, Jewish musician and activist of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, dies at 86

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished January 7, 2025

(JTA) — Peter Yarrow, one-third of the hit-making 1960s folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, and a Jewish activist who promoted Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and other progressive causes, died Tuesday at age 86. The longtime resident of Manhattan’s...

Rare first edition of St. Louis Jewish Center history book available for sale

Rare first edition of St. Louis Jewish Center history book available for sale

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished January 7, 2025

An important part of St. Louis Jewish history has resurfaced and is now for sale by a respected international dealer in used, rare and out-of-print Jewish books. Originally published in 1964, the book “The ‘Y’ Story:...

French far-right party Front National founder and honorary president Jean-Marie Le Pen looks on at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc during the party's annual rally in honour of Joan of Arc in Paris, May 1, 2015. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)

Convicted French Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished January 7, 2025

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right French leader who espoused racist and antisemitic rhetoric and was convicted of Holocaust denial, has died at 96. His death was announced on social media by Jordan Bardella, a leader of the party Le Pen founded. “Enlisted...

Protesters at a Jewish solidarity march in New York City on Jan. 5, 2020.

Can science finally stop antisemitism?

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTAPublished January 6, 2025

When Matt Williams founded a research center for the Anti-Defamation League in 2022, he vowed to “ruthlessly and systematically test” what the organization does. Antisemitism was on the rise, and he wanted the Center for Antisemitism Research to scientifically...

Adrien Brody poses with the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama award for "The Brutalist" at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, Jan. 5 2025. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)

‘The Brutalist,’ Adrien Brody and Kieran Culkin win at Golden Globes

Ben Sales, JTAPublished January 6, 2025

“The Brutalist,” an epic about a Holocaust survivor and acclaimed architect in the postwar United States, had a big night at the Golden Globe Awards, taking home prizes for best motion picture drama as well as for its director, Brady Corbet, and star,...

Until Jan. 1, 2025, public access to the Central Archives of the Special Administration of Justice (CABR) was limited. (Wikimedia)

Netherlands not shy about exposing suspected Nazi collaborators

JTA StaffPublished January 2, 2025

A massive trove of documents about suspected Nazi collaborators in the Netherlands is now open to the public for the first time. For the past seven decades, only researchers and relatives of those accused of collaborating with the Nazis could access...

Agnes Keleti performs a split in front of Hungarian young gymnasts Budapest on January 16, 2016. (Peter Kohalmi/AFP/Getty Images)

Agnes Keleti, Holocaust survivor who won 10 Olympic gymnastics medals, dies at 103

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished January 2, 2025

As a teenager, Agnes Keleti’s athletic pursuits were interrupted by the Nazis, who murdered her father along with more than 500,000 other Hungarian Jews. As a centenarian, she became a global sensation for not only surviving the Holocaust but returning...

Load More Stories