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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

World news

Launch of #LetOurPeopleGo campaign presses for hostages' release

Launch of #LetOurPeopleGo campaign presses for hostages’ release

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished April 18, 2024

As the St. Louis Jewish community as well as Jews throughout the world prepare to gather around the seder table to commemorate the Exodus and freedom from bondage, we cannot forget the 133 hostages who remain captive in Gaza. To seize...

Israeli army flares fall over the northern Har Dov area on Mount Hermon on Nov. 13, 2023, amid increasing cross-border tensions between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)

Survey: Jews feel close to Israel; its government, not so much

By Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished April 18, 2024

(JTA) — As of early March, five months into Israel’s war with Hamas, American Jews felt close to Israel but were also likely to feel uncomfortable with its government’s actions, according to a Jewish Federations of North America poll. Almost...

Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, testifies about Jew-hatred on campus before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on April 17, 2024.

Columbia University leaders grilled about campus Jew-hatred

Andrew Bernard, JNSPublished April 17, 2024

Columbia University’s president, its two board co-chairs and a co-chair of its antisemitism taskforce testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday about Jew-hatred on campus since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Student...

A long exposure picture shows Iron Dome firing interception missiles, as seen from the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on May 16, 2021. Photo by Avi Roccah/Flash90

Everything you need to know about Israel’s Iron Dome

By Naama Barak, Israel21cPublished April 17, 2024

The current round of violence between Israel and Iran, as well as Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted with a literal boom as rockets and drones were fired from Iran toward Israel. They set off rocket attack sirens that have become the soundtrack of the...

Esther Panitch, a state representative, in the Georgia House of Representatives chamber in the state Capitol in Atlanta, on Jan. 25, 2024. Credit: Georgia House of Representatives.

‘My southern Jewish … way of saying bless their hearts,’ says state rep who buys trees in Israel for trolls

Menachem Wecker, JNSPublished April 16, 2024

Esther Panitch was inspired when Renee Evans, of the World Jewish Congress, bought trees in Israel recently for Peach State legislators who voted in favor of a bill to codify into law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working...

Nov 4, 2023; Altoona, Iowa, United States; Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman speaks at the Iowa Democrats Liberty and Justice Celebration. Mandatory Credit: Rachel Mummey-The Des Moines Register

Sen. Fetterman: ‘Astonishing’ the U.S. is ‘not standing firmly’ with Israel

By Jacob Kornbluh, The ForwardPublished April 15, 2024

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, lambasted President Joe Biden’s recent critique of Israel’s action...

People take cover in a stairway in Jerusalem, as a red alert is sounded when drones and missiles fired from Iran neared Israel, April 14, 2024.

As Jews do, Israelis awaiting Iranian missile barrage, counter with humor

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished April 14, 2024

(JTA) — The sirens started blaring all over Israel just before 2 a.m. — in the south, in the north, near army bases around the country and, unusually, in and around Jerusalem. The sirens are meant to stop Israelis in their tracks — or wake...

President Joe Biden meets with his top Cabinet and National Security officials to discuss Iran's attacks on Israel, at the White House, April 13, 2024. (White House)

Iran’s attack draws Israel and US closer together after weeks of growing tension

Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished April 13, 2024

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Unqualified public expressions of support for Israel from President Joe Biden. The United States and other nations scrambling to protect Israel from rockets. Congress accelerating defense assistance to Israel. When Iran attacked...

An Iranian missil is intercepted over Tel Aviv on April 14, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Iran attacks Israel: How we got here and what might happen next

Ben Sales, JTAPublished April 13, 2024

(JTA) — On Saturday night, Iran fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Israel.  The unprecedented attack — from Iranian soil to Israeli territory — is the most direct confrontation ever between the two longtime adversaries. It threatens...

Iran launches dozens of drones at Israel, risking an escalation in the Israel-Hamas war

RON KAMPEAS, JTAPublished April 13, 2024

(JTA) — Iran launched dozens of drones at Israel, a gambit that may be aimed at swarming Israel’s air defenses. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ready to strike back, portending an escalation in the Israel-Hamas war. “We...

Hayehudim in concert with Shalom Hanoch, 2010

‘The Jews’ – Why this band’s name is so controversial

By Mira Fox, By Mira FoxPublished April 12, 2024

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. The band is called HaYehudim — “The Jews,” in Hebrew. And that simple statement of identity was apparently...

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, Dec. 19, 2023.

Trump: Jewish Biden voters ‘should have their head examined’

JNSPublished April 11, 2024

Former U.S. president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden “has totally lost control of the Israel situation.” “Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for...

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