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

Doug Cifu (left) and Dale Tallon pictured on January 2, 2016 in Sunrise, Florida. (Jeff Sanzare/NHLI via Getty Images)

Jewish NHL owner suspended after social media spat with fan he called an ‘anti-semite loser’

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished May 14, 2025

(JTA) — Jewish Florida Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu has been suspended indefinitely by the NHL after a social media spat with a fan that included discussion of the Israel-Hamas war and accusations of antisemitism. Cifu, a vice chairman and part-owner...

Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk speaks at an interfaith press conference condemning a man's recent burning of books on Jewish history and other topics, Beachwood, Ohio, May 12, 2025. (WKYC Cleveland/ Screenshot via YouTube)

Man burns library books on Jewish history, including Anne Frank’s diary, in Jewish suburb of Cleveland

Andrew Lapin, JTAPublished May 14, 2025

(JTA) — A man checked out dozens of books on Jewish history and other marginalized topics from a public library in a heavily Jewish Cleveland suburb before filming himself apparently setting fire to them, local authorities said. Local Jewish leaders...

Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka

The secret Jewish history behind one of Art Deco’s most iconic artists — now on display in St. Louis

By Diane M. Bolz, Moment MagazinePublished May 14, 2025

This story was originally published on Moment.com. Sign up for the Moment Minute.  Editors Note: Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka was among the major Jewish artists the Jewish Light told you about last month as part of the new exhibition “Roaring:...

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this handout released on May 14, 2025. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

Trump pushes Syria to establish ties with Israel

Ben Sales, JTAPublished May 14, 2025

(JTA) — In a meeting with Syria’s new leader, President Donald Trump praised him and urged him to establish ties with Israel. Trump, who is visiting the Middle East this week, also castigated Gaza’s leaders. The enclave was governed by Hamas...

Russell Brand leaving court on May 2, 2025 in London, England. (Neil Mockford/Getty Images)

Russell Brand defends Ye’s ‘Heil Hitler’ music video: ‘the hook is catchy’

Grace Gilson, JTAPublished May 13, 2025

(JTA) — Russell Brand, the actor and iconoclastic activist, defended Kanye West’s latest song, titled “Heil Hitler,” saying that the artist now known as Ye is “uncancellable.” “‘Heil Hitler’ @kanyewest is uncancellable because he...

Pope Leo XIV addresses the world following his election. (Getty Images)

Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins

By Robin Washington, The ForwardPublished May 12, 2025

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. The next time someone asks sarcastically if the pope is Catholic, tell them not so fast. He apparently has Jewish cousins....

Maggie Gyllenhaal and daughter Ramona Sarsgaard on September 27, 2022 in Paris, France. (Marc Piasecki/GC Images)

Maggie Gyllenhaal daughter arrested at Columbia

Grace Gilson, JTAPublished May 12, 2025

(JTA) — Ramona Sarsgaard, daughter of Jewish actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, was reportedly one of the more than 70 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University last week. During the protest on May 7, demonstrators occupied...

The first image released from Gaza of Edan Alexander, who was released from Hamas captivity on May 12, 2025. (Screenshot)

Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, to Israel

Ben Sales, JTAPublished May 12, 2025

(JTA) — Hamas has released Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli citizen, back to Israel under a deal reached with the United States. The release, conducted Monday evening in Gaza, may inaugurate a new phase in the hostage crisis that has consumed...

A crowd stands vigil awaiting the release of Edan Alexander, a local son and Hamas captive, in Tenafly, New Jersey, May 12, 2025. (Photo by Danielle Elkins)

In Tenafly, NJ, a crowd awaits the release of local son Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished May 12, 2025

(JTA) — The call went out over email, text and WhatsApp on Sunday night: Come to Huyler Park in downtown Tenafly at 5 a.m. to celebrate — Edan Alexander was coming home. Born and raised by Israeli parents in Tenafly, Alexander, 21, joined the Israel...

Dr. Kurt H. Debus

Why did it take NASA so long to stop honoring a Nazi scientist?

Lev Golinkin, The ForwardPublished May 11, 2025

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. For years, NASA pumped out materials celebrating Kurt H. Debus, the Kennedy Space Center’s first director. Only one...

:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informs the Feldman family in Tel Aviv of the return of Sgt. First Class Tzvika Feldman’s remains, 43 years after he went missing in the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub. Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO.

Body of soldier missing since 1982, recovered

JNS StaffPublished May 11, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday morning that the remains of Staff Sgt. Tzvi Feldman, missing since the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the First Lebanon War, have been returned to Israel in a joint operation conducted by...

Betty Friedan, Leonard Bernstein, Norman Mailer and Mel Brooks are the the subjects of the group biography, "Eminent Jews." (Images via Wikipedia)

The 20th century was very good for these Jewish icons. Is the Golden Age really over?

Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTAPublished May 11, 2025

Has David Denby written about an American Jewish golden age precisely at the moment it is ending? In his new book “Eminent Jews,” Denby celebrates four leading Jewish cultural figures who emerged in the middle of the 20th century: Mel Brooks, Betty...

Load More Stories