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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

The exterior of Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland.

Banned for wearing a Star of David? Coffee shop at center of explosive lawsuit

By Gabe Stutman, jweekly.comPublished February 18, 2025

A team of lawyers is preparing to file a civil rights lawsuit against Jerusalem Coffee House, an Oakland, CA café that has drawn controversy over its treatment of a Jewish customer. Attorneys say they are finalizing the legal complaint and expect to...

Israelis hold photographs of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas at a gathering calling for their release at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, on November 28, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Hamas official says bodies of Bibas family will return to Israel on Thursday

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 18, 2025

This is a developing story.  A Hamas official has announced that the terror group will return the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, among them the Bibas family. Hamas is also due to release six hostages on Saturday, the final captives...

Kanye West seen in Los Angeles, May 13, 2023. (MEGA/GC Images)

Kanye West, back on X again, says he is ‘not under Jewish control anymore’

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 18, 2025

Shortly after Kanye aired a Super Bowl commercial for a website selling a swastika T-shirt, and two days after posting an antisemitic rant on X, the rapper Ye announced that he was quitting the platform. One week later he was back — and tweeting...

Promotional photo of Gregory Peck and James Mason in the American film The Boys from Brazil (1978)

Netflix remakes “The Boys From Brazil” with Jeremy Strong in lead role

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 17, 2025

Back in 2021, I wrote a heartfelt, nostalgia-drenched piece about my love for the 1978 film "The Boys From Brazil"—and let’s just say it did not go over well. Maybe I overestimated the number of people who still appreciate seeing Laurence Olivier,...

Florida man arrested after shooting 2 Israelis he thought were Palestinians

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 17, 2025

Police in Miami Beach have arrested a Jewish man who shot at two people in a car, thinking they were Palestinian. They were actually Israeli tourists. The man, Mordechai Brafman, 27, opened fire on the two men Saturday night, firing 17 shots. Local...

Jewish teens from the United States and abroad at the opening ceremony of BBYO's International Convention in Denver on Feb. 13, 2025. Credit: Jason Dixson Photography.

BBYO kicks off annual convention; teens find it ‘overwhelming,’ ‘awesome,’ ‘bittersweet’

Vita Fellig, JNSPublished February 16, 2025

Some 3,500 Jewish teens from 50 countries gathered in Denver on Thursday night for the opening ceremony of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) International Convention, kicking off the youth movement’s annual weekend-long retreat. Organizers...

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff looks on, at the White House, in Washington, U.S. February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Middle East envoy Witcoff says the second phase of the ceasefire is proceeding

By Jacob Kornbluh, The ForwardPublished February 16, 2025

Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Sunday that Israel and the mediators have agreed to advance to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which could lead to a withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces from the enclave...

Israeli Defense Ministry personnel coordinate the arrival of U.S. MK-84 heavy bombs to the Port of Ashdod on Feb. 15, 2025. Photo credit: Israel Ministry of Defense.

Israel receives heavy bomb shipment in joint US operation

Joshua Marks, JNSPublished February 16, 2025

Israel received a shipment of MK-84 munitions overnight Saturday in a joint operation of the Israeli Defense Ministry and the United States government. The 2,000-pound bombs were unloaded at Ashdod Port and transferred to Israeli Air Force bases, according...

An Israel solidarity rally on the Pariser Platz in Berlin, one day after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, Oct. 8, 2023.

Fear forces Berlin Jews to hide their identity in community paper

Nissan Shtrauchler, (Israel Hayom via JNS)Published February 16, 2025

Growing security concerns have prompted the Berlin Jewish community to implement a protective measure: publishing only the first letter of community members’ surnames, rather than their full family names, in birthday announcements in the community...

Idina Menzel plays Jesse, an ambitious New York art gallery director who heads west after a shocking life event in Redwood

In Idina Menzel’s new Broadway musical, a show tune about Tikkun Olam soars high

By Samuel Eli Shepherd, The ForwardPublished February 16, 2025

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. In Redwood, a new Broadway musical about a New Yorker heading west after tragedy, a tree takes up most of the stage. The...

U.S.-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are escorted by Palestinian Hamas militants and Islamic Jihad militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

3 hostages released from Gaza, including American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen

Ben Sales, JTAPublished February 15, 2025

Three Israeli hostages were released from captivity in Gaza Saturday, including Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American citizen. Dekel-Chen was freed along with Yair Horn, an Argentine-Israeli, and Sasha Trufanov, a Russian-Israeli. All three were abducted from...

Trump Ed Dept nominee calls for new panel to tackle campus Jew-hatred

Jonathan D. Salant, JNSPublished February 14, 2025

Linda McMahon, a businesswoman whom President Donald Trump nominated to be U.S. education secretary, told a Senate committee on Thursday that she would support a commission to investigate how well colleges and universities are fighting the surge in Jew-hatred...

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