This year, the St. Louis Jewish Light has many exciting things in store. Along with our usual interesting stories, we are lucky to welcome another new face to the Ohr Chadash teen page. Elizabeth Tucker, co-founder of Alive magazine, is eager to join us.  She, along with Peggy Kaplan, will serve as co-advisors of Ohr Chadash.

With the exciting contribution, we say goodbye to one of our own, as Mimi Pultman, advisor and co-creator or Ohr Chadash, is leaving after five years of service. “I am absolutely thrilled to have Elizabeth Tucker taking my place as co-chair of the teen page,” said Pultman. “She brings a world of experience and professionalism to the Jewish Light. I have high hopes that her input will take the teen page to even greater heights!

“I have put my heart and soul into co-creating and overseeing Ohr Chadash over the last five years—it has been a true labor of love. I have been honored to work with and befriend some of our communities’ most talented and bright teens. I can step down from my position knowing that Ohr Chadash is in the best of hands and will continue to flourish. I wish Elizabeth, Peggy, and all the future staffers of Ohr Chadash much luck,” Pultman added.

“I’m excited to pick up where Mimi left off and plan on building on her success,” Tucker said. “There are some big shoes to fill, but I’m looking forward to seeing where we can go.”

While working with a few dozen teens would be a daunting task for most, this kind of thing is nothing new for Tucker, who assisted Rabbi Susan Talve in teaching a confirmation class at Central Reform Congregation.

“After teaching the confirmation class at CRC, I realized that I enjoy combining two passions; working with teens, and Judaism,” Tucker said. “I hope my experience will help me support the staff of Ohr Chadash. My goal is to help them find and strengthen their voices.”

Her previous experiences have given Tucker an edge, especially because her career took a turn in an unexpected direction. “My business partners and I had retail stores where we sold nutritional supplements. We started [Alive] magazine as a newsletter for our 12 stores in the St. Louis area. And we fell in love with publishing. So, when we got out of retail, we decided to turn our little newsletter into a city lifestyle magazine. We knew little about the publishing industry, but we were passionate about connecting with people, and from that passion, a community was formed. This year we are celebrating Alive’s 10-year anniversary.” 

 I was part of the confirmation class Tucker helped teach, which allowed me to witness firsthand the zeal that will make Tucker such a valuable asset to Ohr Chadash.

“I’m looking forward to hearing from our teen readers and gaining insight on their perspectives, and working with a talented group of teens on the best newspaper in St. Louis,” Tucker said.