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
All content by Asaf Elia-Shalev
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Jan. 30, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images)

Trump makes ‘anti-Semitism’ hyphenated again

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 13, 2025

Antisemitic terror plot in Australia was fake and staged by a crime boss, police say

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 11, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen before a portrait of Theodor Herzl, known as the "Visionary of the Jewish State" and the founder of modern Zionism in Jerusalem on May 2, 2018.

Voting opens in election for World Zionist Congress, with future of Israel at stake

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 10, 2025
Israeli content creator Max Veifer and one of the nurses from Bankstown Hospital, Sarah Abu Lebdeh. (Screenshot)

Australian nurse charged over viral video threatening Israeli patients

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published February 26, 2025
Demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace and the IfNotNow movement hold a rally demanding a ceasefire in Gaza in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 18, 2023.

Pro-Israel attorney uses ‘lawfare’ to force $700K settlement from Jewish Voice for Peace

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published January 16, 2025
Protesters at a Jewish solidarity march in New York City on Jan. 5, 2020.

Can science finally stop antisemitism?

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published January 6, 2025
Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, speaks at an event the organization held at St John's Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles on Nov. 21, 2024. (Courtesy)

The Jewish leader taking on Christian nationalism

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published December 17, 2024
Israel’s military admits helmets and body armor may be unsafe

Israel’s military admits helmets and body armor may be unsafe

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published December 5, 2024
A view of the Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Allegations of Christian influence surface as World Zionist Congress election heats up

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published December 4, 2024
House set to vote on law targeting nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism

House set to vote on law targeting nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published November 11, 2024
What Christian nationalism could have in store for Jews

What Christian nationalism could have in store for Jews

Asaf Elia-Shalev, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Published November 6, 2024
Jehu Destroying The Temple and Statue of Baal, 1569 print by Maarten van Heemskerck, Prints Department, Royal Library of Belgium

Why Trump is being compared to the obscure biblical king Jehu on the Christian right

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published November 3, 2024
Miriam Adelson donates $100M to Trump campaign

Miriam Adelson donates $100M to Trump campaign

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published October 16, 2024
Claude Monet's pastel on paper, "Bord de Mer,” dated about 1865 and which was stolen from the Parlagi family in 1940 by the Nazis in Austria, is seen after its recovery by the FBI’s Art Crime Team. (FBI).

Family recovers Monet pastel generations after Nazi looting

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published October 10, 2024
Named the Afghan Liturgical Quire, some believe it is the oldest Jewish book in existence. (Museum of the Bible)

Museum of the Bible unveils world’s ‘oldest Jewish book’ in new exhibit

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published September 24, 2024

Civilian effort to equip Israeli soldiers for war with Hezbollah ratchets up alongside hostilities

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published September 22, 2024
OPERATION ISRAEL volunteers ship gear from Newark Liberty International Airport, last week. (photo credit: ADI VAXMAN)

New regulations hinder donations of gear to Israeli soldiers, charities say

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published July 2, 2024
An academic paper found that a dedicated group has for some 15 years manipulated Wikipedia in ways that lay blame for the Holocaust on Jews and absolve Poland of almost any responsibility for its record of antisemitism.

ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published June 18, 2024
El Al planes are seen at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Dec. 31, 2022. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto)

Public outcry prompts El Al to backtrack

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published June 17, 2024
Aaron Abramson has taken over as CEO of Jews for Jesus, the third leader of the group and the first with an Israeli background, replacing David Brickner who led Jews for Jesus since 1996.

With a new leader and revamped strategy, it’s a second coming for Jews for Jesus

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published June 3, 2024
Part of a delivery of tactical helmets to the Israeli army’s Golani Brigade, which were donated earlier this week in memory of Tomer Grinberg, a soldier killed in combat in December.

Six months into war, Israeli soldiers still count on donations for basic supplies. Why?

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published April 18, 2024
A screenshot of a page from a 1947 Los Angeles area phone book.

How these 29 last names became a cheat code for researchers surveying American Jews

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published April 3, 2024
Jeff Schoenfeld (Courtesy of JFNA)

The man allocating $800M in post-Oct. 7 donations to Israel on where the money goes

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 13, 2024
Addir Mesika and Morielle Lotan (Courtesy)

A new competition will grant a $1 million prize for technology to fight antisemitism

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 6, 2024
Photographs of converts by Caitlin O'Hara, collage design by Mollie Suss.

The New Jews of Show Low, Arizona: How a pastor parted with Jesus and led his congregation to Judaism

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published September 27, 2023
Feb 13, 2022; Inglewood, CA, USA; Rapper/recording artist Kanye West during the Cincinnati Bengals game against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.

Meta’s Oversight Board urges improved distinction between hate speech and criticism of hate speech

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published September 13, 2023
Then the director of the Israel Museum, James Snyder appears at the Rockefeller Museum during a press conference about thirty years of archaeological excavations in Ashkelon which culminated in the discovery of the first Philistine cemetery ever found in Jerusalem, Israel, July 10, 2016. (Photo: Dan Porges/Getty Images)

New York’s Jewish Museum taps former Israel Museum head James Snyder as its next director

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published August 14, 2023
Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Francesco Russo/View Pictures/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Tel Aviv art museum implicated in ‘conflict of interest’ involving Nazi-linked jewelry auction

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published June 28, 2023
Matthew Dallek of George Washington University

The historian who uncovered the ADL’s secret plot against the far-right John Birch Society

Asaf Elia-Shalev
Published May 11, 2023
Children light candles as part of their lessons at Yachad Religious School in Oak Park Michigan. (Courtesy of Yachad)

Hebrew school enrollment across US down by nearly half since 2006, report says

Asaf Elia-Shalev
Published April 19, 2023
(JTA illustration)

Inside the auction house driving the rare-book craze in the Orthodox world

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published March 22, 2023
An academic paper found that a dedicated group has for some 15 years manipulated Wikipedia in ways that lay blame for the Holocaust on Jews and absolve Poland of almost any responsibility for its record of antisemitism. (JTA illustration)

Wikipedia’s ‘Supreme Court’ tackles alleged conspiracy to distort articles on Holocaust

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published February 28, 2023
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg attend the 2020 Breakthrough Prize Red Carpet at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California on Nov. 3, 2019 (Ian Tuttle/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize).

Half of America’s 25 most generous philanthropists are Jews. Few give much to Jewish causes.

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published January 25, 2023

Christian churches are urged to act against antisemitism, including by scrutinizing their own practices

ASAF ELIA-SHALEV, JTA
Published December 18, 2022

Kanye says Trump “really impressed” with prominent antisemite Nick Fuentes after dinner at Mar-a-Lago

ASAF ELIA-SHALEV, JTA
Published November 26, 2022

Prosecutors charge New Jersey teen threatened synagogue in Islamist manifesto

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published November 10, 2022

Sales of antisemitic film promoted by Kyrie Irving skyrocket, Amazon under pressure to remove it

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA
Published November 7, 2022
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