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

Dr. Richard and Nancy Nan Gimpelson

Zoom kaddish comforts mourners unsure of where to turn

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished June 1, 2023

I’m a strong believer that timing matters. I remember once reading an essay about falling in love in which the writer — I’m pretty sure it was Anna Quindlen — remarked that it wasn’t a matter of finding Mr. Right, but rather Mr. Right Time....

Kristen De Broux, who was slated to play Gloria, bowed out because of health concerns
Photos by Greg Lazerwitz

A night out with ‘Gloria’ — and Ellen Futterman

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished May 30, 2023

I’m labeling this item a “shameless plug.” But the truth is I need friendly faces in the audience, so please read on. Next up at the New Jewish Theatre, from June 1-18, is the play “Gloria: A Life,” which explores the legacy of feminist icon...

Jewish 3rd graders March for Change

Jewish 3rd graders “March for Change”

ELLEN FUTTERMAN , EDITOR-IN-CHIEFPublished May 25, 2023

Third graders at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School flexed their activist muscles and marched along Ladue Road earlier this week for changes in the world they want to see: among them, caring for the earth and its oceans, LGBTQ+ rights, fighting racism...

Kristen De Broux, who was slated to play Gloria, bowed out because of health concerns
Photos by Greg Lazerwitz

A night out with ‘Gloria’ — and Ellen

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished May 24, 2023

Next up at the New Jewish Theatre, from June 1-18, is the play “Gloria: A Life,” which explores the legacy of feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Written by Emily Mann, with guidance and participation from Steinem herself, this seven-character play is said...

Wanted: Carole King doppelganger 

Wanted: Carole King doppelganger 

ELLEN FUTTERMAN, Editor-in-ChiefPublished May 10, 2023

Like a lot of Jewish girls who came of age in the late 1960s and ’70s, I wanted nothing to do with my naturally curly/wavy/frizzy hair, so I ironed it to make it flat or straight. When at age 14, my mother saw what I was up to, she freaked and hid the...

Nikki Freyman (L) and Kati Kaup (R) with baby London

Update: Carrying your best friend’s baby. A modern Mother’s Day story

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished May 10, 2023

Mother’s Day, or thereabouts, seemed like the perfect time to check in with Nikki Freyman and Kati Kaup to find out how both women and their families are doing. Readers met best friends Nikki and Kati right before Mother’s Day 2021, when Nikki, a...

Meet St. Louis Shinshinim

Meet St. Louis’ Shinshinim

ELLEN FUTTERMAN and BILL MOTCHANPublished April 28, 2023

Here are just a few things they’re going to miss when they return home to Israel in August: Chipotle’s, Trader Joe’s, sale shopping and all of St. Louis’ professional sports teams. “There’s no hockey in Israel,” said Guy Dobrin, 19, laughing...

Meet the St. Louis Shinshinim: Alma Cohen

Meet the St. Louis Shinshinim: Alma Cohen

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished April 28, 2023

A Shinshin is an Israeli emissary, usually 18 or 19 years old, who defers their army service for a year to volunteer in Jewish communities abroad to help educate people there about Israel and Israeli culture. They teach at various local Jewish organizations,...

Guy Dobrin

Meet the St. Louis Shinshinim: Guy Dobrin

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished April 28, 2023

A Shinshin is an Israeli emissary, usually 18 or 19 years old, who defers their army service for a year to volunteer in Jewish communities abroad to help educate people there about Israel and Israeli culture. They teach at various local Jewish organizations,...

Photo by Ellen Futterman

First look: Ben Poremba’s new Jewish deli

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-ChiefPublished April 18, 2023

Growing up in the suburbs of New York City in the 1960s and ’70s, Jewish delicatessens were as plentiful as corner bars in south St. Louis — they were pretty much everywhere. And while the number of these delis (and corner bars, for that matter)...

Remembering the memorable Vivian Zwick

Remembering the memorable Vivian Zwick

ELLEN FUTTERMAN , EDITOR-IN-CHIEFPublished April 11, 2023

A really remarkable woman died Sunday (April 9). Vivian Zwick passed away a day after her 106th birthday. Think about that for a minute: 106 years old. Wowza! I most recently got together with Zwick when she was somewhat younger – 105, not long...

Creve Coeur mom opens up about her childhood sexual abuse in new book

Creve Coeur mom opens up about her childhood sexual abuse in new book

Ellen Futterman, EDITOR-IN-CHIEFPublished March 28, 2023

At 5 years old, Rachel Weinhaus was sexually assaulted by a teenage neighborhood boy in the woods near her Creve Coeur home. She told no one, not even her mother. In 2019, Weinhaus learned she was part of a $215 million class-action settlement with...

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