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 Gabe Friedman
Kanye West seen in Los Angeles, May 13, 2023.

Kanye West’s album with antisemitic lyric and long list of famous collaborators on track to debut Friday

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published December 12, 2023
Gigi Hadid walks the runway during a Versace fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week, Sept. 22, 2023.

‘I did not fact check’: Supermodel Gigi Hadid apologizes for claiming Israel abducts and rapes Palestinians

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published November 28, 2023
German daycare named for Anne Frank changing its name to be more diverse

German daycare named for Anne Frank changing its name to be more diverse

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published November 6, 2023
Amy Schumer (Screenshot from PBS) and Adam Sandler (Screenshot from Howard Stern Show)

Adam Sandler, Amy Schumer and long list of celebs ask Biden to keep pushing for release of Israeli hostages

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published October 24, 2023
U2 performs in Las Vegas, Sept. 29, 2023. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)

U2’s Bono changes lyrics in tribute to Israeli music festival victims of Hamas attack

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published October 9, 2023
Carey Mulligan and Bradley Cooper in "Maestro."

As ‘Maestro’ hits screens, many Jewish fans don’t care about ‘Jewface’ controversy

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published October 3, 2023

Makeup artist apologizes over prosthetic nose worn by Bradley Cooper in ‘Maestro’ film

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published September 5, 2023
Adam Sandler, Sarah Sherman and Dan Bulla with director Sammi Cohen on the set of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah on Netflix.

Adam Sandler’s ‘You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah’ is a bona fide hit

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published September 1, 2023
Hubert Aiwanger, head of the Free Voters party, campaigns ahead of Bavarian state elections in Maisach, Germany, July 24, 2023.

A Nazi pamphlet controversy looms large in a German election

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published August 30, 2023
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein on the set of "Maestro" in New York City, May 31, 2022.

ADL to TMZ: Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein nose in ‘Maestro’ is not antisemitic

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published August 22, 2023
Saudi Arabia appoints first Palestinian envoy as Saudi-Israel normalization talks continue

Saudi Arabia appoints first Palestinian envoy as Saudi-Israel normalization talks continue

GABE FRIEDMAN, JTA
Published August 15, 2023
Corenswet poses with Rabbi Edward Cohn at his wedding rehearsal dinner at Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church in New Orleans. (Courtesy of Cohn)

David Corenswet, the next Superman, was married by a rabbi and a priest

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published August 9, 2023
Pinchas Goldschmidt in Munich, May 30, 2022.

Russia labels Moscow’s former chief rabbi a ‘foreign agent’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published July 3, 2023
Ben Goldstein is on a "Jeopardy!"

‘Jeopardy!’ featured a suburban Detroit synagogue once called ‘a concrete Sinai on the shoulder of Interstate 696’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published June 21, 2023
Zelensky responds to Putin by calling him ‘second king of antisemitism after Hitler’

Zelensky responds to Putin by calling him ‘second king of antisemitism after Hitler’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published June 21, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures speaks at the St.Petersburg International Economic Forum, June,16 2023. (Getty Images)

Putin: My Jewish friends say Zelensky is ‘not Jewish’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published June 16, 2023
Roger Waters seen performing in Berlin in 2013. His onstage costume resembling a Nazi officer has come under scrutiny.

US State Department calls recent Roger Waters concert ‘antisemitic’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published June 7, 2023
Israeli health ministry calls out Elon Musk for sharing ‘fake news’ on COVID-19

Israeli health ministry calls out Elon Musk for sharing ‘fake news’ on COVID-19

GABE FRIEDMAN, JTA
Published May 30, 2023
Roger Waters in Berlin, May 23, 2023.

Protester with Israeli flag storms stage at Roger Waters concert in Frankfurt

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published May 29, 2023

Could Steven Spielberg be bringing ‘Leopoldstadt,’ to television?

Gabe Friedman
Published May 23, 2023
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, Gen. Rehavam Ze’evi (right) and Gen. Uzi Narkiss walk through the Old City of Jerusalem on July 6, 1967. Photo: Ilan Bruner/Government Press Office (GPO)

New film ‘Jerusalem 67’ will chronicle Israel’s Six-Day War victory

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published May 15, 2023
Jason Schwartzman seen in New York City in 2019

Jason Schwartzman is a cantor and Carol Kane is his bat mitzvah student in comedy ‘Between the Temples’

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published May 11, 2023
Kevin Janssens, center, as Noah Wolfson in "Rough Diamonds." (Screenshot from YouTube)

Netflix’s ‘Rough Diamonds’ brings viewers into the drama of Antwerp’s Orthodox diamond district

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published April 27, 2023
Orthodox Jews gather for a meal in Bodrogkeresztur, Hungary, during an annual pilgrimage to the town that was the home of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner, also known as Rabbi Shayele. (Barnabas Horvath)

50,000 Hasidic Jews flood tiny Hungarian town for ‘miracle rabbi’ pilgrimage

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published April 26, 2023
Seymour Stein with David Byrne and Madonna in 1996. (KMazur/WireImage/Getty Images)

Seymour Stein, Jewish music mogul who discovered Madonna and The Ramones, dies at 80

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published April 3, 2023
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, left, meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Warsaw, March 22, 2023. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Israel says ‘crisis’ with Poland is over as the countries agree to resume student trips to Holocaust sites

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published March 24, 2023
Darryl Strawberry visited Israel for the first time in 2018. (Courtesy of Strawberry)

St. Louisan Darryl Strawberry is now an evangelical preacher focused on promoting Israel

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published March 8, 2023
Robert Nemiroff and Lorraine Hansberry were married from 1953-62. They are shown here in 1959. (Ben Martin/Getty Images)

Lorraine Hansberry’s second play had a white Jewish protagonist. Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan are reviving it.

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published March 1, 2023
Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in Guy Nattiv's film "Golda." (Jasper Wolf)

A Golda Meir biopic starring Helen Mirren avoids politics. It premiered as Israel’s government faces widespread scrutiny.

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published February 22, 2023
Jan 26, 2023; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) reacts during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Kyrie Irving traded to Dallas Mavericks, whose Jewish owner Mark Cuban spoke out on antisemitism scandal

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published February 6, 2023
This is the official State Department photo for Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, taken at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 2021. [State Department Photo by Ronny Przysucha/ Public Domain]

Antony Blinken quotes from Jewish prayer during crucial Israel visit

Gabe Friedman
Published January 31, 2023
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff participate in a virtual White House seder, March 25, 2021. (Screen shot)

Doug Emhoff will visit Oskar Schindler’s factory during Poland and Germany visit

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published January 26, 2023
18 notable Jews who died in 2022

18 notable Jews who died in 2022

CALEB GUEDES-REED and GABE FRIEDMAN
Published December 30, 2022

Volodymyr Zelensky named Time’s ‘person of the year’

Caleb Guedes-Reed and Gabe Friedman
Published December 7, 2022
Latkes have not always been made of potatoes. (Shutterstock)

The true story of the modern latke – a shocking timeline

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published December 1, 2022

Leonard Cohen’s 1973 Yom Kippur War concerts to be dramatized in TV series by ‘Shtisel’ writer

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published November 28, 2022

ADL, Adidas to partner on fighting antisemitism in sports

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published November 10, 2022

No. 1 on Adam Sandler’s bucket list? Going to Israel for the first time.

GABE FRIEDMAN, JTA
Published September 22, 2022

What you need to know about Highland Park, the very Jewish Chicago suburb rattled by July 4 shooting

GABE FRIEDMAN, JTA
Published July 5, 2022
LeBron James attends Jewish NYC wedding — holding hands with a notorious rabbi

LeBron James attends Jewish NYC wedding — holding hands with a notorious rabbi

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published May 23, 2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a press conference on Russia's military operation in Ukraine, Feb. 25, 2022. (Presidency of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In 4 years, Volodymyr Zelensky went from Jewish comedian to Putin’s ‘No. 1 enemy’

GABE FRIEDMAN, JTA
Published February 25, 2022
The story of Theodore Roosevelt's two Menorahs

The story of Theodore Roosevelt’s two Menorahs

Gabe Friedman
Published November 27, 2021
Benicio del Toro, center, as painter Moses Rosenthaler, and Léa Seydoux, right, as the prison guard Simone in "The French Dispatch." (Searchlight Pictures)

‘The French Dispatch,’ out today, is Wes Anderson’s most Jewish film yet

Gabe Friedman
Published October 24, 2021

Holocaust survivor who called himself ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’ dies at 101

Gabe Friedman
Published October 12, 2021

HBO picks up film about boxer who escaped Auschwitz death march

Gabe Friedman
Published October 6, 2021

Dave Chapelle’s jokes about world-conquering ‘Space Jews’ in new Netflix special

Gabe Friedman
Published October 6, 2021

Adam Sandler is Gen Z’s favorite celebrity

Gabe Friedman
Published October 6, 2021
The waterfront at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires includes a wide variety of inflatable toys and surf kayaks. (Uriel Heilman)

A CDC study finds that camp amid COVID-19 can be safe. Its evidence comes from Camp Ramah.

Gabe Friedman
Published October 5, 2021
Sarah Sherman in a video posted to YouTube that she claims was a "Saturday Night Live" audition. (Screen shot)

Sarah Sherman, the latest Jewish actor on ‘SNL,’ compares her dad to Adam Sandler in ‘Uncut Gems’

Gabe Friedman
Published September 29, 2021
Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in a promotional poster image for "Licorice Pizza." (MGM)

Alana Haim makes acting debut in star-studded Paul Thomas Anderson film

Gabe Friedman
Published September 28, 2021

Kathryn Hahn’s next Jewish role: Joan Rivers

Gabe Friedman
Published September 23, 2021

Emmys 2021: ‘Ted Lasso’ star, ‘Queen’s Gambit’ director make up few Jewish wins, while acceptance speech angers crowd

Gabe Friedman
Published September 20, 2021

Politico employees will not have to sign their new parent company’s pro-Israel mission statement

Gabe Friedman
Published August 31, 2021
From left: Comedian Eric Andre, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero are seen in The Village Temple in New York City during an episode of "Desus & Mero." (Screenshot from YouTube)

Desus and Mero get a bar mitzvah (of sorts), with the help of Eric Andre and an NYC rabbi

Gabe Friedman and Philissa Cramer
Published August 6, 2021

Billie Eilish promotes her new album to Israelis, and draws social media ire

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published August 1, 2021
Elie Kligman becomes second Orthodox baseball player drafted into the MLB in 2 days

Elie Kligman becomes second Orthodox baseball player drafted into the MLB in 2 days

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published July 13, 2021

Israel strikes more Hamas sites as incendiary balloons continue from Gaza

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published June 17, 2021

Sarah Silverman wishes Ilhan Omar’s ‘Squad’ of lawmakers included a ‘progressive Jewess’

Gabe Friedman
Published June 17, 2021

Palestinians clash with Israeli police outside Al-Aqsa Mosque hours after ceasefire

Gabe Friedman, JTA
Published May 21, 2021
Veena Malik in 2019 (Wikimedia Commons)

Pakistani movie star tweets Hitler quote about killing Jews in response to Israel-Gaza violence

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published May 12, 2021

Escalating rocket fire between Gaza and Israel leaves 2 Israelis and at least 20 Palestinians dead

CNAAN LIPHSHIZ and GABE FRIEDMAN
Published May 11, 2021

Violence rages in West Bank and Jerusalem, as dozens are injured in police clashes and Palestinian attackers are killed in shootout

CNAAN LIPHSHIZ and GABE FRIEDMAN
Published May 7, 2021

Actor Lakeith Stanfield moderated a Clubhouse room full of anti-Semitism

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published May 7, 2021

The first 10 Jewish documentaries funded by Steven Spielberg’s new foundation

Gabe Friedman
Published April 30, 2021
Mandy Patinkin breaks down in tears when he learns that he lost family in the Holocaust on ‘Finding Your Roots’

Mandy Patinkin breaks down in tears when he learns that he lost family in the Holocaust on ‘Finding Your Roots’

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published April 26, 2021

Oscars 2021: Jewish nominees (nearly) strike out

Gabe Friedman
Published April 25, 2021
Avner Moriah said it took him 15 years to complete the "Ganze Megillah." (Rahn Sas)

Israeli artist sets Guinness World Record for longest megillah scroll

Gabe Friedman
Published April 23, 2021
A screenshot from the "Blackspace" trailer. (YouTube)

Netflix acquires Israeli show about a school shooting

GABE FRIEDMAN
Published April 23, 2021

Israel closes deal for millions more Pfizer vaccines and adds Moderna

Gabe Friedman
Published April 21, 2021

Oscar-nominated filmmakers to produce documentary on French Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld

Gabe Friedman
Published April 20, 2021

Steven Spielberg launches foundation to fund Jewish-themed documentaries

Gabe Friedman
Published April 16, 2021
28th February 1973: Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins attends the SF&TV (Society of Film and Television Arts, later the BAFTA) awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He recently portrayed Count Pierre Bezuhov in the British television production of 'War and Peace'. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Before Helen Mirren plays Golda Meir, here are 7 other stars who have played Israeli prime ministers

Gabe Friedman
Published April 9, 2021

Lee Zeldin, leading Jewish pro-Trump voice in Congress, announces run for NY governor

Gabe Friedman
Published April 8, 2021
shoe

Deni Avdija writes ‘will remember’ in Hebrew on sneakers for game on eve of Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day

Gabe Friedman
Published April 8, 2021

Pfizer reportedly halts shipment of 700,000 COVID vaccine doses to Israel after it fails to pay

Gabe Friedman
Published April 7, 2021
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 15: Paul Pierce attends Stance Spades At NBA All-Star 2020 at City Hall on February 15, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for Stance)

NBA great Paul Pierce talks of love of Shabbat in racy video timed to firing by ESPN

Gabe Friedman
Published April 6, 2021
Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines kicks Jewish family off plane, then allows them back on following mask altercation

Gabe Friedman
Published April 6, 2021
BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 27: Helen Mirren arrives for the Homage Helen Mirren Honorary Golden Bear award ceremony during the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Berlinale Palace on February 27, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Helen Mirren is this years recipient of the Honorary Golden Bear Award of the Berlinale. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/WireImage)

Helen Mirren to play Golda Meir in upcoming film ‘Golda’

Gabe Friedman
Published April 6, 2021
Robert Marx

Rabbi Robert Marx, social justice pioneer who marched with Martin Luther King, dies at 93

Gabe Friedman
Published April 4, 2021
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 18: Zebulon Simantov reads his old tatered hebrew prayer book as he celebrates the Jewish New Year feast of Rosh Hashanah September 18, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Zebulon, 57, claims to be the last Jew living in the war-torn conservative Muslim country and says he keeps a Kosher home. The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, coincides this year with Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim feast marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Born in northwestern Herat, Simantov attended Hebrew school before moving to Kabul at age 27. In 1992, he fled to Tajikistan, fleeing from Afghanistan's growing violence, married a Tajik Jew and had two daughters. The family immigrated in 1998 to Israel, but he returned to Kabul two months later, leaving them behind. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

The last known Jew in Afghanistan is leaving

Gabe Friedman
Published April 4, 2021
Duolingo is giving users who order in Yiddish a free bagel on the course launch date. (Duolingo)

How Duolingo created a Yiddish course with a secular scholar and Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn

Gabe Friedman
Published April 1, 2021
Cases of Sabra hummus seen in 2015. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Sabra hummus recalls over 2,000 containers from 16 states over salmonella outbreak

Gabe Friedman
Published April 1, 2021

Yemen’s Jewish population, once over 50,000, drops to below 10

Gabe Friedman
Published March 31, 2021
Christian Passover

Christian Passover seder with challah braided in the shape of a cross draws Twitter anger

Gabe Friedman
Published March 30, 2021

Bahrain appoints first ambassador to Israel

Gabe Friedman
Published March 30, 2021
Four pieces of matzah or matza on a vintage wood background with copy space or text space. Perfect for your Passover design.

Clubhouse and BuzzFeed’s Passover event will feature a digital afikomen tonight

Gabe Friedman
Published March 26, 2021

The University of Chicago was just gifted the largest private collection of antique Haggadahs. Here are a few of them.

Gabe Friedman
Published March 26, 2021
Seth Rogen at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Feb. 29, 2020 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

Steven Spielberg casts Seth Rogen to play his ‘favorite uncle’ in upcoming semi-biopic

Gabe Friedman
Published March 25, 2021

‘The world’s largest legal’ Jewish party: How Taiwan’s small Jewish community expanded during COVID

Gabe Friedman
Published March 24, 2021

NJ newspaper fires photographer for caption calling Orthodox nurse a ‘total JAP’

Gabe Friedman
Published March 24, 2021

‘A total JAP’: NJ newspaper apologizes for using anti-Semitic epithet in photo caption

Gabe Friedman
Published March 22, 2021
Gen Slosberg, left, and Jenni Rudolph founded the Lunar Project. (Courtesy of Lunar)

A Jewish-Asian young adult grieves a lost senior year, and so much more

Gabe Friedman
Published March 22, 2021

An American ‘Shtisel’ remake is coming directed by acclaimed Jewish filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan

Gabe Friedman
Published March 19, 2021
(Screen shot from Twitter)

Soup Nazi Kitchen restaurant name provokes anger — and vandalism

Gabe Friedman
Published March 18, 2021
Fleishman

TV adaptation of ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’ novel to stream on Hulu

Gabe Friedman
Published March 11, 2021
A model walks the runway during La Perla Fall/Winter 2017 RTW Show at SIR Stage 37 on February 9, 2017 in New York City.

Coming off ‘Unorthodox’ success, Netflix announces ‘My Unorthodox Life,’ series based on ex-haredi fashion mogul Julia Haart

Gabe Friedman
Published March 11, 2021
Dec 25, 2020; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard (0) dribbles the ball against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

NBA fines Meyers Leonard $50,000 for using anti-Semitic slur

Gabe Friedman
Published March 11, 2021
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

These were Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s favorite opera arias

Gabe Friedman
Published March 11, 2021

Julian Edelman invites Meyers Leonard to Shabbat dinner after he apologizes for anti-Semitic slur

Gabe Friedman
Published March 10, 2021

Steven Spielberg is writing and directing a movie based on himself

Gabe Friedman
Published March 10, 2021
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