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 Penny Schwartz
"Oy, Santa" is among the Hanukkah children's books that also deal with Christmas that have come out in 2024. (Collage by Joseph Strauss)

New Hanukkah children’s books highlight 2024’s rare Christmas overlap

Penny Schwartz, JTA
Published December 6, 2024
Noya Dan, seen here in a Harry Potter costume, was murdered by Hamas alongside her grandmother Carmela on Oct. 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Nir Oz. (via X)

A young Harry Potter fan’s murder reverberates from Israel to Boston

Penny Schwartz, JTA
Published October 29, 2023

Henry Rosovsky, refugee from the Nazis who shaped Harvard University, dies at 95

Penny Schwartz, JTA
Published November 18, 2022
The cover of Curt Leviant's translation of "Moshkeleh the Thief." (The Jewish Publication Society)

‘Fiddler’ meets ‘The Sopranos’: A gritty, forgotten novel by Sholom Aleichem is published in English for the first time

Penny Schwartz
Published October 6, 2021
Amid antisemitism concerns, 101 local Jewish federations to spend $54M on improving security

Amid antisemitism concerns, 101 local Jewish federations to spend $54M on improving security

JTA
Published October 4, 2021
Is Alicia Silvestone Jewish?

Is Alicia Silvestone Jewish?

JTA
Published October 3, 2021
The remarkable true story of the Great Knish War of 1916

The remarkable true story of the Great Knish War of 1916

Jordan Palmer and JTA
Published October 3, 2021

Ed Asner, who starred as Lou Grant, dies at 91

JTA
Published August 29, 2021
GOP congressman compares COVID measures to Holocaust, prompting an intern’s resignation

GOP congressman compares COVID measures to Holocaust, prompting an intern’s resignation

JTA
Published August 27, 2021
New children’s books for the Jewish New Year

New children’s books for the Jewish New Year

PENNY SCHWARTZ, JTA
Published August 18, 2021
18 Orthodox Jewish girls pulled off New York-bound flight in Amsterdam in dispute over COVID protocols

18 Orthodox Jewish girls pulled off New York-bound flight in Amsterdam in dispute over COVID protocols

jta
Published August 8, 2021
Hezbollah fires 19 rockets at Israel in worst fighting since 2006 war

Hezbollah fires 19 rockets at Israel in worst fighting since 2006 war

JTA
Published August 6, 2021
Incendiary balloons from Gaza prompt new Israeli airstrikes

Incendiary balloons from Gaza prompt new Israeli airstrikes

JTA
Published June 16, 2021
Marianne Steiner

Marianne Steiner, 101, stylish Holocaust survivor who supported research on German Jewry

Penny Schwartz
Published April 9, 2021

A Boston-area high school football team used ‘Auschwitz’ and ‘rabbi’ to call plays

Penny Schwartz
Published March 24, 2021
Brandeis Passover

What makes this Passover different from all others? Brandeis University is celebrating.

Penny Schwartz
Published March 23, 2021

A Jewish campus grows in suburban Boston, as Hebrew College announces relocation plan

Penny Schwartz
Published March 22, 2021
IslBG

Carl Shapiro, Brandeis benefactor who lost millions to Madoff, dies at 108

Penny Schwartz
Published March 15, 2021

Leo Rechter, 93, fought for destitute Holocaust survivors

Penny Schwartz
Published March 12, 2021
new passover book

In new Passover children’s books, a bespectacled lion reads the Haggadah and a Depression-era mitzvah

Penny Schwartz
Published March 8, 2021

William Good, 96, survivor of Holocaust massacre who became beloved California doctor

Penny Schwartz
Published February 26, 2021

Italo Servi, 98, soft-spoken heir to rich Italian Jewish heritage

Penny Schwartz
Published February 26, 2021
On left, an untitled photo of the Lodz Ghetto by Henryk Ross, 1910-1991. On right, one by Ross of a Jewish doctor imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto. (Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

Jewish prisoner’s photos depicting horrid life in Lodz Ghetto donated to Boston museum

Penny Schwartz
Published February 22, 2021
Max Gross

Another accolade for Max Gross’ ‘Lost Shtetl’: Best fiction from Association of Jewish Libraries

Penny Schwartz
Published February 8, 2021
Donald Kraft

Donald Kraft, 92, mathematician with lifelong zest for learning

Penny Schwartz
Published February 3, 2021

From llamas to a Jewish superhero, these 8 children’s books bring new characters into the Hanukkah story

Penny Schwartz
Published November 3, 2020

Bradley Fields, 68, renowned magician who studied Talmud and taught math to kids

Penny Schwartz
Published September 1, 2020

This rabbi spent 4 months on a ventilator and endured 4 collapsed lungs from COVID-19. Now he’s recovering.

Penny Schwartz
Published August 25, 2020

How did Europe’s Jews cope with a 17th-century plague? This 350-year-old memoir offers a glimpse.

Penny Schwartz
Published July 27, 2020

Pride rallies held across Israel in lieu of annual parades due to coronavirus

JTA
Published July 2, 2020

Sidney Forman, 95, lived out a dream with performance of musical comedy he wrote in the 1960s

Penny Schwartz
Published June 25, 2020

A Jewish ‘Dreamer’ breathes a sigh of relief after US Supreme Court preserves DACA

Penny Schwartz
Published June 19, 2020

This Jewish Boston bookseller wants to help you spruce up your Zoom background

Penny Schwartz
Published June 19, 2020

Ohio’s Health Dept. director resigns after backlash over stay-at-home orders

JTA
Published June 18, 2020

Protesters shout ‘dirty Jews’ at Paris rally against police racism

JTA
Published June 18, 2020

Eva Konrad Hawkins, 90, Holocaust survivor who designed underwater museum exhibits

Penny Schwartz
Published June 18, 2020

Sylvia Glenn, 98, painter who befriended Margaret Mead

Penny Schwartz
Published June 9, 2020

Elsa Dorfman, photographer who was subject of Errol Morris film, dies at 83

Penny Schwartz
Published June 3, 2020

Carolyn Becker, 83, was looking forward to life’s next chapter

Penny Schwartz
Published June 2, 2020

Jeffrey Sanderson, 62, took pleasure in the small things

Penny Schwartz
Published May 26, 2020

Lee Kozol, 87, Boston attorney who represented the Patriots

Penny Schwartz
Published May 20, 2020

Hyman Siegal, 90, taught young Leonard Nimoy to develop film

Penny Schwartz
Published May 18, 2020

Meryl Cohen, 84, hosted epic family Thanksgiving celebrations

Penny Schwartz
Published May 5, 2020

Bud Rose, 77, ‘the Steve Jobs of medicine’

Penny Schwartz
Published April 29, 2020

32 residents die of coronavirus at 2 Massachusetts Jewish senior living facilities

Penny Schwartz
Published April 14, 2020

Sun Valley, Idaho, a celebrity destination, is a coronavirus hot spot. Here’s how the local Jewish community is coping.

Penny Schwartz
Published April 7, 2020
Robert Lappin's foundation created programs aimed at bolstering Jewish identity. (Courtesy of the Lappin Foundation)

Robert Lappin, Jewish philanthropist and founder of teen Israel program, dies at 98

Penny Schwartz
Published April 7, 2020

In new Passover children’s books, meet a googly eyed gator and spend a seder in outer space

Penny Schwartz
Published April 3, 2020

Lawrence Bacow, Harvard University’s Jewish president, has the coronavirus

Penny Schwartz
Published March 25, 2020
A scene in the documentary "Etched in Glass: The Legacy of Steve Ross," in which Ross is seen speaking to a group of students at a Boston public school. Photo courtesy of Roger Lyons/Tony Bennis

Stephan Ross, survivor who founded New England Holocaust Memorial, dies

Penny Schwartz
Published February 26, 2020
Ezra Jack Keats' book "The Snowy Day" is credited with breaking the diversity barrier in children's publishing. (New York Public Library)

Trailblazing book by Jewish author Ezra Jack Keats is most checked-out book ever at New York Public Library

Penny Schwartz
Published January 15, 2020
"Goodnight Bubbala" puts a Yiddish spin on "Goodnight Moon," the beloved bedtime classic. (Penguin Random House) 

‘Goodnight Bubbala’ and other Hanukkah-themed children’s books for the holiday season

Penny Schwartz
Published December 16, 2019

The earliest known American Jewish novel introduces an early feminist voice

Penny Schwartz
Published November 19, 2019

High-profile Israel boycott conference at UMass Amherst sparks concern — and a peace march

Penny Schwartz
Published November 12, 2019

Anti-Semitic fliers in Massachusetts declare Holocaust ‘fake news’

Penny Schwartz
Published July 16, 2019

Passover inspires one of the top 50 public arts projects of 2018

Penny Schwartz
Published July 2, 2019

This chef turned his popular falafel truck into a booming Israeli restaurant

Penny Schwartz
Published June 12, 2019
Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman was accosted by pickup truck drivers who yelled at him. (Facebook) 

Boston area rallies after Chabad rabbis are targeted with anti-Semitic slurs on Shabbat

Penny Schwartz
Published June 6, 2019
Julie Flaherty, acting police chief of Arlington, Mass., addresses a news conference at the town's police station as Rabbi Avi Bukiet, second from left, looks on, May 17, 2019. (Penny Schwartz)

Police now probing 3 fires at 2 Boston-area Chabad houses

Penny Schwartz
Published May 17, 2019

Police probe second suspicious fire at Boston-area Chabad

Penny Schwartz
Published May 17, 2019

Fire at Chabad center in suburban Boston investigated as possible hate crime

Penny Schwartz
Published May 16, 2019
World War II Diary of S. Lane Faison, Jr. Image courtesy of Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art

Diary of WWII’s Monuments Man given to National Archives

Penny Schwartz
Published April 30, 2019
(Collage by Lior Zaltzman)

A ‘Sesame Street’ seder and 4 other new children’s books for Passover

Penny Schwartz
Published March 28, 2019

Immigrant tale wins top Jewish children’s book honor

Penny Schwartz
Published January 28, 2019
A stunning new facsimile of the 14th-century Sarajevo Hagaddah was on display, and for sale, by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina,in the exhibit hall at the Association of Jewish Studies convention. Photo: Penny Schwartz

Jewish studies conference celebrates 50 years of explosive growth in the field

Penny Schwartz
Published December 18, 2018

Steven Spielberg warns: Genocide as possible today as it was during Holocaust

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Israeli special ops force was in Gaza for two months before its firefight with Hamas, report says

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Brazil arrests Israeli head of international drug smuggling network 

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

EU Council approves declaration on fight against anti-Semitism

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

OSU student government votes down Israel boycott and divestment resolution

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Arrest made in attack on Hasidic man in Brooklyn

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Super soccer star Messi joins Beitar Jerusalem team fans club

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Israel’s chief rabbi lights Hanukkah candles in Polish parliament

JTA
Published December 6, 2018

Princeton is naming a residential college after Ronald and Debra Perelman

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ season 2 debuts on Amazon to glowing reviews

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Saudi dissident sues Israeli cyber tech company in death of Jamal Khashoggi

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Einstein’s ‘God Letter’ sells at auction for nearly $3 million

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

New Hampshire town rejects menorah display. Christmas tree could be next.

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Portugal sets aside a day to remember Inquisition victims

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Netanyahu rejected in bid to have donors pay his legal fees

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Netanyahu calls violence against women ‘terrorism’ following a rally by 30,000 in Tel Aviv

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

OU’s exec named to NY State Attorney General-elect’s transition team

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Portugal government committee approves Memorial Day for the Victims of the Inquisition

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Holocaust survivors mark Hanukkah at events around the world

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Israeli technology effectively prevents attacks during G20

JTA
Published December 5, 2018

Hanukkah menorah is toppled near Harvard campus

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Hezbollah tunnels are ‘concrete threat’ to Israel’s Galilee region, Netanyahu says

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Evidence of Rohingya genocide is ‘compelling,’ US Holocaust Museum says

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Kosher ban is okay with Jewish supporters of Germany’s far right party

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

3 large swastikas spray-painted in Brooklyn neighborhood

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

101 Jewish and pro-Israel groups ask universities to oppose Israel boycotts

JTA
Published December 4, 2018
Rashida Tlaib is one of the first two Muslim-American women to be elected to Congress.

Rashida Tlaib, newly elected Congresswoman, says she will lead a lawmakers’ trip to West Bank

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Hezbollah and Iran discussed at meeting between Netanyahu and Pompeo

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Israel launches operation to destroy Hezbollah tunnels on northern border

JTA
Published December 4, 2018

Saudi Arabia loses world chess tournament for refusing visas to Israeli players

JTA
Published December 3, 2018

Thousands of Israeli women to strike in protest of violence against women

JTA
Published December 3, 2018

ID system for asylum seekers in Mexico recalls Holocaust tattoos

JTA
Published December 3, 2018

Condemn anti-Semitic image on pro-government magazine cover, Lauder tells Orban

JTA
Published December 3, 2018

Mental status of driver who tried to run down 2 Jews outside LA synagogue questioned

JTA
Published December 3, 2018

Synagogue in Basel, Switzerland vandalized

JTA
Published December 3, 2018
Load More Stories