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 Sam Sokol
Walter Bingham, a 97-year-old radio journalist, sits in his office behind a wall filled with memorabilia, including a telegram regarding an award he won from the United Kingdoms King George VI. (Sam Sokol)

Meet the 97-year-old British-Israeli man who holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest journalist

Sam Sokol
Published April 28, 2021
Thousands of haredi Orthodox men crowd the streets of Jerusalem for a funeral, the latest in a series of high-profile violations of COVID restrictions in Israels haredi sector, Jan. 31, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In Israel, haredi Orthodox Jews wield enormous political power. Could that change because of COVID?

Sam Sokol
Published February 3, 2021
Police officers carry away a protester during a raid on a Jerusalem yeshiva that remained open in violation of COVID-19 restrictions, Jan. 19, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) 

7 Israeli police officers injured in clashes with Orthodox protesters over COVID-19 restrictions

Sam Sokol
Published January 22, 2021

Israelis are bending the rules to get COVID-19 vaccines — and nurses are helping them do it

Sam Sokol
Published January 21, 2021
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduces the new Golan Heights community of Ramat Trump, or Trump Heights, in honor of President Donald Trump to thank him for recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the strategic territory, June 16, 2019. (David Cohen/Flash90) 

Despite the Capitol violence, this Israeli town is still named after Donald Trump

Sam Sokol
Published January 12, 2021
A Pfizer COVID vaccine syringe seen in Jerusalem, Dec. 10, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90) 

As Israel prepares vaccine rollout, only 40% say they will take part in first round

Sam Sokol
Published December 16, 2020

Kosher hotels and authoritarianism: Israelis see attraction in easy UAE travel, but some have concerns

Sam Sokol
Published November 23, 2020
In Bnei Brak, Israel, reporter Ittai Shickman films himself chased by a mob of haredi Orthodox Jews while standing outside the home of a prominent rabbi. (Screenshot from Twitter)

In Israel, some journalists are being attacked while covering haredi Orthodox communities during COVID-19

Sam Sokol
Published October 22, 2020

Can Diaspora Jews visit Israel during the COVID-19 crisis? The rules keep changing.

Sam Sokol
Published August 20, 2020
Israelis protest outside the home of Israels security minister Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv, July 28, 2020. (Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90) 

A bipartisan protest movement is rocking Israel and growing by the week. Here’s why.

Sam Sokol
Published July 30, 2020
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein at a press conference about the coronavirus in Jerusalem, July 6, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90) 

Israel thought it had crushed COVID-19. Then cases surged—and restrictions were reinstated.

Sam Sokol
Published July 6, 2020

Lenora Garfinkel, 89, noted Orthodox architect who lost a son and grandson to COVID-19

Sam Sokol
Published June 24, 2020

Avraham ‘Bobby’ Katz, 73, helped establish Hasidic community in New Jersey

Sam Sokol
Published June 22, 2020

Chaim Gantz, 50, Hasidic social worker who worked with youth

Sam Sokol
Published June 22, 2020

Alan Hurwitz, 79, progressive educator, anti-racism advocate, bank robber

Sam Sokol
Published June 18, 2020

Bernard Israel, 90, longtime sexton of Highland Park synagogue

Sam Sokol
Published June 12, 2020
Oded Forer seen at a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, Feb. 5, 2020. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Israeli parliament women’s committee will be led by a man

Sam Sokol
Published June 8, 2020

Felicia Friedman, 94, Holocaust survivor who refused to relinquish her faith

Sam Sokol
Published June 4, 2020

Hundreds of Israelis, angry with police violence at home, protest the George Floyd killing in Tel Aviv

Sam Sokol
Published June 2, 2020

Suzy Levy, 66, dedicated nurse who refused to retire

Sam Sokol
Published May 20, 2020

Saadya Ehrenpreis, 35, defied expectations with determination and joy

Sam Sokol
Published May 7, 2020

Sidney Fleischer, 102, decorated war veteran who fought in eight battles

Sam Sokol
Published April 28, 2020

Alex Klein, 71, kosher caterer whose prayers stormed the heavens

Sam Sokol
Published April 23, 2020

Benjamin Levin, 93, last surviving member of the legendary Avengers partisan group

Sam Sokol
Published April 22, 2020

Michael Sorkin, 71, urban planner who proposed design for a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem

Sam Sokol
Published April 22, 2020

Mark Steiner, 77, celebrated philosopher of mathematics

Sam Sokol
Published April 21, 2020

Evelyne Cohen, 93, fled Tunisia to become matriarch of a large family

Sam Sokol
Published April 20, 2020

Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, former chief rabbi of Israel, dies of COVID-19 at 79

Sam Sokol
Published April 13, 2020

Martin Fox, 95, past president of JTA and Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ

Sam Sokol
Published April 13, 2020

Israel’s health minister has the coronavirus. He’s also under fire for allegedly defying his own department’s orders.

Sam Sokol
Published April 7, 2020

Bentzion Coopertstock, 63, fed hungry pilgrims at Meron celebrations

Sam Sokol
Published April 6, 2020

Yerachmiel Beilis, 52: ‘Everything he did was for the sake of heaven’

Sam Sokol
Published April 6, 2020

The coronavirus hasn’t stopped immigration to Israel

Sam Sokol
Published March 27, 2020
Some of the students at a haredi boys school in Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, just west of Jerusalem, where classes are still being held, March 18, 2020. (Sam Sokol) 

‘We’re not scared’: Some haredi Orthodox Jews in Israel are ignoring coronavirus social distancing rules

Sam Sokol
Published March 18, 2020

On the streets of Ramallah, Palestinians shrug at Trump’s peace plan

Sam Sokol
Published January 30, 2020

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin takes a lead role in pushing back against Europe’s Holocaust revisionism

Sam Sokol
Published January 28, 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)    

Putin skews Holocaust history at global Auschwitz commemoration event in Jerusalem

Sam Sokol
Published January 23, 2020
An aerial view of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Dec. 17, 2019. Dozens of world leaders are set to converge there for a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Photo: Moshe Shai/Flash90

With Holocaust summit in Jerusalem, Israel gets dragged into Europe’s memory wars

Sam Sokol
Published January 22, 2020

Israel is experiencing a butter shortage that won’t end anytime soon

Sam Sokol
Published January 8, 2020

Launch of Amazon’s Hebrew storefront offers American expats a taste of home

Sam Sokol
Published December 27, 2019

US court sentences Israeli in $140 million scam to 22 years in prison

Sam Sokol
Published December 19, 2019

New York state providing $10 million to protect religious institutions

Sam Sokol
Published December 19, 2019

Prince Charles to visit Israel and West Bank in official capacity

Sam Sokol
Published December 18, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits with his British counterpart Boris Johnson in London, Sept. 5, 2019. (Courtesy)

Boris Johnson to push anti-BDS agenda as British prime minister

Sam Sokol
Published December 16, 2019
Indiana University 

Jewish students assaulted trying to enter Indiana University fraternity party

Sam Sokol
Published December 16, 2019

Squeezed for burial space, Jerusalem prepares to open an underground city of the dead

Sam Sokol
Published October 24, 2019

Israel’s crackdown on foreign workers is driving some families into hiding

Sam Sokol
Published September 17, 2019

Burning Man festival features Holocaust camp-themed Barbie exhibit

Sam Sokol
Published September 5, 2019
Rabbi Gilad Kariv seen at the courtroom of the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem before the start of a court hearing about public transportation on Shabat, Sept. 11, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Reform leader Gilad Kariv wants to be the first non-Orthodox rabbi in Israel’s parliament

Sam Sokol
Published August 22, 2019

The grandson of Ukrainian strongman Stepan Bandera reckons with his family legacy of Nazi collaboration

Sam Sokol
Published August 21, 2019

Former Jerusalem mayor says he is open to meeting Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019

Pittsburgh rabbi calls on US attorney general to forgo death penalty for synagogue gunman

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019

Neo-Nazis plaster racist fliers on 3 Seattle synagogues

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019

Mahmoud Abbas snubs visiting Republicans

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019
The California state capitol in Sacramento. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

California Board of Education rejects proposed ethnic studies curriculum that angered Jews

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019
California State Sen. Ben Allen, chair of the Jewish Caucus, puts a mezuzah on his office door with Rabbi Mendy Cohen. Photo Courtesy of the Jewish Caucus

California Jewish legislators hang mezuzahs on office doors in symbolic move

Sam Sokol
Published August 14, 2019

Israeli flight attendant dies several months after catching measles on New York flight

Sam Sokol
Published August 13, 2019
Omri Casspi, left, and Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Giannis Sfairopoulos will be teaming up this season. (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Omri Casspi, first Israeli in the NBA, returns home to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv

Sam Sokol
Published August 13, 2019

Most right-wing Israeli voters want Netanyahu to remain prime minister even if he’s indicted

Sam Sokol
Published August 12, 2019

Rabbi Reuven Hammer, a pioneer of Conservative Judaism in Israel, dies at 86

Sam Sokol
Published August 12, 2019

21 Israeli lawmakers rebuff American anti-boycott resolution for endorsing two-state solution

Sam Sokol
Published August 12, 2019

Backlash prompts mental health group to rethink canceling Israel confab

Sam Sokol
Published August 7, 2019

Israeli binary options fraudster convicted by US court

Sam Sokol
Published August 7, 2019

Canadian Anglican Church to remove prayer for conversion of Jews

Sam Sokol
Published August 7, 2019

Netanyahu says no to unity government

Sam Sokol
Published August 7, 2019

How Ayelet Shaked, a secular woman, come to dominate the right-wing religious camp in Israel

Sam Sokol
Published August 6, 2019

As Moscow cracks down on protesters, Likud launches election ad campaign featuring Putin

Sam Sokol
Published July 28, 2019

Child advocates blast systemic failures in Israel’s handling of sex abuse cases

Sam Sokol
Published July 1, 2019

Digging through the charred wreckage of the Carlebach moshav

Sam Sokol
Published June 21, 2019
Newly ordained Rabbi Daniel Atwood is congratulated by Rabbi Daniel Landes at the Jerusalem Theater on May 26, 2019. (Sam Sokol)  

First openly gay Orthodox rabbi ordained in Jerusalem

Sam Sokol
Published May 27, 2019

Jerusalem rabbi to ordain gay rabbinical student denied by US seminary

Sam Sokol
Published May 24, 2019

Israel’s Eurovision planners say rockets won’t stop the music

Sam Sokol
Published May 6, 2019

Michael Cohen reports to America’s ‘Jewiest’ prison

Sam Sokol
Published May 6, 2019
Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman was killed while running from cover from a rocket launched by Hamas over the weekend. (Courtesy)

Hundreds attend funeral of American killed by Hamas rocket

Sam Sokol
Published May 6, 2019
Palestinians walk through the wreckage of a building that was damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 5, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Netanyahu: Gaza battle ‘not over’ despite ceasefire

Sam Sokol
Published May 6, 2019
Friends and family mourn at the funeral of American lone soldier Alex Sasaki at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, March 28, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli lone soldier suicides launched talk of a ‘worrying trend.’ The army says that isn’t accurate.

Sam Sokol
Published May 3, 2019

Gaza escalation holds both promise and perils for Netanyahu

Sam Sokol
Published March 26, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Polish president Andrzej Duda at the United Nations headquarters, in New York City, Sept. 26, 2018. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Holocaust scholars worry that memory is a victim of Israel’s warming ties with Eastern Europe

Sam Sokol
Published January 29, 2019
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, second from left; Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, third from left; and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau at a special meeting of the Israeli Rabbinate Council at the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 24, 2017. Photo: Shlomi Cohen/Flash90

Why most recent immigrants to Israel aren’t considered Jewish

Sam Sokol
Published January 3, 2019

Are Israeli media too soft on the country’s popular military?

Sam Sokol
Published December 27, 2018

The top 10 Jewish stories of 2018 — plus 1

Sam Sokol
Published December 26, 2018

UMass student asked to remove ‘F*** Nazis’ sign because it’s not inclusionary

Sam Sokol
Published December 24, 2018

84-year-old Jewish grandmother finishes her college degree

Sam Sokol
Published December 24, 2018

Israel heading to elections as coalition dissolves

Sam Sokol
Published December 24, 2018

Pace of haredi Orthodox integration into Israeli life slowing down

Sam Sokol
Published December 19, 2018

West Bank settlement construction drops in third quarter

Sam Sokol
Published December 19, 2018

Announcing new tunnel, Netanyahu says Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah’s actions

Sam Sokol
Published December 19, 2018

Alice Walker endorses anti-Semitic tract in a New York Times feature

Sam Sokol
Published December 18, 2018
Hundreds of settlers, joined by members of the Israeli cabinet, protested outside of the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Dec. 16, 2018. (Sam Sokol)

In wake of attacks, settlers ratchet up pressure on Netanyahu government

Sam Sokol
Published December 17, 2018
A fellow Netzach Yehuda soldier at Cohen’s funeral, Dec. 14, 2018. (Sam Sokol)

A soldier’s death brings grief to Israeli army’s fervently religious battalion

Sam Sokol
Published December 14, 2018
Israeli security and medical personnel evacuate an Israeli woman from the ambulance at the Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem after she was was seriously injured in a terror attack outside the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Dec. 9, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Baby born prematurely to mother shot in West Bank attack dies in hospital

Sam Sokol
Published December 12, 2018
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a news conference at the military’s central headquarters in Tel Aviv, Dec. 4, 2018. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Netanyahu is mired in multiple scandals. So why is he so popular?

Sam Sokol
Published December 5, 2018
Israeli media at the scene of a where a truck rammed in a group of Israeli soldiers, killing at least four in a suspected vehicle-ramming attack, in the Armon haNatsiv neighborhood of Jerusalem, Jan. 8, 2017. Photo: Shlomi Cohen/Flash90

I’m a reporter. I left my synagogue because of attacks on the media.

Sam Sokol
Published November 26, 2018

Israelis are blunt and rude. You got a problem with that?

Sam Sokol
Published November 15, 2018
Israeli apps alert users whenever a missile is headed into the country. (Sam Sokol)

In Israel, missile alert apps save lives — and spread anxiety

Sam Sokol
Published November 14, 2018
Aliza Bloch, right, in gold, celebrates with supporters after being elected mayor of Beit Shemesh, Israel, as election results are announced, Nov. 1, 2018. (Yaakov Lederman/Flash90)

Israeli city’s first woman mayor is a reluctant icon for Orthodox feminism

Sam Sokol
Published November 9, 2018
Israeli parliament member Avraham Neguise, shown in 2015, chairs the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee, which recently held a meeting about anti-Semitism in America. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Israeli lawmakers debate American anti-Semitism without American Jewish input

Sam Sokol
Published November 6, 2018

Genesis Prize funds groups looking to close Israel’s stubborn gender gap

Sam Sokol
Published September 4, 2018

Sarah Tuttle-Singer pulls in readers — and trolls — with her warts-and-all portrayal of Israel

Sam Sokol
Published August 31, 2018

Carl Reiner, 96, ‘impressed’ with himself for being oldest-ever Emmy nominee

Sam Sokol
Published August 23, 2018
Load More Stories

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.
Advertisement
The St. Louis Jewish Light is a community partner with Jewish Federation of St. Louis.
© 2024 St. Louis Jewish Light • Privacy Policy • FLEX Pro WordPress Theme by SNO • Log in