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 Shira Hanau
Jared Armstrong, center, appealed the Israeli Interior Ministry's denial of his application for Israeli citizenship but his appeal was denied Wednesday. (Courtesy Armstrong)

Basketball player who converted to Judaism with a Conservative rabbi denied Israeli citizenship

SHIRA HANAU, JTA
Published February 10, 2022

Miriam Naor, former Israeli chief Supreme Court justice, dies at 74

SHIRA HANAU, JTA
Published January 24, 2022
Israel to plant 450,000 trees in cities in effort to counter effects of climate change

Israel to plant 450,000 trees in cities in effort to counter effects of climate change

SHIRA HANAU, JTA
Published January 24, 2022
Tourists will be barred from traveling to Israel for 2 weeks as the country monitors Omicron variant

Tourists will be barred from traveling to Israel for 2 weeks as the country monitors Omicron variant

Shira Hanau
Published November 28, 2021
Workers at the site of the excavation in the Lachish Forest. (Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Ruins of a Hellenistic fortress show ‘tangible evidence’ of Hanukkah story, Israeli archaeologists say

Shira Hanau, JTA
Published November 20, 2021
Pauline Bart frequently lectured about issues related to women's health. (Newspapers.com)

Pauline Bart, sociologist whose Jewish identity infused her research, is dead at 91

Shira Hanau
Published November 15, 2021

Israel to purchase tens of thousands of doses of Pfizer’s new anti-viral COVID treatment

Shira Hanau
Published November 14, 2021
Kanye West calls for a ‘Christian kibbutz’ movement

Kanye West calls for a ‘Christian kibbutz’ movement

Shira Hanau
Published November 8, 2021

COVID-19 vaccines for kids are coming. These rabbis (and their kids) are ready with new prayers.

Shira Hanau
Published November 2, 2021
Bed, Bath and Beyond quickly pulled a Hanukkah pillow that used a Passover phrase. (Alma/Emily Burack)

‘Tis the season of Hanukkah misfires — and chastened retailers

Shira Hanau
Published November 1, 2021
Arthur Kurzweil first encountered amulets and dreidels excavated by treasure hunters during a trip to his father's hometown in Poland. Now he has collected thousands of them. (Photo by Shira Hanau; background courtesy Kurzweil)

A prolific Jewish writer has collected 4,000 tiny dreidels found by Eastern European treasure hunters

Shira Hanau
Published October 29, 2021

Mila Kunis, Neil Patrick Harris, Helen Mirren and over 200 other celebrities sign letter denouncing cultural boycott of Israel

Shira Hanau
Published October 28, 2021

Mort Sahl, Jewish comedian who fused stand-up with political satire and inspired the likes of Lenny Bruce, dies at 94

Shira Hanau
Published October 27, 2021

Jessica Rosenworcel set to become first woman to lead FCC permanently

Shira Hanau
Published October 27, 2021

Israel declines to sign UN statement on China’s treatment of Uighurs

Shira Hanau
Published October 26, 2021

Israel set to permit vaccinated tourists starting Nov. 1, but questions remain around children and boosters

Shira Hanau
Published October 21, 2021
Several kosher restaurants in Hollywood, Florida donated food to the local police precinct after an officer was shot responding to an attempted robbery. (Adina Ciment)

Florida Jewish community sends food to police precinct after officer was shot nearby

Shira Hanau
Published October 21, 2021

Jewish serial sperm donor Ari Nagel nears 100 children after a prolific pandemic

Shira Hanau
Published October 20, 2021
A statue of Thomas Jefferson, seen at rear behind former City Council Member Mark Weprin on Dec. 10, 2013, stood in New York City Council chambers for over 100 years. (NYC Council Photo by William Alatriste)

The Thomas Jefferson statue removed from New York City Council chambers was a gift from a Jewish military officer

Shira Hanau
Published October 20, 2021
The Supreme Court building at dusk.(Wikimedia Commons)

American victims of the Second Intifada want the Supreme Court to review their case suing British bank over transfer of Palestinian funds

Shira Hanau
Published October 20, 2021
A page from the notebooks of "Mr. Shushani," a mysterious scholar who taught many of the greatest Jewish studies scholars of the 20th century. (National Library of Israel)

Israel’s National Library to display notebooks of mysterious scholar who taught Elie Wiesel

Shira Hanau
Published October 19, 2021

Mayoral candidate in Rome accused of antisemitism loses election to center-left

Shira Hanau
Published October 19, 2021

Senate candidate Herschel Walker cancels fundraiser over host’s anti-vax swastika profile picture

Shira Hanau
Published October 14, 2021
A prison. (Justin Elson/Flickr Commons)

Texas Jewish death row inmate who argued judge was antisemitic wins new trial

Shira Hanau
Published October 13, 2021

Holocaust denying neo-Nazi’s remains were buried in a Jewish man’s grave in Germany

Shira Hanau
Published October 13, 2021
Seth Boyden Elementary in Maplewood, N.J. (Google Street View)

Jewish teacher accused of forcibly removing a student’s hijab at NJ school

Shira Hanau
Published October 11, 2021
Bahrain's Jewish community celebrated its first Jewish wedding in the country in 52 years Sunday. (Houda Nonoo)

First Jewish wedding held in Bahrain in 52 years

Shira Hanau
Published October 11, 2021
Joshua Angrist, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics. (MIT)

Israeli-American economist Joshua Angrist wins Nobel Prize for research on causal relationships

Shira Hanau
Published October 11, 2021
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who founded Ben & Jerry's in 1978, spoke about the company's decision to stop selling ice cream in the West Bank in an interview with Axios released Sunday. (Screenshot)

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield say decision to stop selling ice cream in West Bank is not a boycott of Israel

Shira Hanau
Published October 11, 2021
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the formation of a Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. (Governor Newsom's office)

Gavin Newsom launches council to boost California Holocaust education

Shira Hanau
Published October 7, 2021

A story about Palestinians won Israel’s highest film honor. Its stars skipped the award show in protest.

Shira Hanau
Published October 7, 2021

For Orthodox Jews and Israelis, Whatsapp outage highlighted basic community infrastructure — and its vulnerability

Julia Gergely and Shira Hanau
Published October 7, 2021
American Girl unveiled a doll outfit for Hanukkah complete with a sparkly blue dress, silver shoes, a head band, and a Star of David necklace. (American Girl)

American Girl releases Hanukkah outfit and gift set for dolls, complete with Star of David necklace

Shira Hanau
Published October 6, 2021
Meshek Kedumim, an egg farm in Israel, printed a message to participants in the Daf Yomi Talmud study program in honor of the conclusion of Tractate Beitzah, which means "egg." (Facebook)

Israeli chicken farm prints special message on eggs in honor of a Daf Yomi milestone

Shira Hanau
Published October 6, 2021
The toilet was carved from limestone and was built with a septic tank underneath it. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Lost toilets of the First Temple: 2700-year-old private toilet found in Jerusalem

Shira Hanau
Published October 5, 2021

Madison Cawthorn cites Hebrew bible figures in ad pushing the government ‘to uphold Christian principles’

Shira Hanau
Published October 4, 2021
David Julius, a professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, was one of two recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. (University of California, San Francisco)

Scientist David Julius, whose grandparents fled antisemitism in Czarist Russia, wins Nobel Prize in medicine

Shira Hanau
Published October 4, 2021

3 Israelis arrested after settler attack that injured 12 Palestinians

Shira Hanau
Published September 30, 2021
Rabbi Moshe Tendler, who died Sept. 28, was a strong proponent of the view that brain death, rather simply the cessation of a heartbeat, should be considered death according to Jewish law, thus allowing organ donation. (Ben Harris)

Rabbi Moshe Tendler, whose thinking shaped Orthodox views on organ donation, dies at 95

Shira Hanau
Published September 30, 2021

Naftali Bennett spends Jewish holiday at an Upper East Side synagogue after UN speech

Shira Hanau
Published September 29, 2021

For this rabbi near Surfside, the High Holidays are for processing communal grief

Shira Hanau
Published September 13, 2021
The first Papaya meal drop will include three dishes made by famed Israeli chef Einat Admony. (Papaya)

Meet the artisanal gefilte fish purveyor who wants you to eat more vegan food

Shira Hanau
Published July 29, 2021

Retaliating against boycott decision, NYC grocery chain to reduce Ben & Jerry’s sales

Shira Hanau
Published July 27, 2021

These are the Jewish victims of the Surfside building collapse

BEN HARRIS and SHIRA HANAU
Published July 2, 2021
Curtis Silwa, the Republican candidate for mayor in New York City, decried the "bloc vote," referring to Orthodox voters, in a resurfaced video from 2018. (Screenshot from Facebook)

NYC mayoral candidate said Orthodox Jews are trying to ‘take over your community’ in 2018 video

SHIRA HANAU
Published June 24, 2021

Holocaust survivor Faye Schulman, 101, documented partisan resistance in photographs

SHIRA HANAU
Published May 10, 2021
Flyers discouraging people from taking the COVID vaccines were posted in Midwood, a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. (Luis Hernandez)

An Orthodox summer camp is planned for New York — and vaccinated folks aren’t invited

SHIRA HANAU
Published May 7, 2021

A 1998 Spielberg-produced Holocaust documentary will be streamed on Netflix

Shira Hanau
Published April 23, 2021

Childhood illness RSV is surging in Orthodox Brooklyn

Shira Hanau
Published April 22, 2021

Feds charge extremist Orthodox sect Lev Tahor with exploiting, kidnapping children

Shira Hanau
Published April 19, 2021

Karlie Kloss’ baby’s name was leaked — by Josh Kushner’s former Israeli yeshiva

Shira Hanau
Published April 19, 2021
Camp Modin in Maine was one of the few Jewish camps to open last year. It plans to follow the same playbook this year. (Courtesy of Howard Salzberg)

What Jewish summer camp will look like this year

Shira Hanau
Published April 16, 2021
Rabbi Moshe Dov Ber Beck at a meeting in 2008 with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Screenshot from YouTube)

Leader of Neturei Karta, extremist anti-Zionist haredi Orthodox group, dies at 87

Shira Hanau
Published April 16, 2021
A Yeshiva University student wears a face mask on the grounds of the university in New York City, March 4, 2020.

Yeshiva University plans to eliminate in-person Hebrew courses indefinitely

Shira Hanau
Published April 15, 2021

University of Illinois to get a Jewish students’ dorm following spate of alleged anti-Semitic incidents

Shira Hanau
Published April 13, 2021
A student bikes across campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

University of Illinois to get a Jewish students’ dorm following spate of alleged anti-Semitic incidents

Shira Hanau
Published April 13, 2021

Association of Jewish Studies president resigns over meeting with Steven Cohen

Shira Hanau
Published April 13, 2021
Andrew Cuemo

‘These people and their f***ing tree houses’: Andrew Cuomo chafed at campaigning on Sukkot

Shira Hanau
Published April 13, 2021

He was selected to receive Israel’s highest honor. Then his political views drew criticism.

Shira Hanau
Published April 11, 2021
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during International Women's Day in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 8, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. Defense Secretary lands in Israel, marking first cabinet visit by Biden administration

Shira Hanau
Published April 11, 2021
Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang made a pre-Shabbat visit to Orthodox Brooklyn while filming campaign ad

Shira Hanau
Published April 11, 2021

Supreme Court lifts California restrictions on at-home religious gatherings

Shira Hanau
Published April 11, 2021

Brandeis president signs 5-year contract renewal after dispute with university’s board

Shira Hanau
Published April 9, 2021

Inspired by the pandemic, Jewish musicians are rolling out a year’s worth of spiritual ‘healing songs’

Shira Hanau
Published April 9, 2021
Eliot Resnick

Editor of Orthodox newspaper the Jewish Press was one of the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters

Shira Hanau
Published April 8, 2021

Orthodox Jewish couple accuses New York City housing authorities of religious discrimination

Shira Hanau
Published April 7, 2021
A rose is placed on the Holocaust Memorial on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

New ritual aims to bridge Holocaust remembrance to a post-survivor world

Shira Hanau
Published April 6, 2021
Yale to offer beginner Yiddish courses to fulfill language requirements

Yale to offer beginner Yiddish courses to fulfill language requirements

Shira Hanau
Published April 6, 2021
David Teyf

This chef, born next to a matzah factory, is delivering meals to Holocaust survivors

Shira Hanau
Published April 5, 2021

Orthodox Jewish couple and baby visiting New York City slashed in ‘possible bias incident’

Shira Hanau
Published April 1, 2021

Leader of extremist haredi Orthodox sect Lev Tahor arrested in Guatemala

Shira Hanau
Published March 30, 2021

A Brooklyn Hasidic rabbi is under investigation for promoting child marriage

Shira Hanau
Published March 26, 2021
Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: “Zoom seder gives the ability to mute the table’s inevitable kvetch”

Shira Hanau
Published March 26, 2021
A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 24, 2021 shows a part of the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen), a 400-meter-long and 59-meter wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal. (Suez Canal Authority/Handout/AFP via Getty Images)

10 of the best Jewish tweets about the pre-Passover Suez Canal blockage

Shira Hanau
Published March 25, 2021

Over 500 rabbis condemn attempt to ‘rehabilitate’ sociologist accused of sexual misconduct

Shira Hanau
Published March 25, 2021

Oversight of Orthodox yeshivas becomes a major issue in New York City’s mayoral race

Shira Hanau
Published March 25, 2021
Kindergartners at the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, one of seven Bergen County schools to urge families to abide by school guidelines outside of school in September 2020. (Courtesy of the Moriah School)

He convened an early effort to shut down Jewish life. Now this Orthodox rabbi is back at synagogue and school.

Shira Hanau
Published March 22, 2021

Marjorie Taylor Greene makes her case against immigration in Orthodox magazine

Shira Hanau
Published March 18, 2021

Should Nikki Haley get her photo in the paper? For Orthodox magazines, it’s a question.

Shira Hanau
Published March 18, 2021
Inside empty temple

Synagogues are not rushing to reopen, even as vaccines are making gatherings safer

Shira Hanau
Published March 16, 2021

Marjorie Taylor Greene visited Orthodox Brooklyn at invitation of the fur-wearing Capitol rioter’s brother

Shira Hanau
Published March 16, 2021
941030064

Brooklyn rabbi who fled to Israel to escape sexual assault charges in 2010 extradited to US

Shira Hanau
Published March 12, 2021

Thousands of Orthodox Jews participated in a COVID-19 study last year. The first results are in now.

Shira Hanau
Published March 10, 2021

Nita Lowey says Andrew Cuomo should remain as NY governor amid sexual harassment investigation

Shira Hanau
Published March 10, 2021

One Dallas kosher grocer removed the mask requirement. Then came the backlash.

Shira Hanau
Published March 9, 2021

With 41% of the country fully vaccinated, Israel begins reopening

Shira Hanau
Published March 7, 2021

Vaccinations and tests enable some families to gather for Passover Seders this year

Shira Hanau
Published March 5, 2021

Deb Perelman is struggling with her hamantaschen

Shira Hanau
Published February 23, 2021

Misinformation is making Orthodox women afraid to take the COVID vaccine

Shira Hanau
Published February 7, 2021

Anti-vaxxer rabbi fired by synagogue over social media posts

Shira Hanau
Published February 3, 2021

A year of loss: Orthodox Jewry reels as rabbis die during COVID-19 pandemic

Shira Hanau
Published February 2, 2021
Students at the Leffell School in Westchester County, which emerged as an early epicenter for the coronavirus last spring in New York state, celebrated Purim from home in 2020. (Courtesy of Yael Buechler)

‘We’ve lost almost an entire year’: COVID-fatigued communities prepare for a distanced Purim

Shira Hanau
Published February 1, 2021
Thousands attended the funeral of Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik, scion of a major rabbinic dynasty, in Jerusalem Sunday morning. (Screenshot from Twitter)

Thousands fill Jerusalem streets for funerals of major haredi Orthodox rabbis

Shira Hanau
Published January 31, 2021
Eretz Nehederet, an Israeli satire show, aired a sketch Wednesday portraying Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a top haredi leader in Israel, as controlling the Israeli government's lockdown enforcement. (Screenshot from Channel 12)

Israeli TV show’s COVID-19 parody: Chaim Kanievsky, top haredi rabbi, is really running the country

Shira Hanau
Published January 29, 2021

Conservative Jewish leaders condemn Israel’s rejection of Ugandan Jews from immigrating

Shira Hanau
Published January 27, 2021

Yehuda ‘Yudi’ Dukes, Hasidic father of 6, is dead after 10-month battle with COVID

Shira Hanau
Published January 21, 2021
Wedding

Thousands attend secret Hasidic wedding in Brooklyn, many reportedly from Europe and Israel

Shira Hanau
Published January 19, 2021

Conflict over Capitol mob coverage roils Jewish Long Island as Orthodox media navigates a divided audience

Shira Hanau
Published January 12, 2021

FBI agents raid Brooklyn home of pelt-wearing Orthodox man in Capitol mob

Shira Hanau
Published January 12, 2021
Anne Neuberger attended an Orthodox Jewish day school for girls in Brooklyn. (National Security Agency)

Orthodox Jewish woman to be appointed to National Security Council cybersecurity position

Shira Hanau
Published January 7, 2021
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