Often, when we write about people who grew up in St. Louis but went on to prominence elsewhere, that elsewhere is the East or West Coast. Not so for Edie Roodman. Roodman staked roots in Oklahoma City, Okla. where she was the executive director of Jewish...

The Jewish Light recently talked with Joan Berkman, president of the St. Louis Press Club and president of Face Watchers Public Relations, as part of The Lighter Side series — short interviews with interesting people in the St. Louis Jewish community....

Sometimes heroes live quietly among us, not looking for recognition but choosing instead to blend in, and do what they do without any fanfare. René Zar is that kind of hero. She has spent more than 15 years fulfilling a promise to a dying friend,...

Life seemed to be falling into place for Mark Schenberg in the summer of 1991. Then in his mid-20s, he was hunting for his first house in Creve Coeur. His auto repair business run from his parents’ garage had taken off, so much so that he had opened...

Over 40 years, St. Louis attorney Bob Denlow developed a successful eminent domain law practice as a trial lawyer. His job was to protect his clients’ properties and businesses that faced forcibly losing their properties to governments and large...

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Arthur Litz made a huge impact on the legal profession during his career. Now, the 98-year-old Jewish retired judge will have a permanent spot in the 5th Circuit Court: His portrait will hang in the court he presided over....

Music is an integral part of Judaism and dates back to the first temple in Jerusalem, when Levites sang and played the harp, lyre and shofar during religious services. Centuries later, communal singing remains a constant in Jewish worship and celebrations,...

Edan Shoghi, an energetic 9-year-old at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, enjoys playing soccer, basketball, tennis and Minecraft. But he really excels at chess.“What I like best about playing chess is strategy and tactics,” Edan said. “Let’s...

Just at an age when many people flirt with retirement, Sandy Kaplan found herself smack dab in the middle of a burgeoning art career she couldn’t have imagined when she was younger and working in development at Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation.A divorced...

Marianne McKenna appreciates how St. Charles over the last year has made a Jewish Democrat such as herself feel like she belongs.First she found out she was not the only local Jew when she attended the city’s first community menorah lighting in December...

Joan and Sherman Silber had some unexpected houseguests from Israel for the High Holidays this year. As the number of coronavirus cases in Israel spiked last month to the point where the country now has the highest rate of daily new coronavirus infections...

Henry Rosenblum followed what is now a family tradition: a bar mitzvah abroad. Henry’s eldest brother, Myles, became a bar mitzvah in Jerusalem, joined by extended family on both sides. Then Spencer, the middle son, traveled with his family to Budapest,...