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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

What's the story behind your seder plate?

What’s the story behind your seder plate?

By Ellen Futterman, EditorPublished March 12, 2020

As we get ready for Passover, the Jewish Light is looking for unique and/or interesting stories about your favorite seder plate.  Did you receive it as a special gift? Was it handed down to you by a beloved relative? Did you glue it together after a...

An Illinois business, J.R. Kelly, used to send postcards to horseradish manufacturers on the East Coast.

Midwestern roots of a seder staple: Just across the river is America’s horseradish hub

By Eric Berger, Associate EditorPublished April 18, 2019

This story was originally published on April 18, 2019. Steven Gold says horseradish got its name because it’s the “galloping root. It used to grow wild.” Other sources provide different origin stories, but regardless, the vegetable, now grown...

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose

Powerful Passover seder connects us with our ancestors

By Rabbi Carnie Shalom RosePublished April 11, 2019

Without question, the night of the Passover seder is among the most powerful experiences of the entire year. We daven, sing, eat, discuss, debate and methodically make our way through the Haggadah and a long night filled with rituals, customs and practices...

4 hacks to make your Passover seder more fun

By Emily Aronoff Teck, Kveller via JTAPublished April 11, 2019

No joke: I love hosting the Passover seder.I love feeding people — I’m both Jewish and Southern, so this is deeply engrained in me. I love educating people, and I love being Jewish, so the seder is a perfect opportunity to gather the ones I love for...

10 easy tips to avoid a boring seder

By Rebecca Rosenthal, Kveller via JTAPublished April 6, 2017

If your Passover seder is anything like mine, it can resemble the world’s most difficult classroom: different ages, ranging from 3 to 93, and varying levels of interest. Some want to read and discuss every word in the Haggadah, some just want to get...

Soldiers in the trenches before battle, Petersburg, Va., 1865.
Jews were scattered throughout the Civil War. They were found on
opposing sides on issues as well as on the battlefront. Photo:
National Archives

Jews and the Civil War

By Jim Winnerman, Special to the Jewish LightPublished January 4, 2012

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Jewish family loyalties mirrored what occurred throughout the United States where brother fought against brother. Jews also found themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield. Out of 150,000 Jews in the U.S....

The Jewish Community Relations Council hosted local labor leaders for its ‘Labor Seder,' which is held at least every two years.

JCRC welcomes labor leaders for seder

BY ROBERT A. COHN, Editor-in-Chief EmeritusPublished May 14, 2010

The right of workers to organize, reducing poverty in the Jewish community, early childhood education and concerns about nuclear weapons in Iran were among the many topics discussed at a "Labor Seder" last week, hosted by the Jewish Community Relations...

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