PRESERVING H I S TO RY
Judaica books hit the shelves of St. Louis city bookstore PAGE 14
A N O N P R O FIT, IN D EP EN D EN T N E W S S O U R CE TO I N F O R M , I N S P I R E , E D U C AT E A N D CO N N E C T T H E S T. LO U I S J E W I S H CO M M U N IT Y.
S T L J E W I S H L I G H T.O R G
19 I Y YA R , 5 78 3
M AY 10, 202 3
VO L . 76 N O. 9
LOOK, MOMS, NO HANDS! ST. LOUIS COUPLE CREATES SMALL, QUIET, WEARABLE BREAST PUMP BY ELLEN FUTTERMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
During a ski trip to Vermont with her engineer husband, Jared Miller, Samantha “Sam” Rudolph remembers reading a 2014 New York Times article questioning why breast pumps were still so uncomfortable and unwieldy. “The headline read, ‘Shouldn’t the Breast Pump Be as Elegant as an iPhone and as Quiet as a Prius by Now?’ ” she recalled, adding, “I didn’t know what a breast pump was. I was not pregnant. We weren’t thinking about kids then. “I just read the article and sort of saw my future flashing before my eyes. I was like, ‘Jared, can you believe this? This is just one more thing women have to deal with.’ ” Miller listened but he was hungry. He wanted brunch. So to appease his wife he responded, “Don’t worry about it. We can make a better one, never thinking in a million years she would hold me to that.” That better breast pump, made by Rudolph and Miller’s St. Louis-based company Babyation, was named one of the best inventions of 2022 by Time magazine. In bestowing the honor, the magazine wrote: “The Pump’s patented suction technology mimics how babies suckle, which is
gentler than traditional breast pumps. The FDA-approved device includes soft silicone breast shields, a discreet tubing system, a quiet motor and bottles— all in a carrying case with cooling to preserve milk. An app lets you customize pump settings, view pumping history and more.” In addition, Babyation was recently recognized in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2023. It was a finalist in the consumer products category and an honorable mention in the wellness category.
All in the family Rudolph and Miller, both 41 and Jewish, started building their breast pump while living in Connecticut. They moved back to St. Louis, where Rudolph grew up, after winning a $50,000 Arch Grant in fall 2015. At the time,
Rudolph had just given birth to the couple’s first son Exton, now 7. They have since had a second son, Oden, who is 4. The couple attended the University of Pennsylvania where she studied business at the Wharton School and he was in the engineering school. “We met at the campus TV station,” said Rudolph, who graduated from Parkway Central. “We’ve always worked on different sides of the same industry.” Miller has designed TV studios, including the “Saturday Night Live” HD control room, and worked on multiple Olympics. Rudolph worked as director of business development for ESPN and, later, as a sports technology consultant. In 2011, they got married in St. Louis with Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg of United Hebrew Congregation officiating. At the time, they vowed never to live here.
Jared Miller & Samantha Rudolph, Babyation’s founders But then things changed. “We had this very preconceived, snobby notion about St. Louis, that it wasn’t as sophisticated as what we had been used to on the East Coast,” Rudolph said. “I had every backward notion you could have about St. Louis, but I was wrong. So wrong. And I’m more than happy to admit it.” A stipulation in receiving an Arch Grant is that at least one of the co-founders has to relocate to St. Louis and work on the business full time for a year. So when the couple moved back here in 2016 with their 4-month-old son, they moved into Rudolph’s parent’s home in Chesterfield. They’ve been living there See BABYATION on page 8
Ukrainian family finds medical, financial help for son in St. Louis BY BILL MOTCHAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
Lynn Wittels (right) with Anton and Yana, and their son, Nikita.
have been done in other U.S. cities, but T.S. Park, the pediatric neurosurgeon and director of the Center for Cerebral Palsy Spasticity at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, is considered one of the best in his field, said Lynn Wittels, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis. “He’s world renowned,” Wittels said. “They had already arranged for the surgery to be paid for, but the family didn’t have any accommodations for their stay.” Wittels learned of the Ukrainian family from her counterpart at the J in Bensonhurst, N.Y. That organization often helps refugees with resettlement assistance in the United States. “He said, ‘Hey, if you guys could raise some money to help them with rental cars
world
w i e s J h l A smal
The St. Louis Jewish community has a history of compassion and caring for people in need. That spirit of giving was evident recently when a Jewish family 6,000 miles from home benefitted from an act of kindness. The family came here from Kharkiv, in war-torn Ukraine, for medical treatment. Their 3½-year-old son Nikita, who suffers from cerebral palsy, needed surgery to enable him to walk. The procedure could
See FAMILY on page 9