Jewish Light Digital Edition: May 10, 2023

PRESERVING HISTORY

PAGE 14

LOOK, MOMS, NO HANDS!

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 sta tion,” said Rudolph, who graduated from Parkway Central. “We’ve always worked on different sides of the same industry.”

Miller has designed TV studios, includ ing 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.

by 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

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.

BY BILL MOTCHAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT

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

l d

l d

“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

See FAMILY on page 9

Jared Miller & Samantha Rudolph, Babyation’s founders

Judaica books hit the shelves of St. Louis city bookstore

Lynn Wittels (right) with Anton and Yana, and their son, Nikita.

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Lookalike contest, baby magic and call for Unsung Heroes

WANTED: Carole King doppelganger

Like a lot of Jewish girls who came of age in the late 1960s and ’70s, I wanted nothing to do with my naturally curly/wavy/frizzy hair, so I ironed it to make it flat or straight. When at age 14 my mother saw what I was up to, she freaked and hid the iron from me.

So I tried the next best thing — pulling all of my hair into a ponytail on top of my head, then rolling it with an empty juice can. That method worked fairly well, until I stepped outside and into the humidity.

When I first heard the music of Carole King, I immediately invested in a copy of her 1971 “Tapestry” album. To this day, “Tapestry” remains among my favorite albums of all times, not only because every — and I do mean every — song on it is superb, but also because of its cover. There’s the Jewish girl from Brooklyn, casually dressed and barefoot in a window seat with a couple of cats, her shoulder-length curly/ wavy/frizzy hair, natural and fantastic. Maybe there was hope for mine.

She was an inspiration then and continues to be one now. After the show “Beautiful,” about King’s rise

Do you know any Unsung Heroes?

The Jewish Light is now requesting nominations for its 14th annual Unsung Heroes awards online at stljewishlight. org/heroes. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Friday, July 7.

The Light solicits nominations of volunteers making a major impact through their work without seeking substantial public recognition for their efforts. These people tend to fly under the radar. Honorees can be individuals or groups who are either Jewish or non-Jewish making a difference within the St. Louis Jewish community and/ or Jewish individuals or groups in St. Louis making a difference in the community-at-large.

The 2023 class of Unsung Heroes will be honored with a special event on Nov. 2 and in the Light’s Unsung Heroes magazine Nov. 8

To view stories and videos about past Unsung Heroes, go to stljewishlight.org/unsung-list.

News and Schmooze is a column by Jewish Light Editor-in-Chief Ellen Futterman. Email Ellen at: efutterman@stljewishlight.org.

to stardom, made its Broadway debut, I forked out an insane amount to get two premium seats at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. It starred Jessie Mueller who went on to win a Tony Award for her incredible performance as King. I later saw the play again in St. Louis, twice, and hope to see it for a third time when it opens the Muny’s 105th season on June 12.

That’s where you come in, especially if you bear even a slight resemblance to Carole King, or at least if your hair does.

Thanks to the generosity of the Muny, the Jewish Light is giving away a pair of tickets to every Muny show this summer — all seven of them — starting with “Beautiful.” And if that’s not sweet enough, Frank & Helen’s Pizzeria is throwing in dinner for two before each performance.

So what’s the catch you say?

Easy, peasy. Go to stljewishlight.org/carolekingcontest and upload your Carole King lookalike picture by 5 p.m. by May 25th. Relax, we don’t expect you to be a dead ringer. Just upload a picture that captures the singer’s aura, essence, killer hair, whatever. Be creative, have fun. And guys, especially you with curly hair, don’t be bashful — this is a gender not specific contest. Get busy. It’s not too late baby.

Speaking of not too late baby . . .

Mother’s Day, or thereabouts, seemed like the perfect time to check in with Nikki Freyman and Kati Kaup to find out how both women and their families are doing.

Readers met best friends Nikki and Kati right before Mother’s Day 2021, when Nikki, a married mother of two and Central Reform Congregation member, was carrying a baby via surrogacy for Kati and her husband, Gerome Gregory. (You can read the entire story at stljewishlight.org/ nikki-kati).

Kati, who has cystic fibrosis, underwent a double lung transplant in 2015. While doctors were optimistic that she could live a long life, they cautioned her against getting pregnant, fearing it would be too risky.

Knowing this, Nikki offered to become a surrogate (gestation carrier) for Kati and Gerome. In 2019, Kati underwent IVF (in vitro fertilization), which produced two embryos suitable for transfer. They were frozen until they could be implanted into surrogates.

One of those surrogates, of course, was Nikki, who on Nov. 9, 2021, delivered baby London Nicole (the middle name in honor of Nikki) at Missouri Baptist Hospital. At that time, a second surrogate named Ashley, whom Kati and Gerome found through a matching support group, was also pregnant, having been implanted with the couple’s other embryo. That embryo split during the pregnancy, which meant the couple was now expecting twins — an extraordinary development considering there was only a 2% chance

of that happening.

When I checked in with Nikki and Kati last week, Kati reported that all three girls, 18-month-old London and 16-month-old twins Evie Elizabeth and Celine Henri, were thriving at home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

“Luckily, we’ve been able to keep them on the same schedule,” said Kati, explaining that the three toddlers share a bedroom, each with her own crib. “They get up at 7 every morning and go down at 7 at night and sleep straight through. They take two naps a day. When you’re raising three who are essentially the same age, you do your best to keep to a structured schedule.”

Both women say that one of the “surprises” from their surrogacy arrangement was how they have been able to help other couples.

“What has been really a great gift out of all of this, aside from knowing that I was able to help Kati and Gerome become the incredible parents they are, is that we’ve become resources for other people,” said Nikki, who flew to Florida from St. Louis in November to help celebrate London’s first birthday. “Kati and I have talked to other couples together and are able to walk them through the process and hopefully make it a little less intimidating and overwhelming. We love being able to share our experience.”

Added Kati: “That’s why we chose to be open about our story and tell it. We kind of embraced the opportunity to build audience around surrogacy.”

Above: Kati and husband,

Right: Nikki Freyman (L) and Kati Kaup(R) with baby London.

Andy Cohen gets star treatment during Walk of Fame induction

During the May 5 unveiling of Andy Cohen’s star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, the Jewish St. Louis native and TV personality called it, “A mitzvah to have my parents and my son and my sister Emily here, and my running buddies since I began my journey.”

The festivities began with a brass band, followed by an introduction by the founder of the local Walk of Fame, Joe Edwards, who said, “This weekend there are two coronations. One is tomorrow in England, the other and the most important coronation is here today. I am extremely honored to induct into the St. Louis Walk of Fame one of the most exciting and influential media personalities ever.”

Following the unveiling of the star, Cohen, 54, told the large gathering, “I am completed honored and flattered, and moved that you are here. We did this in Hollywood last year, but I gotta tell you, there is no place like home. And there is no place like this legendary strip here in U. City.

“Growing up here, we went to Streetside Records,” he said. “We went to Vintage Vinyl. We went to Cicero’s to hear live music and one of my favorite places ever, Blueberry Hill. Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without seeing Jake’s Leg at The Pageant. This is a historic

strip. I love St. Louis, and I love representing St. Louis every night on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ (which airs on Bravo).

“My career started here doing odd jobs at my family’s business, Allen Foods. I owe a big debt of thanks to my wonderful vice principal at Clayton High School, Doris

Randolph. Miss Randolph opened the door for my career in television by setting me up to work as an intern in the summer at Channel 4. I was 17 years old. I was probably the youngest intern they ever had. It made a huge impact on me. Then I took off for the big city, but on days like today, I thank and think of Miss Randolph.”

Celebrating Israel@75

The Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration of 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence at the J on April 23 had everything from Israeli dancing and food to a game of catchball. Volunteers also helped construct a labyrinth adjacent to the community garden. For more photos, visit stljewishlight.org/multimedia.

Bravo TV host and executive Andy Cohen (left) returned to his hometown earlier this month for his induction in the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Above, Cohen is shown with his parents, Lou and Evelyn Cohen.

PHOTOS: BILL MOTCHAN

PHOTOS: BILL MOTCHAN

ABOVE: A game of catchball. LEFT: Shinshinim Alma Cohen, Inbar Bloch, Inbar Bachar and Guy Dobrin at the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.

ABOVE: Volunteers helped construct a labyrinth designed by St. Louis artist Robert Fishbone. RIGHT: Families brows the tables at the Yom Ha’atzmaut event.

Federation relaunches St. Louis Jewish Loan Association

Jewish Federation of St. Louis has relaunched its interest-free loan program for the Jewish community of St. Louis.

The loan program was first established in 1912 and became part of the Jewish Federation in 1942. The initial purpose of this fund was to “make small loans to those who were unable to borrow from banks and who needed assistance to start in business, many of them being junk peddlers, hucksters, etc.” (from minutes in archives from 1939). This small program has been in existence since that time and loans have been funded by an endowment held by the Jewish Federation.

The pandemic provided the Jewish Federation with a new opportunity to re-envision this loan program as it offered another way to address a high priority area of the Federation to provide a “safety net for people experiencing temporary

hardship due to unanticipated crises or unexpected life challenge.” As a result, the Federation committed additional financial and human resources to this loan program and, in October of 2021, the Federation Board approved the formation of a new Loan Committee, and Dan Friedman, Vice President for North American Sales and Business Development for Integral Holdings, was appointed as its first chair.

The Loan Committee met regularly for several months towards the end of 2021 and 2022 to develop new guidelines for this loan program, based on the best practices from similar loan programs from around the country as well as support from the national organization, the International Association of Jewish Free Loans (IAJFL). These guidelines were approved by the Federation’s Board at their meeting in March of 2022. The

Federation has also recently hired a part time staff person, Jennifer McGroty, to manage the day-to-day operations of the loan program. The result of all these efforts is a newly imagined loan program. An application for a loan can be securely and confidentially completed online at www.stljla.org.

The St. Louis Jewish Loan Association offers one type of interest-free loan program to the Jewish Community, called a “General Needs Loan.” A General Needs Loan can include, but not be limited to any of the following types of needs: medical and dental, mortgage or rent payments, home repairs, legal fees, funeral expenses, vehicle purchases and repairs, taxes, education, Jewish life cycle celebrations, Jewish summer camp, general living expenses, credit card debt, adoption, and small business loans.

Interest-free loans of up to $5,000 are available, payable over 36 months. Borrowers must demonstrate an ability to repay the loan and they will be required to provide one guarantor as part of their loan application. Lori Kabrun-Berry, director of Foundations, who supervises the loan program, shared that “the beauty of this loan program is that the funds are recycled so as people repay their loans, these funds become available again to new borrowers for years to come.”

This program is a three-year pilot project of Federation, and it is anticipated that it will evolve and change over time as the Loan Committee learns more about the unmet needs of the borrowers, based on the data that it collects.

For more information about the program, visit www.stljla.org, call 314-4423755 or email jewishloan@jfedstl.org.

NCJWSTL announces 2023-2024 board, award winners

The National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis proudly announces their 20232024 Executive Team and Board. The new executive team and board will be installed at the Board Installation Ceremony on Wednesday, May 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the NCJWSTL Office. To RSVP visit bit.ly/NCJWInstallation or call the office at 314-993-5181.

2023 - 2024 Executive Team

Nany Litz (President), Amy Fenster Brown (Secretary), Michelle Brooks (Treasurer), Sarah Martin (VP Administration), Marilen Pitler (VP Advocacy), Amanda Stein (VP Community Impact), Susan Dertke Hendin (VP Development), Mindy Grossmann (VP Leadership), Lisa Gubernik (VP Membership), Gail Eisenkramer (Immediate Past President)

Nancy Litz is the president of the 2023-2024 National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis board.

and Phyllis Langsdorf (President Elect)

2023 - 2024 Board of Directors

Alissa Arst, Barbara Barnholtz, Chris Bomze, Wendy Flusser, Alison Fox, Cindy Frank, Diane Friedman, Amy Gallant, Nicole Gorovsky, Amy Hammerman (SPA), Hillary Hinz, Joyce Kolker, Sarah

Maxwell Greenberg to discuss Jewish pioneer cemeteries at upcoming Shir Hadash program

Maxwell Greenberg will be the guest scholar at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community’s next Shabbat morning learning program at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, in the Arts & Education Building on the Jewish Community Center’s Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive near Creve Coeur. He will discuss “Jewish Pioneer Cemeteries: Frontier Myths, Commemorative Landscapes, and Repairing Sacred Spaces on Stolen Land.”

Greenberg is the postdoctoral fellow in Jewish Studies at Washington University. He writes and teaches about race, religion and gender in the American West. He will explore how Jewish Americans remember and misremember Jewish history in the 19th century American West through the process of historical preservation.

According to Greenberg, “The myth of the Jewish pioneer, rooted in 19th-century narratives that celebrate the racial and gendered violence of U.S. westward expansion, distorts our memory of Jewish western history by failing to acknowledge Indigenous dispossession as a precondition to Jewish settlement. By naming Jewish immigrants as setters rather than pioneers, this research asks us to reconsider the collective myths we’ve inherited and invites meaningful reflection about how

our memories—spoken, written, and situated–-might serve a process of historical repair (or teshuva).”

Shir Hadash celebrates Shabbat as a community in a variety of ways, including monthly Shabbat potluck dinners, Saturday morning services and Torah discussions, and monthly educational programs. For details, visit shirhadashstl.info or contact Carol Wolf Solomon at stlshirhadash@gmail.com.

Kirschner, Sue Lapp, Laura Newman, Diane Packman, Emilie Schaffer, Amy Stone, Karen Tabak, Lauri Teagan, Peggy Cohen Voss, Georgee Waldman and Gail Wechsler

Completing their term

The following board members completed their term with the NCJWSTL board: Dianna Fine, Melissa Forrester, Susan Katzman, Debbie Matson, Jane Tzinberg Rubin, Jennifer Scissors and Karen Silverman.

NCJWSTL award recipients

NCJWSTL honored the 2023 Section Awards recipients on April 19 at the Celebrating Women event, where Sheila Greenbaum received NCJWSTL’s Hannah G. Solomon Founder’s Award. View more photos from the event on page 23.

The 2023 Section Award Winners are:

• Sarah Beth Matt – Community Impact Award

• Alison Fox – Emerging Leader Award

• Dianna Fine & Wendy Flusser – Fritzi Lainoff Advocacy Award

• Michelle Brooks - Leadership Award

• Jennifer Deutsch – Volunteer Service Award

• Jake Hummel & Missouri ARL-CIO Community Partnership Award

Maxwell Greenberg will serve as an upcoming guest scholar at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community Shabbat morning program.

Arts & Faith interfaith tours resume at St. Louis Art Museum

Arts & Faith St. Louis is resuming interfaith tours at the St. Louis Art Museum, which had been put on hiatus during the during the pandemic. Tours can be scheduled by emailing kbratkowski@thesheldon.org.

The tours are led by two volunteer docents of different faiths and have a maximum of 16 participants. Two visitor groups of diverse faiths are paired together for the customized tour. The tour demonstrates common elements of global faith traditions in art produced through the ages.

The tours were initiated by the St. Louis Art Museum in 2017 in collaboration with Arts & Faith St. Louis and the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis. In October 2019, SLAM docents and staff presented the interfaith tour program at the National Docent Symposium in Washington, D.C. as a model for other communities to create partnerships with community organizations.

The tours are available at any time during the museum’s public hours, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday.

Kolot Choir will present free concert on May 16

Kolot, the St. Louis Jewish Women’s Choir, will present an informal Family and Friends Concert to conclude their season at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, in the May Chapel at Temple Israel, 1 Rabbi Alvan D. Rubin Dr. (Ladue Road at Spoede) in Creve Coeur. The concert is free and open to the community.

Kolot will perform songs from their diverse repertoire of Jewish music in English and Hebrew, as well as show tunes and standards from the great American songbook.

Kolot was founded in 2005 by member Jackie Gerson and currently features more than 20 singers ranging in age from mid-30s to 90 and representing all branches of Judaism. The choir is directed by music educator Betti Blumoff, a member of the St. Louis Circle of Jewish Music. Kolot performs at Jewish community events and presents concerts for local organizations and retirement centers.

For more information, contact Blumoff at bettiblumoff@gmail.com.

Interfaith dialogue at Shaare Emeth

Congregation Shaare Emeth welcomed Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, the Archbishop of the Diocese of St. Louis, for a public conversation with Rabbi Emeritus Jeffrey Stiffman, titled “Good Neighbors: The Rabbi and the Archbishop in Dialogue and Friendship” on Sunday, April 30. Their talk was part of Shaare Emeth’s Schneider Interfaith Forum, made possible by Harvey and Leanne Schneider.

Holocaust Museum’s Impact Lab opens with preview event on May 17

The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum has announced the launch of its Impact Lab, a space which explores the themes of rejecting hatred, promoting understanding and inspiring change through practical exploration of historical and contemporary moments of bias, hatred and genocide.

A public preview will take place on May 17 at the museum.

The Impact Lab seeks to empower visitors to explore historical moments and occasions when they themselves may be confronted with hateful rhetoric and encourages them to act as “active allies” to stand up and speak out against injustice. The museum defines an “active ally” as a person who took action in instances of injustice, discrimination and hate.

“The Impact Lab is the answer to the question of ‘what to do now that we know about the Holocaust,’” said Helen Turner, the museum’s director of education. “All too often, visitors are charged with standing up and speaking out after they learn about history of the Holocaust. The Impact Lab is the space where they can put that idea into action. It is designed to call everyone into the conversation of discovering what it is to be an active ally, and explore how we as individuals, as communities, and as a nation, move towards positive change. Truly, change begins with us, right here, right now, at the museum.”

Several funders made this project pos-

sible including the Estate of John D. and Sally S. Levy, the Tilles Foundation, and the Dana Brown Charitable Trust, U.S. Bank Trustee. For more information, visit

STLHolocaustMuseum.org. Those interested in attending the public preview can sign up at stlholocaustmuseum.org/ impact-lab-preview.

PHOTO: PHILIP DEITCH

CELEBRATE THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF VIVIAN ZWICK

Vivian was a trailblazer for reproductive health and rights. As we honor and celebrate her life’s work, we pledge to continue fighting in pursuit of one goal: to build a world where all people have the ability to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care.

Vivian inspired generations of people to take up the mantle to protect abortion. We invite you to share any stories you have about Vivian, or what she meant to you and the movement. Memorial gifts may also be made to support her beloved Planned Parenthood. We will share any stories we receive with Vivian’s family.

“I think that more than anything else in my life, Planned Parenthood widened my horizons of the world. And when I started to do this I realized how little I knew about other women and what they had gone through.”

SHARE A STORY OR MAKE A GIFT. VISIT WWW.PPSLR.ORG/VIVIAN OR SCAN QR CODE

Vivian was a significant figure within Planned Parenthood, and we are all stronger because of her life-long commitment to bodily autonomy. We are grateful to her, and she will be deeply missed.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF AT PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE ST. LOUIS REGION AND SOUTHWEST MISSOURI

-VIVIAN ZWICK

Babyation: Sleek, modern breast pump for the modern mom

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ever since.

“We moved here thinking it was a six-week thing while we looked for a house,” said Miller, who grew up in Syracuse, N.Y. “That was six years ago.

“Honestly, it’s very enabling. That was part of the calculus when we moved here. This is a good city for entrepreneurs, but it’s also where we’ve got family and a support network.”

Rudolph added, laughing: “It’s very nice to have built-in babysitters, though we try not to take advantage of that. But it’s a house filled with love and laughter. And the relationship our kids have with my parents is phenomenal for each one of them.”

Their baby: A new breast pump is born

The couple spent more than six years raising capital; creating, building and modifying the design; securing patents and FDA approval, manufacturing and office space, and everything else that goes into building a revolutionary new breast pump.

Then about a year ago, the Pump by Babyation launched with a price of $499. If that seems expensive, consider that almost immediately, the Babyation pump amassed a 4,500-person waitlist.

“Generally speaking, we have not been able to keep up with the demand,” said Rudolph, who serves as the company’s CEO while Miller is CTO (chief technical officer). “Our big focus this past year was how to improve efficiency and fulfill the needs of the demand.”

Since the pump and the app used to control it are considered medical devices, both required FDA approval and other regulatory measures.

In addition, Rudolph say, there was that

pesky matter of the pandemic when “everything moved slower and some of the logistics became more difficult.”

Nearly 30 patents worldwide are attached to the pump, including ones for how the device looks, the breast shield and the method of using the system.

“The way we’re doing this is fairly unique,” Miller said. “There is not another product that looks like ours. The way we move milk through tubes doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. There’s a lot to protect here.”

So how does it work?

The Pump by Babyation is essentially an all-in-one portable carrier that includes a cooling system to preserve the milk, an ultraquiet motor and bottle storage. To pump, a nursing mom slips small silicone breast shields inside her bra and connects them to two tubes which in turn, are connected to the bottles in the carrier. An accompanying app allows the mom to regulate the speed and suction of the milk as its pumped, see how much has been expressed, and auto matically start and stop the process, among other functions.

When pumping is done, the tubes, which need to be replaced daily for safety reasons, are stored in their own bag within the carrier system until the next pumping ses sion. All of this can be done discreetly and com

STRONGER BONES, HEALTHIER LIFE: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO PREVENTING AND MANAGING OSTEOPOROSIS

By: Dr Beth Templin PT DPT GCS Geriatrics Physical Therapist

If you've recently been told that you have osteoporosis or osteopenia, it s tempting to brush it off as a "normal" part of aging You may think that because everyone your age seems to be having the same trouble as you that it's something you will have to learn to live with You may not know how to live with this new diagnosis, but now you're worried about breaking a bone You ve even started to limit what you're willing to do, in order to protect your fragile bones If this is happening to you, you're not alone We hear these types of things all the time In fact, Osteoporosis is one of the most common problems we see at HouseFit Most people realize that their osteoporosis or osteopenia won't magically go away on its own but they still don't take action It might be because they don t know what steps to take to improve their bone density OR they don't truly believe they can improve their bone health "at their age" Fortunately there are several options to help manage and even reverse your osteoporosis and to keep you active as you age

It s critical to educate yourself on osteoporosis, its causes, and the best treatments currently available It’s why we’ve created our comprehensive guide “Osteoporosis: A Guide To Building Stronger Bones”

In this guide you'll find:

● What really impacts your bone health

● What diet best supports healthy bones

● The top exercises for strong bones

● Why inactivity increases bone loss

● AND much more!

I want to make this guide available to you absolutely free of charge! To claim your copy, simply call (314) 939-1377 or visit our website housefitstl com/bone-health to download the report directly to your computer

If you’re ready to manage your bone health and lead an active lifestyle, this guide can help you get started with confidence!

fortably so a nursing mom can keep her top on while she pumps and go about her daily activities.

“We always felt that a woman should be able to use a breast pump without the world around them knowing,” said Rudolph. “That means I can keep my shirt on and there is no dead giveaway. That means an easy way to tell how much milk has been expressed. That means an app on my phone where I can conveniently control the pumping process.”

Rudolph is explaining all of this at Babyation’s headquarters, a 10,000- square-foot warehouse and office space in Maryland Heights where the pumps are manufactured and shipped by a core team of 13 employees, the majority of them women.

“We didn’t think we’d be able to do this in St. Louis, but there has been such a growth in manufacturing here,” she said. “We are seeing much better capabilities here now than even a few years ago.”

As an Entrepreneur in Residence at Washington University’s Skandalaris Center and a mentor for Stadia Ventures, a global sports accelerator and venture fund headquartered in Webster Groves, Rudolph is also working directly with burgeoning business leaders and entrepreneurs. Often when she speaks to them, she offers a little advice.

“I tell them they have to know why they are doing what they are doing because they’re going to have some really bad days, no matter how successful they were or will be,” she said. “So the most important thing you need is the ‘why.’ For us, our north star has always been the moms and to be able to make a difference with something that is so hard and important at a unique time in their lives. To be able to make one little piece easier is everything.”

For more information about Babyation, visit babyation.com.

LEFT: Samantha Rudolph and Jared Miller with their sons, Oden and Exton.

The Pump by Babyation retails for $499 but the company has a “give back” program where anyone in need can apply to be considered for a free pump.

Family: St. Louis community lends helping hand to Ukrainian family

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

or Airbnbs, that would really be nice,’ ” Wittels said. “So I sent a note out to the board. We immediately got a bunch of commitments and money.”

Surgery for young Nikita wasn’t the Ukrainian family’s only concern. Their home in Ukraine had been bombed by Russian forces, so Nikita, his sister, grandmother and mother, Yana, relocated to Israel.

The surgery, originally planned for last fall, was rescheduled to last month. Wittels said that gave the J board and other friends time to arrange for the family to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. They arrived in St. Louis on March 26, and their son had successful surgery four days later. It was less than a week before Passover.

“While he was in the hospital, his mother, Yana, asked me, ‘Is there any place I can get Passover food?’ ” Wittels said. “I told her I’d take her to get it. Then I said, ‘You need to come to our house for seder. We would love to have you.’

“They came and we did the four questions, and that’s when it occurred to me that we were all singing the same language. We were all singing the same songs. And no matter how far apart we live, no matter what language we speak, no matter where we are in life, we all have this in common. And it was really incredibly touching.”

Wittels joined the family for Shabbat dinner April 21, and she invited them to one more St. Louis event: the 75th anniversary of Israel celebration at the J on April 23. Yana and her husband, Anton, looked on as Nikita navigated a new labyrinth created at the J. It was one of their final activities in St. Louis before Yana and Nikita returned to Israel on April 26. Anton, an orthopedist who owns a rehab clinic in Ukraine, will return there for his work.

Asked about the help they received from the St. Louis community, Anton (translating to English for Yana) explained that the family was extremely grateful for the support.

“It’s just an amazing story,” Wittels said. “When we gave Yana a debit card, she had tears in her eyes and said to me, ‘I’m always on the giving end. I’ve never been on the receiving end.’ She’s worked in the Jewish community in Ukraine for years.”

Wittels also helped the family make another connection, with an Israeli family whose daughter came 3½ years ago for the same surgery.

“Now they see them five days a week at therapy,” Wittels said. “So it’s a small Jewish world. A big Jewish world, and a small Jewish world.”

Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School announces the ‘Raise Your Yad Challenge’

Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School is launching Raise Your Yad (hand), a campaign to break down the barriers of entry to a Jewish day school education. Already, more than 75 families have donated a collective $4.71 million so that St. Louis’ only pluralistic Jewish day school remains financially feasible and able to offer comprehensive support services for diverse learners.

“Our Jewish future will be shaped by the independent thinkers, creative learners and ethical leaders that emerge from Mirowitz,” said Sue Fischlowitz, who is co-chairing the campaign with her husband, David Roberts. “Yet not every family can afford a Mirowitz education; that is why this campaign is so important.”

Fischlowitz and Roberts are inviting the community to “Raise Your Yad” to endow financial aid and learning support services. The public phase of the campaign will culminate with a 36-hour Raise Your Yad Challenge on May 16-17. The day of online giving will include match incentives. Donors also may give a

gift in advance of the Challenge by visiting Mirowitz.org/raise-your-yad.

“We know that the single most important parenting decision we made was sending both our boys to Jewish day school,” says Missy Korenblat-Hanin, a donor to the campaign. “We gave our boys a gift that nurtured their minds and shaped their souls. We support Raise Your Yad so that all parents can do the same for their children.”

Mirowitz is unique in its ability to serve diverse families. “Except for schools cre-

ated to serve special needs, no other St. Louis independent school offers the level of learning support that Mirowitz does,” said Raquel Scharf-Anderson, head of school. “But the reality is that it’s expensive to provide learning support for gifted children and those with varied learning needs. This campaign will ensure, in perpetuity, our occupational therapy, speech therapy, social services and learning support, and also help us make the school financially accessible to more families.”

Other volunteers involved include Honorary Co-Chairs: The Mirowitz Family; Campaign Advisor: Michael Rubin; Campaign Cabinet: Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael, Lauren Cohen, Dr. Barbara Green, Sara Lander, Scott Levine, Marty Levison, Cyndee Levy, Jeremy Lieb, Cheryl Maayan, Sue Matlof, Galia Movitz, Dr. Diane Rosen, Wendy Rosenblum, Betsy Rubenstein and Sherri Frank Weintrop.

For more information, contact Marianne Chervitz, director of development at mchervitz@mirowitz.org or 314576-6177.

PHOTO: MIROWITZ.ORG

NEWSMAKERS

Newsmakers is a compilation of the Jewish community’s newsworthy professional and academic accomplishments. Submit your news to news@stljewishlight.org. Call 314-743-3669 for more information. Newsmakers is compiled by Elise Krug.

Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School honored Sanford “Buddy” Lebman with the Meyer and Marcelle Kranzberg Visionary Award and Rabbi Susan Talve and Rabbi James Stone Goodman with the Community Service award. All were celebrated at the May 7 Greetings from Mirowitz gala at the Ritz Carlton.

Sarah Z. Levinson, who works for Jewish Family Services as the manager of the St. Louis NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community), will be honored at the Joy of Community, the JProStL annual End of Year Event, on Wednesday, May 17 for her two years as president of JProStL. Rabbi Lori Levine, associate rabbi and director of education at Congregation Shaare Emeth, will be installed as the new president. JProStL, an initiative of Jewish Federation of St. Louis, is the association for staff who work throughout the St. Louis Jewish community. It provides staff development, networking and the sharing of resources.

Former St. Louisan Kalix Jacobson was recently ordained a cantor from Hebrew Union College in New York and graduated from Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management with a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management. They will be joining the clergy of Temple Emanuel of South Hills in Pittsburgh, Penn. in July.

Rebecca Barnholtz, University of Maryland, class of 2024, has been selected for membership in the Sigma Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society. She was recognized for her service in social and campus activities.

Barnholtz is majoring in public policy and has served as a summer intern at the National Council of Jewish Women-St. Louis and currently works for UMD Student Entertainment Events. She is the daughter of Rachel Barnholtz and Lee Barnholtz.

BROUGHT TO YOU THIS

MONTH BY:

TOP ROW, FROM LEFT: Sarah Z. Levinson, Rabbi Lori Levine and Kalix Jacobson

SECOND ROW: Rebecca Barnholtz, Deb Dubin and Philip W. Taxman

THIRD ROW: Samantha Shanker, Becky Hauser and Marci Mayer Eisen

Deb Dubin will serve on St. Louis Public Radio’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of their community advisory board. She is the chief philanthropy officer for Moneta Group and attends Central Reform Congregation.

Philip W. Taxman, senior vice president and wealth adviser at Merrill Lynch, has been named a Forbes magazine Best-inState Wealth Advisor for 2023. Taxman is a member of Shaare Emeth.

Former St. Louisan Samantha Shanker joined the writing team as a staff writer of the new Netflix series, “Unstable.” It stars Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe.

Becky Hauser was named one of the inaugural Webster Groves School District Inspires Award recipients, Parent

Volunteer. She was honored at the district’s Recognition Reception on May 9. Hauser attends CRC.

Marci Mayer Eisen, director of Millstone Leadership Initiatives and JProStL at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, is the founder and co-chair of Imun (Hebrew for coaching), a peer-led cohort for ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentialed coaches who work with Jewish organizations in the United States and beyond. Participants learn from one another, promote coaching cultures in Jewish organizations, and refer coaching opportunities. Eisen, a member of CRC, is available for short-term coaching for staff and board leaders affiliated with Jewish organizations in St. Louis, as a service of Jewish Federation.

Continued on opposite page

Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School honored Rabbi Susan Talve and Rabbi James Stone Goodman (above) and Sanford “Buddy” Lebman (left) and during its May 7 gala.

Brian Liberman has joined Cadence Bank’s St. Louis Commercial Banking team as senior vice president, relationship manager. His new role focuses on delivering comprehensive banking solutions to manufacturing companies, residential home builders and contractors.

Alan Spector and Marty Stein were two of the 14 inducted into the Greater St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame last month. Spector, a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth and the board of the Jewish Light, is a baseball author and former player at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Stein, a 25-year board member and president of the St. Louis Metro Collegiate Baseball League and managing partner at Gaming Recruiters, LLC, attends Congregation Temple Israel.

Kappa Delta president Demi Fine received the David A. Ambler Outstanding Campus Leader Award from the University of Kansas Sorority and Fraternity Life. This award recognizes individuals who display outstanding leadership and service across the KU campus. Demi is the president of KU Challah for Hunger program, a social media intern, an active member of KU’s Hillel and completed over 90 hours of community service this school year. The daughter of Jennifer and Kevin Fine, she is a

junior majoring in Unified Studies of General and Special Educaton. Her family attends Congregation B’nai Amoona.

“Nancy and Ken Kranzberg Way” was officially dedicated as the honorary street name for Washington Avenue from North Leonard Avenue to North Teresa Avenue. The honor came in recognition of the impact both have made in preserving St. Louis’ rich cultural heritage on these blocks and throughout the region.

Shaare Emeth plans farewell event for retiring executive director

Rosalie Stein will retire from her position as executive director of Congregation Shaare Emeth, effective June 30. Stein became a Shaare Emeth staff member in 2007, when she was hired as development director. Soon thereafter, she assumed the position of executive director, a position she has held for 15 years.

Congregational leaders said through her leadership and vision, Stein has helped lead Shaare Emeth through many challenges and transitions with sensitivity, creativity, compassion and skill.

“We are very happy for Rosalie as she reaches this milestone in her career and will now have the opportunity to explore other interests and commitments in her life,” said Bill Remis, the congregation’s board president. “At the same time, all of us at Shaare Emeth will miss Rosalie’s leadership, wisdom, and expertise.”

In 2017, Stein was presented with the Career Achievement Award from JProStl.

A celebration is being planned in honor of Stein’s retirement as part of Shaare Emeth’s 156th Annual Meeting on Monday, May 22. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. and a celebratory dinner will follow at 7 p.m. The community can make tributes in Stein’s honor to Shaare Emeth’s Operating Fund to continue to support the legacy she leaves.

Reservations for dinner and tributes can be made at sestl.co/rosalie.

An executive director transition team, comprised of lay leadership and senior staff, was formed in early February 2023 to coordinate the search for a new executive director. Collaborative Strategies, Inc. is assisting with the search.

WHAT DOES THE GATESWORTH MEAN TO YOU? community

The Gatesworth is like a self-contained city – whatever you want or need, they’ll get it for you. No matter what your question is, their answer is always ‘yes.’ I love it! — CAROL MAX

”

Discover Senior Living Your Way

The Gatesworth provides the perfect canvas to enjoy life your way. Living in an exquisitely appointed apartment surrounded by beautiful, lush grounds, you’ll feel inspired to pursue new interests, expand your knowledge, build friendships and embrace your independence.

We invite you to discover The Gatesworth and experience exceptional senior living today. Call 314-993-0111.

314-993-0111

T he G aT eswor T h . com Facebook.com/TheGatesworth

40 just off I-170 at One McKnight Place

ABOVE: Brian Libermann, Alan Spector, Marty Stein and Demi Fine

Former 19th Ward Alderwoman Marlene E. Davis (left) is pictured with Nancy and Ken Kranzberg at the dedication of the Nancy and Ken Kranzberg Way.

Rosalie Stein

The Gatesworth is an independent senior living community conveniently located north of Highway

OPINIONS

ABOUT THE OPINIONS SECTION

Viewpoints expressed in letters, commentaries, cartoons and other opinion pieces reflect those of the writer or artist, and not those of the Light. We welcome submissions of letters and commentaries to: news@stljewishlight.org

Jubilee year idealism shows way to counter gun violence

BY RABBI AMY FEDER

I signed up months ago to write this week’s d’var Torah. I remember thinking what a fun parasha this would be to share with you all. I love the discussion of the jubilee year and of the gifts made to the sanctuary, and of the idealism that closes out the book of Leviticus before returning to the biblical narrative in Numbers. I had lots of ideas about what I wanted to write.

Then, a few minutes ago, before I intended to start writing, I drove my son and his friend to a movie. Like many parents with young teenagers, I spend quite a bit of my time as a chauffeur, quietly shuttling children who, while sitting in the back seat, seem to forget that I’m there and talk openly about whatever’s on their minds.

Today’s back-seat conversation went like this:

“They cancelled the big game in Texas today because it got rained out.”

“Right, and also probably because of the mall shooting there. I heard eight people were killed.”

“Yeah. Did you know there have been more mass shootings this year than there have even been days?”

And then they got out of the car, waved goodbye to me and went into the theater without a backward glance.

That was it.

I sat in my car for a few minutes, unable to move. It wasn’t that they had been blasé

Troubling history

The online article published April 3 about Holocaust rescuer Varian Fry (“New Netflix show ‘Transatlantic’ chronicles an effort to save artists and thinkers from Nazis,” by PJ Grisar of the Forward, reprinted with permission on stljewishlight.org) noted how he helped more than 2,000 Jews escape Vichy France in 194041. Your readers may be wondering why Fry’s mission came to an end.

Sadly, prior to America’s entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policy was to maintain cordial — sometimes even friendly — relations with Nazi Germany as well as with the Nazis’ puppet regime in Vichy, France. Thus, when the Nazis and Vichyites complained to Washington about Fry, the Roosevelt administration responded by taking action to curb his activities.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull instructed the U.S. ambassador in Paris in September 1940 to tell Fry “that this Government cannot, repeat not, countenance [him] carrying on activities evading the laws of countries with which the United States maintains friendly relations.” Hull also sent a telegram to Fry, demanding that he “return immediately” to the United States. When Fry refused, the Roosevelt administration refused to renew Fry’s passport, forcing him to leave France.

The administration also punished Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV, a U.S. diplo-

Rabbi Amy Feder serves Congregation Temple Israel and is a past president of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the Jewish Light.

about the shooting. It’s just that nothing fazes them anymore. They have learned how to hear this horrific news, take it in and move on.

While the fact that they are able to do so may mean that they are blessedly far more resilient than I am, it breaks my heart that they have had to build that kind of resilience. How have we given them a country in which mass violence is so commonplace that it hardly registers?

I don’t have an answer for how to stop gun violence in our country. Like many of you, I have read and listened to countless experts and politicians speak on the topic, and minds far brighter than mine have presented ideas that have one by one been rejected, discounted or ignored. It has gotten to a point where it seems that most people have simply thrown up their hands and assumed this is a problem that’s impossible to fix.

Yet I find myself drawn back to the parasha and the lessons we can find in ancient wisdom. The Torah presents us with an idea of a jubilee year, which was essentially

a complete socio-economic refresh when everyone could start with a clean slate. Many scholars suggest that such an idea was probably more a dream than a reality, an impossibly utopian vision for society.

Yet we keep studying it, keep dreaming about it, because we know that it presents an idea for a society that we should be striving for. It gives us a vision for a world in which people are given hope and security and the tools to work together to have another chance to be the best versions of themselves and their society.

In our own day, we need to keep doing the same when it comes to striving for a world without mass shootings. This is not nearly as complicated as the jubilee year. We should be able to do this. We need these teachings to remind us that even seemingly impossible visions of society are worth striving for and that we must continue coming up with wild dreams and goals for perfect communities in the hope that at least some of them might just work.

This week’s parasha also gives us the words inscribed on the Liberty Bell: Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. May this be the year when we have the liberty to live our lives without fear, when our children should not need to casually accept the brokenness we continue to hand to them. May the visions for the kind of society we all wish for ourselves and the next generation be more than just a dream.

World War II, or in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks—it could be argued that Israel is doing an even better job than the United States in that respect.

Stephen Flatow Long Branch, N.J.

BY NINA NEEDLEMAN

Many of us have mothers who can afford to buy whatever they want. Or perhaps they’re getting to the point in life where they’re downsizing or getting rid of things.

So instead of buying a gift this Mother’s Day that she may not need or want, why not honor your mom by contributing to a cause that’s important to her? Visit the links below and donate in her honor.

Is she an animal lover? How about:

• St. Louis Zoo — Adopt a Puma promotion for Mother’s Day. Visit https:// bit.ly/stlzoo-puma

• ASPCA (American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) — www.aspcapro.org/resource/mothersday-your-way

If her interest is empowering girls, how about:

• Girls in the Know — Teaches girls about self-esteem, safety and puberty with classes by police, doctors and more. www.girlsintheknow.org

• Girls on the Run — Teaches running and critical life skills to girls. www.girlsontherunstlouis.org

If she’s inspired to help families:

• Jewish Family Services — Helps seniors, children and families at risk, provides food and services for the needy, helps mediate family problems and enhances Jewish connections. jfsstl.org

mat in Marseilles who had been aiding Fry; Bingham was transferred to Portugal, then to Argentina.

It was the administration’s actions against Fry and Bingham that forced an end to their rescue effort.

Dr. Rafael Medoff, Director

The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, Washington, D.C.

Equality in Israel

Rabbi James Bennett (April 19 commentary, “Trust in Israel’s future despite challenging present”) asserts: “Surely, no one can claim that the complete equality of social and political rights of all Israel’s inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or sex, is being pursued…”

Well, let’s see.

Israeli Arabs vote freely in every Israeli election; Israeli Arabs serve in parliament; Israeli Arabs have served as cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors, and consul-generals; and there is an Israeli Arab justice on the Supreme Court. So while Israel obviously is not perfect — neither is the United States — it is, in fact, doing a very good job of pursuing complete equality for all its citizens, especially for a country that is under daily siege by terrorists and is surrounded by aggressive totalitarian regimes that constantly threaten to annihilate it. In fact, if you consider how civil liberties have fared in America during periods of internal or external threats—such as in

Judaism and abortion

The Access MO Clergy Board wrote a letter to the editor (April 5 edition) in response to Jordan Cherrick’s March 8 op-ed in which he expressed a cogent presentation on traditional Jewish Biblical views toward abortion.

The Clergy Board wrote that since “Judaism mandates abortion when it is necessary to save the mother’s life ... one can easily conclude that Judaism is indeed pro-choice, pro-freedom and pro-personal autonomy.”

It certainly is true that Judaism places the life of the mother over her unborn child. However, in the United States, well over 95% of abortions take place on healthy mothers carrying healthy unborn children. Therefore, to conclude that a mandated abortion when a mother’s life is endangered leads to the conclusion that Judaism is pro-choice — meaning, Judaism allows abortion as an elective procedure under any and all circumstances — requires a leap of logic greater than motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel’s jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace.

Knievel failed in his outlandish 1967 stunt, as does the criticism of the Access MO Clergy Board of Cherrick’s exposition of the traditional Jewish Biblical view of abortion.

Richard Senturia University City

• National Council for Jewish Women-St. Louis — Provides micro-lending program for women and families in need, helps outfit children in need as they get ready for school, provides a community closet of clothes and supplies for children, helps grieving widows and widowers and much more. www.ncjwstl.org

If someone close is suffering from a disease or died?

• Cancer Support Community — Offers counseling, support groups, cooking and exercise classes and other resources for individuals and their families fighting cancer. www.cancersupportstl.org

See NEEDLEMAN on page 24

Nina Needleman is a retired financial planner. She spent the first three decades of her career in the financial services industry, where she mentored salespeople so they could teach, educate and sell financial products to consumers. For the past nine years, she worked directly with consumers as a financial planner to help them reach their life goals. Now she uses her business skills to help nonprofit organizations and, more importantly, as a volunteer to teach people about personal finance and philanthropy.

D’VAR

Celebrate mom with a donation to a cause she holds dear

Yom Yerushalayim: A day of glory, gratitude and remembrance

BY RABBI ZE’EV SMASON & RABBI YONASON GOLDSON

You’ve seen the photograph. Three Israeli paratroopers, their eyes glistening with tears, gaze up at the ancient stones of the Western Wall in awe and wonder. Jerusalem is ours!

On June 7, 1967, with enemy tanks massed on Israel’s borders and murderous Arab rhetoric promising to drive the Jews into the sea, the Israeli air force launched preemptive strikes against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Against overwhelming odds, Israel’s forces prevailed.

Two days later, on the 5th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, a small band of soldiers navigated the serpentine streets of Jerusalem’s Old City to enter the courtyard of Israel’s most sacred site. In one mystical moment, the Wall returned to Jewish control for the first time in 2,000 years.

It was there, in Jerusalem, that King David established the seat of his monarchy 3,000 years ago, that Solomon built the first Temple, that pilgrims gathered for the festivals three times each year, that the sages of the Sanhedrin convened to rule on Torah law, that the Maccabees re-inaugurated the daily service to their Father in heaven. Indeed, it was in Jerusalem that the revered sage Nachmanides arrived in 1267, exactly seven centuries before Jerusalem Day, one of a steady stream of Jews returning home from their long and bitter exile among the nations.

The prophet Zechariah refers to Jerusalem as Daughter of Zion. The name describes the eternal capital of a Jewish nation secure in its land, guided by the teachings handed down from Sinai, ruled by an enlightened monarch from the Davidic dynasty. Across the span of history, Jews have retained that connection, praying daily for our return to the land we left only at the point of a spear.

And yet, we hear again and again demands that Israel surrender its ances-

St. Louis doctor: Restricting access to mifepristone would endanger patients

DR. JENNIFER SMITH

For the past few weeks, we have watched with anxiety as American healthcare takes a backseat to American politics. We watched this play out on Friday, April 7, when Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sided with the conservative Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom, and issued an injunction on the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone.

After two weeks of multiple rulings, on April 21, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mifepristone would remain available without further restrictions until the issue is fully litigated and works its way through the courts.

As healthcare providers, we have temporarily exhaled. For now, our patients will still have access to this safe and effective medication, used in combination with misoprostol for over 50% of abortions under 10-weeks gestation in the United States. Overturning the FDA approval of mifepristone would impact tens of thousands of pregnant people across our country.

After the initial ruling, Erik Baptist, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, stated that “this is a significant victory for …. the health and safety of women and girls.” Contrary to his statement, Mifeprex has been used safely and effectively for over 20 years. Its approval and safety are based on numerous medical studies, and it is successful in

95-98% of cases depending on gestational age. The risk of serious complications from the two-drug protocol (mifepristone and misoprostol) is less than 0.3%.

By comparison, the risk of serious complications from a surgical abortion is about 0.4%, and the risk of serious complications in childbirth is 1.3%. Despite this safety record, Mifepristone is also subject to “REMS,” risk evaluation and mitigation strategy. REMS requires pharmacies and physicians who carry and prescribe this drug to become certified. No such requirement is in place for penicillin or Viagra, even though a person is four times more likely to die as a reaction to penicillin, and nearly 10 times more likely to die as a reaction to Viagra, than to die from taking mifepristone.

Tylenol, available over the counter, is also not subject to REMS, even though it can cause severe liver damage when taken in excess. The REMS mandates on mifepristone limit access to medication abortion, despite its proven safety compared to pregnancy and these commonly used medications.

If Kacsmaryk’s ruling goes into effect, mifepristone will no longer be available anywhere in the United States. As a result, the only option for medication abortions will be to use the drug misoprostol alone. The misoprostol-only regimen, already used in some other countries, has a significantly lower success rate of 80%. In some

cases, this means the pregnancy continues. In others, this results in complications such as an incomplete abortion, hemorrhaging, or sepsis at a higher rate than the two-drug regimen with mifepristone.

The lower success rate and higher complication rate will drive more women to have surgical abortions, significantly increasing wait times, exhausting already stressed resources, and delaying some first-trimester abortions to the second trimester, where the risks are higher. This will also deepen economic inequality as patients without means to travel for in-person care will be disproportionately affected, continuing the cycle of poverty.

As a Jewish woman, I am proud that most in the Jewish community stand with pregnant people in support of their autonomy and agency over personal healthcare decisions. Judaism teaches that a fetus is not an individual until it is born and outside the womb. The Talmud says that existing life takes precedence over potential life, so the life of the fetus may be sacrificed to save the life of the mother.

Over time these teachings have evolved. For example, most Jews believe that pregnant people must have absolute autonomy over their own bodies, while some Jews believe that Judaism permits, and indeed mandates, abortion if the mother’s physical or mental health is at serious risk. In all branches of Judaism, complete abortion bans are contrary to Jewish law. But

tral home and relinquish title to its everlasting capital. Nations, leaders, human rights groups — even some misguided Jewish organizations — condemn Israeli Jews as “colonialists” or “occupiers.” By brazenly rewriting history, they unwittingly sanction the kind of brutal ethnic cleansing that left 67 Jews dead in the 1929 Hebron massacre while shattering the lives of hundreds more.

It’s revealing that Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the entire Quran, despite the claim that it’s Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third holiest site. In contrast, Jerusalem is undeniably Judaism’s most holy place, mentioned some 660 times in Jewish scripture. We cannot “occupy” what is already ours.

It’s not only about Jerusalem. Over 800,000 Jewish citizens currently reside in areas shamefully misrepresented as “occupied territory” and misleadingly called “the West Bank.” These areas, properly known as Judea and Samaria, are the Biblical heartland of Israel. Hebron appears in Genesis as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Shechem, aka Nablus, is the burial place of Joseph. The Golan as well is identified in Deuteronomy as part of the territorial inheritance of the tribe of Menashe. Israel’s claim on these places runs even deeper than its claim on Haifa and Tel Aviv.

So what of the contention that Palestine has been the Arab homeland from time immemorial? And what of the assertion that Israel drove Arabs from their homes during the 1948 war? Let’s see.

Dr. Jennifer Smith earned her medical degree from Washington University and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Barnes Jewish Hospital. She is in private practice with Consultants in Women’s Healthcare at Missouri Baptist Hospital and is a cofounder of Missouri Healthcare Professionals for Reproductive Rights (online at www.facebook.com/MHPRR).

I believe that pregnant people must possess complete autonomy and agency to choose abortion without explanations or exceptions.

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, we should remember that parenthood should be a choice. To truly be free, those who may be pregnant must be able to make their own healthcare decisions, without having to justify their choice to satisfy the moral construct of others. Autonomy must be absolute, and I pray that, as Jews, we continue unfettered support of the individual right to choose when and if to be pregnant. Removing, or further restricting, access to this safe and effective drug will limit autonomy and harm patients, something that I find unacceptable as a physician and a Jew. MO Healthcare Professionals for Reproductive Rights demands that our elected officials restore abortion access in Missouri. MO healthcare professionals can support abortion access by visiting https://bit.ly/MHPRR-letter and community members by visiting https://bit.ly/ MHPRR-supporters.

Rabbi Ze’ev Smason (above left) is Chairman of the Missouri chapter of the Coalition for Jewish Values. Rabbi Yonason Goldson (right) serves as Executive Vice President.

See YOM YERUSHALAYIM on page 16

Israeli paratroopers stand in front of the western wall in Jerusalem on June 7, 1967.

PHOTO: DAVID RUBINGER, NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION OF ISRAEL

FEATURES

ARTS AND CULTURE FOOD HOLIDAYS LIFESTYLES

BY JORDAN PALMER CHIEF DIGITAL CONTENT OFFICER

Bram Hoffman is knee-deep in books. He is in a dimly lit back room in one of the largest independent bookstores in St. Louis — Dunaway Books at 3111 S. Grand Ave. Stacks upon stacks of cardboard boxes surround his small workstation. The boxes are filled part of a collection of thousands of Judaica books.

“Here we have a stack of various books that are each valuable in their own way,” Hoffman said. “Each has its own story that requires explanation and background. This ‘Hanhagot HaAdam’ was found in the collection of Rabbi David Oppenheim. Oppenheim was the chief rabbi of Prague in the early 1700s and was one of the city’s largest book collectors. It’s a book about how a Jewish man should behave in life.”

It’s just one very old book among thousands.

“The collection is made up of everything from out of print Hebrew books to Israeli novels and Yiddish plays,” Hoffman said. “We also have books of significant historical value, like early Gershom Scholem books, and a Shulchan Aruch (1753), and a ‘Seder Olam Rabba’ (1711) printed in Amsterdam. There’s also a massive collection of late 19th (and) early 20th century Jewish writers like Shai Agnon and Sholem Aleichem.”

Hoffman picks up another book, opens it and reads the Hebrew printed on the inside cover.

“This is ‘Illustrations of Jewish Life on the East Side of Manhattan’ by the famed artist Leon Israel [Lola],” he said. “It’s a picture album of scenes from the streets of the Jewish section of the Lower East Side, which was the center of Jewish life at the start of the 20th century.”

Watching Hoffman, who is fluent in Hebrew, move from book to book, reading the information printed inside, is like watching a rabbi reading the Torah. There is a cadence to his voice and thoughtful intention to his tone as he reads snippets of information about each book out loud. He seems to be in awe of the information as well as the history he has in his hands.

“My experience with each book is, essentially, ‘How did this end up here?’ So many times, I’ve found books that I knew were rare and had only seen once or twice or had never even heard of,” he said. “I’ve also held first editions of works by people I admire, like Nobel Laureate Shai Agnon, Vladimir Jabotinsky and Natan Alterman. Overall, my experience working with the collection has been one of continuous curiosity and surprise.”

The Aron Lutwak Collection

The thousands of books Hoffman is unboxing are from the Aron Lutwak Collection. Lutwak (1934-2020) was the longtime proprietor of Ideal Bookstore near Columbia University in New York City and later in northern New Jersey. He was a book dealer specializing in out-ofprint academic books of Judaic content.

Kevin Twellman and Claudia Brodie, the owners of Dunaway Books, first met Lutwak in 2017 through a connection with Brodie’s sister who worked with Lutwak’s wife, Alice.

“We made him an offer to purchase his entire collection, and he turned us

down,” Twellman said. “Then, two years later (2019), we made him an offer to purchase his inventory of ancient civilizations, which was about 700 books. We traveled to New Jersey to close the deal, and we again offered to buy everything.”

This time, Lutwak was ready to sell.

“He asked us what our offer was in 2017,” Twellman said. “We told him, and he refused again. I asked him to give me a number. He wrote it down, we countered, and he accepted.”

The process of packing up the books and shipping them to St. Louis took several months. About half of the books went into the store’s inventory, and the remain-

ABOVE: Washington University student Bram Hoffman has been working to catalog the books in the Aron Lutwak Collection.

LEFT: Details of pages in the collection.

PHOTOS: JORDAN PALMER

der was kept in storage as the process of unpacking and cataloging continued.

“We bought the collection for two reasons,” Twellman said. “To resell it, and because I love history and research. Even though I’m not Jewish and Claudia is, together we enjoy Jewish history, and holding these books is like holding a piece of history in your hand.”

Four years later, roughly 6,000 of the 10,000 books in the Lutwak collection have been cataloged. The process has been slow because many of the books are in Hebrew. Modern books published in Israel have a second title page in English, but many older books do not.

“We struggled to find the right person who could help us and stay with this project,” Brodie said. “And then we found Bram.”

Bram Hoffman

Bram Hoffman, 19, is a Washington University freshman who grew up Orthodox in Cleveland. After graduating from high school in 2021, he spent a year at a yeshiva in Israel. A lover of books and literature, Hoffman picked up skills allow-

Claudia Brodie and Kevin Twellman, owners of Dunaway Books.

PHOTOS: JORDAN PALMER

Judy Blume classic still resonates with new generation

BY AMY BURGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT

I was just a year old when Judy Blume’s classic young adult novel “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” was published in 1970, long before YA Fiction was even considered a genre. By the time I hit puberty myself, around 1982, that seminal book, as well as Blume’s subsequent novels for teens, were still hugely popular. While I haven’t read them since that time, I still remember how I felt when I first discovered her books at that impressionable age – like she was speaking directly to me in a way that other adults did not, in a voice that sounded like my own.

Blume took on issues of puberty and teen sexuality in an honest and unflinching way. In “Margaret,” she balanced these themes with the protagonist’s developing complex relationship with God and religion – things I also experienced as a Reform Jewish girl growing up in a small town where I was in the minority.

With the recent release of the film adaptation of “Margaret,” many women of my generation are remembering just how important Blume, now 85, was at that critical time in our lives. When I see the film, I will view it through different eyes – now as a mother raising teenage girls in a modern world that barely resembles the setting of the book.

It’s a nostalgia trip, no doubt, but the question is, how will it resonate with Gen Z? Do girls coming-of-age in a world dominated by Instagram influencers, TikTok stars and intruder drills still identify with the emotions and themes the book and film present?

Rabbi Amy Feder of Temple Israel had similar thoughts and questions.

“I loved ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ when I was a child, and I was so excited and curious to see that they’re making a movie out of it,” she says. “Some of my colleagues across the country in the Women’s Rabbinic Network were sharing similar thoughts, and someone suggested that it would be fun to have a class based on it. I asked my 11-year-old daughter her thoughts, and while she wasn’t interested in a class, she did think that reading the book and discussing it and then seeing the movie would be fun.”

Feder posted a message on the local Facebook group St. Louis Jewish Mamas to see if anyone would be interested, and she was pleasantly surprised by the response. So on Saturday, April 29, a group of about a dozen mothers and daughters gathered at Temple Israel to have a casual discussion about the book. They graciously allowed me to join the conversation.

“The part that made it worth discussing specifically in a Jewish setting is the idea that Margaret is so torn between Judaism and Christianity (the religions that her par-

ents were born into but don’t currently practice), and the fact that her parents allow her to choose does not provide her with what she needs, though she builds a connection with God on her own,” explains Feder. “It’s a really fascinating window into the mind of a child growing up with interfaith parents, and this is a discussion that I have with families all the time.”

This struggle with religious identity and Margaret’s developing relationship with God were two of the book’s themes that really resonated with the group.

“Sometimes when I’m going through something really tough, I sit down and not really pray to God, but talk to him – saying, ‘Please help me get through this,’” said 11-year-old Ilana Moons, who became very attached to the novel while reading it.

“Even if you’re mad at God and you do something bad, God will always love you.”

Other participants including Mary Cotton, who converted to Judaism through Temple Israel, and Ilana Austin, who grew up with interfaith parents and is in an interfaith marriage herself, directly related to the challenges of navigating those family relationships.

“I remember reading this book and my parents were in an interfaith marriage with similar family dynamics and I remember thinking, this girl is in my head,” Austin said. “To read it as an adult, I feel that mom’s pain now.”

With neither of Margaret’s parents having strong feelings for their faith, the character is left to seek her own religious path at a young age, adding to her confusion at an already confusing time – something Feder advises against.

“It was very stressful for Margaret. She knows who she is as a spiritual person, but you can tell that she does feel really torn and left out by not being one or the other,” she says.

Among the discussion participants were Feder’s own 11-year-old daughter, Molly Alper, as well as Feder’s mother, Robin Feder, representing three generations of women reading the same book. In addition to the religious themes, the dynamics of navigating puberty and themes of body-consciousness and body shaming struck a chord with the different generations in different ways.

Exhibiting Gen Z’s much more heightened awareness of the damage of body shaming, a scene in the book where one girl shames another for taking too many

ABOVE: Miriam (age 9) and Ilana Austin, and Laura and Cassie (age 10) Taylor take part in a discussion at Temple Israel about Judy Blume’s novel “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

LEFT: Rabbi Amy Feder and her daughter, Molly Alper, who is 11.  PHOTOS: AMY BURGER

Oreo cookies and makes a comment about her weight seemed shocking, prompting 10-year-old Ayla Protzel to declare, “Not her body, not her business.”

Several of the tween girls in attendance expressed surprise and discomfort with a party scene in the book where kids are left unsupervised and play the kissing games of Spin the Bottle and Two Minutes in the Closet – a common rite of passage among Gen X kids. Unlike today’ helicopter parent environment, Feder pointed out that kids that age were often left unsupervised in the 1970s and 1980s and thus might have experimented more freely at earlier ages.

Though Feder capped the event at an hour, this lively discussion could have gone well into the afternoon, and is sure to continue after the group takes a planned trip to see the film. The one thing that became clear is that Blume’s voice – a voice that was perhaps ahead of its time –still rings true after more than 50 years. Her landmark novel, and its adapted film not only evoke fond memories for Gen X women, but also offer an opportunity to revisit its themes as parents and share them with a new generation.

“All of her books are very empowering and very real life,” said lifelong fan Amy Lampert. “You feel attached to her characters.”

Author takes deep, detailed dive into the Morganthau family, ‘an American dynasty’

ROBERT A. COHN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMERITUS

Andrew Meier’s hefty history of the Morgenthau family’s amazing success in business, politics and diplomacy proves that for some Jews, the streets of America were indeed “paved with gold.”

Meier, a former Time magazine writer who written extensively on Russia and the Soviet Union, has published a dazzling, sprawling history of the American Jewish powerhouse Morgenthau family who moved from Germany to America in the middle of the 19th century.

The author starts with the flamboyant Lazarus, who wasted his shrewdness in business on ill-fated get-rich-quick schemes. Eventually Lazarus became mentally deranged and penniless, dying in the asylum to which his family had him committed.

Fortunately, other Morgenthau descendants were extremely successful members of the silk-stocking German Jewish families of 19th century New York, making a fortune by acquiring prime real estate in strategic locations in Manhattan.

Two of the most influential Morgenthaus over many decades were Henry Jr. (1891-1967), who served as Treasury Secretary in the Cabinet of his close friend Franklin D. Roosevelt—and his son Robert, who was Manhattan District Attorney for an unequaled 35 years. Longevity is a major hallmark of this remarkable family.

Henry Morgenthau was FDR’s best friend who proudly wore the silver cufflinks the president had gifted him.

Morgenthau realized that his friendship with Roosevelt had limits and as the highest-ranking Jew in the Cabinet he could only go so far in his efforts to rescue his fellow Jews from the Holocaust.

While many scholars have criticized

FDR and Morgenthau for not doing enough, Meier notes their role in creating the War Refugees Board, which rescued 200,000 Jews from the Shoah when much of America was isolationist and antisemitic.

After Roosevelt’s death in 1945, Morgenthau played a major role in the

efforts to create the International Monetary Fund and other entities to rebuild postwar Europe and to assure Germany would not revive its Nazi past.

Meier notes that when Harry S. Truman became president, he was not impressed with Morgenthau. Truman judged Morgenthau too harshly. On bal-

ance, he served as a constructive figure during a crucial period in American world history.

Meier’s book is comprehensive — perhaps to a fault. It seems to “weigh a ton,” and might be more reader-friendly if it focused on Henry in one volume and Robert in a separate companion volume.

Yom Yerushalayim: Day of glory, gratitude and remembrance

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

A century ago, the concept of a Palestinian people did not exist. Arabs living in the area considered themselves part of greater Syria. But when the French ousted King Faisal Hussein in 1920, regional Arabs scrambled to devise a new plan to secure political autonomy. Their solution: fabricate a national identity out of whole cloth to legitimize their hold on the region. Only then, not from time immemorial, did local Arabs

proclaim themselves Palestinians and launch their campaign to invalidate the Jewish right to a homeland canonized three years earlier in Britain’s Balfour Declaration.

Estimates of Arab refugees from the War for Independence range between 540,000 and 720,000. For the most part, these residents were encouraged to flee by leaders who promised that they would return to their homes after their armies drove the Jews into the sea.

Decades later, some 5 million Arab refu-

gees and their descendants remained, many in squalid camps, unsettled by their own people because of their value as a bargaining chip to demand indefensible and unfeasible repatriation and restitution while painting Israel as the villain. As far back as 1960, King Hussein of Jordan observed that “Arab leaders have approached the Palestine problem in an irresponsible manner… they have used the Palestine people for selfish political purposes. This is ridiculous and, I could say, even criminal.”

But facts and logic consistently lose the battle against ideology and rhetoric. In their place, we hear the constant slanderous refrain: occupation, oppression, expansion, apartheid, violation of human rights

It doesn’t matter that Israeli Arabs are represented in every walk of life, including an Arab captain of the Tel Aviv football team, Arab government ministers, an Arab deputy speaker of Knesset, an Arab Supreme court justice and an Arab Miss Israel. What’s more, Israeli Arabs enjoy greater prosperity, literacy, medical care and life expectancy than do Arabs in the surrounding countries. Not to mention freedom.

And so, on Yom Yerushalayim, we remember the history of our people, the miracle of Jewish survival, and the legacy of truth and higher purpose that shines forth from our ancient capital.

“Morgenthau: Power, Privilege and the Rise of an American Dynasty” by Andrew Meier; Random House; 1,072 pages, $45.

BY AMY FENSTER BROWN

Isn’t it interesting how buzzwords become popular? Somehow, someone somewhere coins a catchphrase, blabs it to everyone who owns ears, and then it gets repeated over and over until it becomes part of regular conversation.

People often use these terms to sound cool but don’t really know what they mean. Other times, the phrases are overused and feel forced. Now put those two together and you’ve got the trigger for my eye rolling.

Many of these trendy terms will stick around for years, while others will be replaced by something else that someone else says somewhere else. Allow me to break down some current catchphrases for you.

Set my intentions for the day —

Intention setters are often meditators, which to me says they are sitting still with their eyes closed thinking about their

Columnist Amy Fenster Brown is married to Jeff and has two teenage sons, Davis and Leo. She volunteers for several Jewish not-for-profit groups. Fenster Brown is an Emmy Award-winning TV news writer and counts time with family and friends, talking and eating peanut butter among her hobbies.

to-do list. I do this daily. It’s easy. All you have to do is stay in bed longer than you should, check the to-do list on your phone and start panicking that you’ll never get it all done. Boom! You’re ready to tackle the day fueled by anxiety. You’ll likely burn more calories that way.

Breath work — When I am having a to-do list panic attack and I try to calm down and worry that I’ll stop breathing altogether, but miraculously don’t die because my body continues breathing, I consider this breath work. After all, my breath worked. And I’m still here.

Natural consequences — These are like little minipunishments that happen naturally when you don’t complete a necessary task, like if you don’t fill up your gas tank and you’re on empty, you’re not going to make it anywhere on your to-do list. Honestly, this term could be trendier, like farm-to-table consequences, or free-range consequences. I’m still workshopping it.

Safe space — My friend calls her enormous walk-in pantry her safe space. There are like six kinds of M&Ms in there, so it makes perfect sense. Beyond a place to shelter with sugar, a safe space is meant to be a circle of trust where you can share your true raw feelings without worrying it will turn into petty gos-

sip. A safe space is supposed to be like Vegas: What happens there, stays there. It’s what Alcoholics Anonymous has achieved with members keeping private things private. The ultimate safe space is a relationship in which you can deal with the effects of a spicy chili con carne knowing your partner isn’t going to leave you, even if your sonic booms cause a change in the cabin pressure of your own home.

Being in nature — People are always talking about how they love being in nature, how they are grounded being in nature, how they decompress by being in nature. Look buddy, you went outside. Why can’t we just call it outside? Every afternoon, I spend time in nature walking to my mailbox. Some days, I spend time in nature when I park my car and walk into Trader Joe’s. I’ve also spent time in nature at a Cardinals game, what with the open roof of Busch Stadium. I’m practically a tree hugger.

Forest bathing — This ain’t no bubble bath. You’ll really want Calgon to take you away when you realize your forest bathing buddies are bloodsucking ticks and terrifying snakes. Forest bathing is probably just a trendy term for getting lost in the woods when you go hiking, which is really just walking where there are hills and no concrete sidewalks. I recommend sturdy shoes and some Off Deep Woods spray.

Self-care — It’s called brushing your teeth, pal. It’s called basic hygiene, and it’s nothing new. We were always supposed to be trimming our toenails and taking baths (in water, not in the forest). Light a scented candle, grab a gummy and it’s now called self-care. So hip! So trendy! I did my laundry and washed my face! I did self-care! I’m going to share about it in the safe space of my journal while breathing through my third eye and sitting on my porch — I mean, being in nature.

SAME

VICTOR SHADE FAMILY, NEW LOCATION!

One person’s catchphrase is another’s eye roll trigger —here are some of mine

STOCK PHOTO: CANVA

By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com | ‘A Yiddishe Rhyme’ Difficulty: Easy

Across

1. Asian noodles

6. Sci. endeavor

10. Number of Seder kosot

14. Dickinson or Bronte

15. Yoni Netanyahu, Avigdor Kahalani, or Henrietta Szold, e.g.

16. “A League of Their Own” actress Petty

17. Clip of a TV show set in Jerusalem

20. It’s put in a pot

21. They might be in cholent

22. Must, with “to”

23. Oft-stubbed digit

24. Constantly increasing number

25. “Lost” actor Daniel ___ Kim

27. Miscalculate

28. Groban’s snacks

34. “Fifth quarters”, for short

35. Yes, to the Captain

36. A Great Lake

37. Getaways

40. The “Avatar” movies would be quite short without these letters

41. Causing goose bumps

42. Mrs. Netanyahu

43. “Diary ___ Wimpy Kid”

44. Kind of Kat

45. Gush over “The Producers” maker

48. AOL was one

51. “___ Haderech” (Israeli slang term)

52. Make an inquiry

53. Black-eyed veggie

54. 1949 UN entrant

57. Area in front of a hockey goal

60. “The Amazing Race” host Keoghan

61. Chat on Jack

Daniels and Johnnie Walker

64. Farm tools

65. Elvis Presley’s middle name

66. They get scoops

67. Words before end or impasse

68. ___deals. com

69. Colgate rival

Down

1. Car sale offer

2. C major relative

usu -

12. California’s La ___ Tar Pits

13. Doesn’t feel so great

18. Puma’s puma and Jaguar’s jaguar, e.g.

19. “May G-d bless and keep the ___... far away from us!”

24. Crawling carpenters

26. Bail out from a jet

29. Mother of Yishmael

30. Memo-opening letters

31. Sixty minutes, in Milano

32. Elevated 3-Down, perhaps

33. “Yo!”

34. Australian gemstones

37. “For shame!” sound

38. Yeshiva title

PUZZLE ANSWERS

Collection: Rare Judaica books find new life at St. Louis bookstore

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

ing him to understand the story behind the books.

“Last September, I heard that there was a large collection of Hebrew books at Dunaway, so I came with an Israeli friend to check it out and ended up buying three books,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman learned from one of the employees that they needed someone to catalog the books and tell them what they had. He reached out to Twellman and Brodie, who hired him to catalog the collection and figure out explanations and backgrounds for as many books as possible.

“Cataloging a collection is very important,” Twellman said. “It is basically making sure that the inventory is searchable in a database. Bram is fluent in Hebrew, has

a yeshiva education and understands what he’s looking at and which books are important to Judaism.”

Cataloging the collection

Once a week, Hoffman puts down his schoolbooks and heads to the back of Dunaway and picks up a book from the Lutwak collection. The process of cataloging can be slow. Many of the books published in the 19th and early 20th centuries have no English descriptions to work with, have unknown authors or have little basic information about their origins.

Hoffman’s unique skills and mastery of Hebrew and Jewish history allow him to pull out specific pieces of information written in the books that act as clues to

solving each one’s hidden mysteries. Each book is a challenge but one Hoffman relishes when he makes a breakthrough.

“It’s an ‘aha!’ feeling,” he said. “Like now I understand what gives it significance. Often, it usually comes from noticing the smaller details, like the publishing location, the printer, the year, any symbols or handwriting in it.”

Since September, Hoffman has been making progress on the 4,000 remaining books, though this part-time job has become much more than cataloging the collection.

“I would say that is only one part,” he said. “My other job is to connect Dunaway with the Jewish community so that these books can find a good home. That involves marketing, making connections, talking to community members and even just tell-

ing friends about books the store has that I think they would like.”

Books from the Lutwak collection are slowly finding their way onto the shelves of Dunaway Books. Housed within a spacious former art gallery, the store itself is a gem among independent bookstores. Along with the Lutwak collection, you’ll find aisle after aisle of carefully collected books on a broad variety of subjects.

While there is a Judaica section inside Dunaway, books from the Lutwak collection are shelved in multiple sections. Prices of fine, used, out-of-print and rare volumes will vary, so feel free to call ahead with any questions, or simply ask any salesperson where to find any books from the Lutwak collection.

SIMCHAS

BIRTHS ENGAGEMENTS WEDDINGS MITZVOT

WEDDING: KRACHMALNICK-COOK

Sara Krachmalnick and Matthew Cook were married Oct. 29, 2022 at The Grand Hall at Power & Light in Kansas City, Mo. Rabbi Doug Alpert officiated.

Sara is the daughter of Sandra and Sanford Krachmalnick of Chesterfield, and the granddaughter of the late Melvin and Mildred Shapiro, and the late Fred and Lucille Krachmalnick.

Matthew is the son of Tara and Russell Cook of Springfield, Mo., and the grandson of Patricia Cook, the late Wayne Cook, and the late Jim and June West.

The wedding party included the bride’s best friend, Lauren Gillespie, as Maid of Honor and Bradley Cook, the groom’s twin brother, as Best Man.

Sara and Matt met in Columbia, Mo., while both in medical school at Mizzou. Matt surprised Sara with a proposal on a cliff overlooking Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe.

The couple resides in Kansas City.

WEDDING: ASHLEY SANSONEMCGRATH AND DR. JACOB PERERA

BIRTHS: ISABELLA JAMES AND ELI JOSEPH MONTEFORTE

Rebecca and Joseph Monteforte of Encinitas, Calif., would like to announce the birth of their twins, Isabella James Monteforte and Eli Joseph Monteforte, on Feb. 6, 2023, at Scripps La Jolla. They are the grandchildren of Adrienne and Mark Hirschfeld of Ladue; and Camelia Monteforte of Venice, Fla. and the late Patrick Monteforte.

Ashley Sansone-Mcgrath and Dr. Jacob Perera were married March 18, 2023 at Defiance Ridge Vineyards, where Cantor Seth Warner of Congregation Shaare Emeth officiated.

Jacob is the son of Jaime and Beth Perera of Wildwood. Ashley is the daughter of Brian and Julie Mcgrath of O’Fallon, Mo.

Ashley and Jacob, who reside in Rochester, Minn., are planning to take a Caribbean cruise for their honeymoon.

PHOTO: ANDREA DELONG PHOTOGRAPHY

OBITUARIES

STEVEN B. BALK, April 22, 2023

Beloved husband of Rhonda Pepper Balk for 29 years.  Loving father of Amanda (fiancé, Alexander McArthur) Balk and Michael Balk.  Beloved brother of Brad Balk and Marshall (Leslie) Balk. Dear brother-in-law of Robert (Shirley) Pepper, William (Karen) Pepper, Ronald Pepper, Karen (Mike) Amann, Lisa (the late Steven) May, Sharon (Chris) Palazzola, Carla Townsend and Jackie Becquette.  Beloved son of the late Reuben and Frieda Balk.  Dear uncle, cousin and friend.

A graveside service was held Tuesday, April 25 at Saint Trinity Cemetery, 2160 Lemay Ferry Road.  Contributions in Steve’s memory may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.

A Rindskopf-Roth Service

SUSAN RUTH BARAD

(nee Susan Ruth Funk)

Born in St. Louis on February 22, 1923,

Susan Ruth Barad (nee Funk) died on April 30, 2023.  Married for 67 years to Melvin S. Barad (deceased, 2010), she was a devoted wife and mother, a dedicated daughter to her parents Morris and Mary (nee Zeffren) Funk, and to her in-laws Albert and Jean Barad, and a loving sister to Irene (husb. Melvin) Greenspoon.

She was a lifelong member of Congregation B’nai Amoona. She graduated Soldan High School (1940)  and attended Washington University before working at Continental Can Co. during WWII. After the war, she and her husband raised their family in Clayton.  She worked for twenty plus years as a fashion model in print advertising and on the runways of Famous Barr, Stix, Vera Hicks Fashions at the Chase Park Plaza and events such as the Annual St. Louis Globe Dispatch Charity Show at Kiel Auditorium. Mrs. Barad also appeared in early live television commercials for Site Service Stations on KABC and hosted the live half-hour Conn Organ Theatre on KPLR. Blessed with many friends from childhood, through the war years and thereafter, she and her husband traveled the world for his business, the Barad Lingerie Co, and later with the American Seniors Golf Association, and spent winters in Naples Florida.

She is survived by her children and their wives - Edward and Marlin (Pulaski) Barad, Huntley Barad and Tirzah Mutrux, and Thomas and Jill (Elikann) Barad; six grandchildren and their spouses - Lucy (Barad) and Steve Nobles, Meredith Barad and Matt Richtell, Jonathan and Alison Barad, Alexander and Gabbi Barad, Caroline Barad and Anthony Capone, and Justin Barad; and nine great grandchildren - Calvin, Ruby, Milo, Mirabel, Max, Spencer, Elliott,

Laurence and Harrison; and her niece Barbara Greenspoon.

She was one of a kind, determined, committed to family and friends. She carried her beauty with modesty and class – a charmer, who loved Judaism, piano, the baseball Cardinals and a good story.

A funeral service was held Monday, May 1 at Berger Memorial Chapel, followed by interment at B’nai Amoona Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Morris A. Funk Education Fund at Congregation B’nai Amoona, 324 S Mason Rd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. Berger Memorial Service

Remembering STEVE BLIVES

Heaven just got a little livelier with the welcoming of Steven Lee (Steve) Blives who passed away Wednesday, May 3, 2023, after a grand farewell party during his short hospitalization—with his children and grandchildren—which included merriment and 50’s music. No more of a fitting send-off could have been had because his family was the most important thing to him.

Steve graduated from Clayton High School and received his BFA from Washington University’s School of Fine Art, where he met his sweetie, Judith “Judy” in Art Class.  After college, Steve began his career at Monsanto as a graphic designer until going out on his own to start Blives Consulting Company with Judy in 1973, which he ran for 40+ years. It was a design, marketing, and advertising company and because of his humor and wit, many of his clients became his best friends. He was also a member of the St. Louis Business Marketing Association.

When he wasn’t working, he could often be seen at the JCC working out early with his friends and running with the Asphasia jogging club.  Steve was a very charitable person and served on various Boards of Directors. Every year he helped his friends Joanie and Alan Protzel with the Joe Stone Memorial Golf tournament which raises money for military and pediatric cancer charities.

Steve loved his grandkids, classic cars, pistachios, long back scratches, and a cold coke in a bottle.  Even when suffering from Dementia he never forgot his sense of humor. During the hardest parts of life, he still could find something to laugh about. His last words were, “I want a pickle and I want to take a nap and DO NOT wake me up for dinner.”

He is survived by the great loves of his life, his family: Beloved husband of 60 years to Judith Mendica Blives; Dear Father of Mindy (Bruce) Blives McCoy, Missy (Anthony) Blives Castro; Loving Paw Paw to Zoe Castro, Zinnia Castro, Sicily Castro, Aidan McCoy and Connor McCoy; Dear brother to Carole Scroeder, Robin Creager, and half-sisters Marla Barry, and Dawn Klumpers.; dear friend to many. He will be dearly

Families may submit an obituary for a loved one through the funeral home they work with or by using a form on the Jewish Light’s website: stljewishlight.org/submit-obituary

missed by all.  To further carry on Steve’s memory, help make the world a better place and do one thing today that makes you share a laugh with someone.

Graveside service Thursday, May 18, 2023, 2:00pm at New Mt. Sinai Cemetery, 8430 Gravois Rd, St. Louis, MO 63123. Tributes in memory of Steve Blives may be made to Rainbows for Kids, a 501 (c) charity near to his heart by going to RainbowsForKids.org to donate or mailing a check to Rainbows for Kids, 7221 Waterford Drive, St. Louis, MO 63123. A Rindskopf-Roth Service

SAMUEL J BROH, April 18, 2023

Passed away on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 after a long illness. Sam was born in St. Louis on October 14, 1945 to Janet and Harry Broh. He graduated from Clayton High School in 1963 and the University of Missouri in 1967. While at Mizzou, Sam was a proud member of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity. After serving in the Army based on Okinawa, he entered Emory University. After graduation, Sam moved to Huntington, West Virginia to join his father in the Coca-Cola bottling and distribution business. He eventually returned to St. Louis where he was engaged in the bottled water business. Sam served as the SecretaryTreasurer and Executive Director of the Central States Bottled Water Association from 2009 until his death.

While in Huntington, there was no organized youth or high school soccer programs in the state of West Virginia. He began coaching and refereeing youth soccer. In 1978, Sam led a group of five youth coaches to start the first Varsity High School soccer league in the state. For several years, Sam continued coaching the Vinson High School soccer team while serving as the administrator for other coaches and referees in the Huntington League. Sam was instrumental in developing the Marshall University Men’s Soccer Program in 1979. He was in attendance when the team won the National Championship in 2020 and was so proud.

Sam was always involved in sports, both as a participant and a spectator. He participated on tennis teams in both high school and college, and continued playing as an adult. His love for tennis eventually turned into a love of golf and Sam played regularly at Meadowbrook Country Club. In 2018, Sam was inducted into both the West Virginia Soccer Association Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

Sam is the beloved husband of Judith Scissors and the dear step-father of Michael Scissors (Lori) and Melinda Conley (Reed). He is survived by brothers Stanley Sclove (Caryl), Robert Scharff, Jr. (Martha), David Sclove (Carol), Andrew Broh (Nancy), Richard Scharff and sisters Patricia Bort (Steve), Lisabeth Margulus (Michael), and Virginia Scharff (Chris Wilson). Sam is a beloved step-grandfather, uncle, greatuncle, cousin, and friend to so many.

A funeral service was held Sunday, April 23 at Temple Emanuel. Memorial contributions preferred to the Julius and Harry Broh Scholarship Fund at Marshall University in

Huntington, West Virginia or a charity of your choice. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for Live Stream information. Berger Memorial Service

DANIEL P. “DANNY” GOLDSMITH, April 16, 2023

Beloved son of Lexie and Steve Goldsmith; dearest brother of Matthew Goldsmith; dear grandson of the late Diane Goldsmith, the late Guenter Goldsmith, Ann Goldsmith, and the late Alla Boubnoff; dear nephew of Judy and Max Bierman and Hal and Marcia Goldsmith; dear cousin of Cody Bierman, Casey Bierman, Jacob Goldsmith, and Benjamin Goldsmith. Loving friend to so many.

Danny was a proud graduate of Parkway North High School and the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. He spent many summers as a camper, and later, as camp staff at Camp Taum Sauk. Danny discovered his love of camping, hiking, rock climbing, and snow skiing, as well as international travel as a student. He did college internships and studied in France and Israel and also spent a semester in Spain. He was recently promoted to the position of Director of Marketing at Bambee in Los Angeles and previously worked for Buckingham Wealth Management in St. Louis.

Danny made many lifelong friends wherever he ventured. He seamlessly united his many groups of friends from his years in school, UH preschool and religious school, Taum Sauk, fraternity, travel, and employment. He was the light of his family’s life, and particularly for his best friend, his brother, Matt.

A memorial service was held on Sunday, April 23 at 11:30 AM at Berger Memorial Chapel.

Donations in Danny’s honor may be made to the “Danny Goldsmith Camp Scholarship Fund” for children in need, and mailed to: Morgan Stanley, 7733 Forsyth Blvd, Suite 2100, Clayton, MO 63105. Donations may also be made to United Hebrew Congregation or to a charity of your choice. Please visit bergermemorialchapel. com for more information. Berger Memorial Service

SHIRLEY LIEBER KRONEMER, May 2, 2023

Beloved wife of the late Raymond Lieber and the late Dr. Norton Kronemer. Cherished mother of Neil Lieber, Greg (Laura) Lieber and Karen Guberman. Step-mother of Dr. Keith (Susan) Kronemer, Mark (Cathleen) Kronemer and Seth (Jessica) Kronemer. Loving grandmother of Adam, Jacob and Simon Lieber, Lisa (Nathan) Olvey, Stephanie Guberman, Jordan and Sabrina Kronemer, Stephanie (Terry) Davenport and Jillian Kronemer. Dear great-grandmother of Madelyn and Billie Davenport. Beloved sister and sister-in-law of Nancy (Howard) Agronin Blonsky, Nancy Raskas, Betty Lou Raskas, Marshall Myers and the late Jerry Raskas, Herbert Raskas and Sara Myers. Former mother-in-law of Martin Guberman. Beloved daughter of the late Abraham and Ethel Raskas. Dear aunt, cousin and friend.

During her life Shirley impacted many people’s lives through her acts of kindness. She volunteered with the National Kidney Foundation and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. From a very young age she shared her beautiful voice singing at the Muny Opera, and in her later years, with the St. Louis Show Stoppers. She will be truly missed.

A graveside service was held Thursday, May 4 at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery, 9125 Ladue Road. Contributions in her memory may be made to Traditional Congregation, 12437 Ladue Road, St. Louis, MO, 63141. A RindskopfRoth Service

KAREN MICHELE MEYERS (nee Finbloom) passed away peacefully on May 4, 2023 with her children by her side.

Beloved mother of Lisa (Mark) Hirsch and Scott (Caitlin) Meyers. Loving grandmother of Jake and Paxton Hirsch and Quinn and Mason Meyers. Dear sister of Alan (Karen) Finbloom and Norm (Dawn) Finbloom. Beloved daughter of the late Joe and Lorraine Finbloom. Dear aunt, cousin and friend.

A graveside service was held Monday, May 8 at Beth Shalom Cemetery, 650 White Road. Contributions in Karen’s memory may be made to the Humane Society of Missouri, 1201 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63110. A Rindskopf-Roth Service

JOANNE L. MINNIHAN, ED.D., April 25, 2023

Beloved wife of Kevin Minnihan for 45 years.  Dear mother of David and Jared Minnihan.  Loving sister of Elise (Terry) Silverstein and Pamela Wootton.  Beloved daughter of the late Harold and Joyce Srenco.  Loving cousin of Alison Fryd.  Our dear aunt, cousin and friend.

A graveside service was held Friday, April 28 at Beth Shalom Cemetery, 650 White Road. Contributions in her memory may be made to Stray Rescue of St. Louis, 2320 Pine Street, St. Louis, MO, 63103. A Rindskopf-Roth Service

MICHAEL BARRY SIEGEL, May 1, 2023.

Beloved son of Howard J. Siegel and the late Frances Goldstein Siegel; Father of Alison Siegel Kerins (David) and Amanda Kheyfets (Arthur); dear brother and brother in law of Nancy Brickner (Eric) and David Siegel (Molly); Uncle to Ashly and Melanie; Greatuncle to Evelyn; Nephew to Rosalyn Halberstadter.

Mike graduated from Parkway Central High School in 1971 and the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1975 with a Bachelor Degree in Business.  He was also a member of ZBT fraternity.

Mike worked in home improvement during his career.  He had a passion for fishing and spent many a happy hour chasing a Lunker.

There was a Memorial Service on Monday, May 8 (Also Available Via Live Stream) at Berger Memorial Chapel, 9430 Olive Blvd. 63132. Memorial contributions preferred to United Hebrew Congregation or a charity of your choice.  Visit www.bergermemorialchapel.com to view the service and for more information.

Berger Memorial Service

LEE “SUE” SMITH, April 23, 2023

Born October 2, 1931 in St. Louis Missouri. Beloved wife of Dr. Carl Smith for 23 years.

Daughter of the late Jeane (Earl) Susman and Budd (Marian Jeane) Lewin. Sister to the late Mary (late Marv) Cummins.

Mother of Rick (Lisa), the late Joanne (Steve)

Dyvig and Jim (Tracey)

Gans. Stepmother of Lillian McCrady.

Grandmother to Becky (Mike) Solomonov, Ashley Loehr, Jeff Gans, Tyler (Jenn) Gans and Rachel (Matt) Barrand. Great-grandmother, aunt, cousin and friend.

Sue enjoyed her career as an English teacher at Visitation Academy, except for the years she was picked to oversee the school’s yearbook.

OBITUARIES INDEX

Balk, Steven B. Barad, Susan Ruth Blives, Steve Broh, Samuel J. Goldsmith, Daniel P.

“Danny”

Kronemer, Shirley Lieber

Meyers, Karen Michele

Minnihan, Joanne L. Siegel, Michael Barry Smith, Lee “Sue”

Sokolik, James Irwin

She retired for a brief period before beginning a second career as a therapist and counselor, working first for several companies and later starting her own.

After finally retiring she began painting is several mediums and she especially enjoyed painting religious icons and giving some to friends and selling others. She proudly displayed her water color paintings at the Ely Minnesota Art Fair.

Sue and Carl loved their summers spent on Burntside Lake in Ely where they spent time boating and visiting with their Minnesota friends. They loved their cats and you could always find one or two of them running around the house.  Sue loved to travel and travel she did, with Carl, with her mother and sister and with friends. Trips included China, Italy, Iceland, France, Israel and other destinations too numerous to list.  And she and Carl loved their Cardinals.

The funeral was held Tuesday, April 25 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church at 9 South Bompart. Interment was at Valhalla Cemetery. In Lieu of flowers please contribute to: St. Louis Children’s Hospital, One Children’s Place, St. Louis, MO 63110.

JAMES IRWIN SOKOLIK, March 30, 2023

Preceded in death by his wife, Cindy Wrobel; brother Barry Sokolik and parents Joseph and Anita Sokolik. Survived by his significant other, Sandy Bigg; sister Dianne Schwartz (Jack); brother-in-law Brian Wrobel (Sharon); nephews Scott Schwartz (Melissa Field) and Jake Wrobel (Rachael); nieces Dana Schwartz and Gwen Arford (Scott); great-nieces Darcy and Sofia Schwartz and great-nephews Mason Schwartz and Lucas and Owen Wrobel; and Sandy’s children Mark (Ayesha), Paul, and Jeff (Michelle) Bigg.

Jim had a creative mind and a love of nature that he expressed through his career as a photographer. He traveled around the world twice and captured many wonders with his camera. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and juried shows, including the St. Louis Art Fair. He was especially proud of an award he received from the Sierra Club for his photograph of a leaf under ice. His art is a part of the collections of many corporations including AT&T, BJC Hospital, Mercy Heart Hospital, Mastercard, among others. In recent years, Jim explored other arts, including drawing, ceramics, and metal works. He savored the creative process and enjoyed collaborating with fellow artists at Craft Alliance.

Jim was an active person who loved yoga, hiking in the Rocky Mountains and biking in St. Louis Forest Park. He had a wonderful sense of humor and an inquisitive thirst for new knowledge. He was a loving caregiver to his wife, Cindy, during her long battle with cancer and a gentle soul and dear friend to many.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to Craft Alliance, 5080 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO. 63108. Berger Memorial Service

Rabbi Harold Kushner, 88, author of ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People’

BY BEN HARRIS & PHILISSA CRAMER JTA

Rabbi Harold Kushner, one of the most influential congregational rabbis of the 20th century whose works of popular theology reached millions of people outside the synagogue, has died.

Kushner, who turned 88 on April 3, died Friday, April 28 in Canton, Mass., just miles from the synagogue where he had been rabbi laureate for more than three decades.

Kushner’s fairly conventional trajectory as a Conservative rabbi was altered shortly after arriving at Temple Israel of Natick when, on the day his daughter Ariel was born, his 3-year-old son Aaron was diagnosed with a fatal premature aging condition, progeria.

“When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” published in 1981, represented Kushner’s attempt to make sense of Aaron’s suffering and eventual death, just days after his 14th birthday. It was turned down by two publishers before being released by Schocken Books, a Jewish imprint.

In the book, Kushner labors to reconcile the twin Jewish beliefs in God’s omnipotence and his benevolence with the reality of human suffering. ”Can I, in good faith, continue to teach people that the world is good, and that a kind and loving God is responsible for what happens in it?” he writes.

Ultimately, he concludes that God’s ability is limited when it comes to controlling the hazards of life that result in tragedy on a widespread and smaller scale, such as the Holocaust and the death of a child.

It is a view that runs afoul of tradition-

al Jewish teaching about God, and it earned Kushner critics among some Orthodox Jews and also drew rebuttals from other Jewish theologians. But it resonated widely for a long time and with many people, Jewish and non-Jewish, rocketing to the top of The New York Times’ best-seller list. More than 4 million copies have been sold in at least a dozen languages.

He scaled back his duties at his synagogue, then stepped away, as other books followed, tackling topics equally as daunting: the meaning of life, talking to children about God, overcoming disappointment. “To Life: A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking,” published in 1993, became a go-to resource for people exploring Judaism, while “Living a Life That Matters: Resolving the Conflict Between Conscience and Success,” published in 1986, was another best-seller.

“I think that Rabbi Kushner was successful because he catered to everybody,” Carolyn Hessel, the director of

See OBITUARY on page 24

Rabbi Harold Kushner died on April 28.

PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

CHAI LIGHTS

FRIDAY | MAY 12

Prayer Lab: End & Begin

At 6 p.m. at Congregation Shaare Emeth, take part in Prayer Lab, a non-traditional Shabbat service combining contemporary readings, poetry, participatory music, interactive teachings and time set aside for meditation and personal reflection. Rabbi Andrea Goldstein, Lucy Greenbaum and the Prayer Lab musicians lead the service, which this month is themed “End and Begin.” Guests can join at Shaare Emeth’s Kehillah Center (use north entrance) or watch the live stream.

SATURDAY | MAY 13

NHBZ Rabbi Emeritus Ze’ev Smason returns with special “Starting Points” discussion

NHBZ Rabbi Emeritus Ze’ev Smason will present a special “Starting Points” discussion at 10 a.m. He will discuss “Religion vs. Spirituality What’s the Difference?” Free and open to the community. No RSVP is required. For more information, call 314991-2100, ext. 2.

TUESDAY | MAY 16

Kolot Choir to present free concert on May 16

See related news brief on page 6.

Crown Center trip to Botanical Garden’s Chihuly Exhibit

At 12:30 p.m. visit the newly renovated Missouri Botanical Garden to see and smell the spring flowers and marvel at the Chihuly glass sculptures exhibited throughout the gardens. The cost is $3 per person. RSVP to 314-991-2055.

WEDNESDAY | MAY 17

Sharsheret’s Breast and Ovarian Cancer support group

This monthly group provides support, connection and education to women in the St. Louis Jewish community who have been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer and are anywhere along their treatment path –before, during, or post-treatment. Facilitated by a licensed clinical social worker, this group meets from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday via Zoom. Newcomers are always welcome along with female family and friends. Sharsheret Supports STL is a program of the J’s Nishmah and a partner of the national, not for profit Sharsheret organization. Free, but pre-registration requested to Debbi Braunstein at 314-442-3266 or dbraunstein@jccstl.org.

Fighting Bigotry & Hatred: Center for Bosnian Studies

From 1 to 2 p.m. Adna Karamehic-Oates and Benjamin Moore of the Center for Bosnian Studies will lead a free, in-person discussion at the Mirowitz Center about the center’s work establishing a record of the experiences of Bosnian genocide survivors and their families to counter the hate and discrimination that fueled the war in Bosnia. The initiative also focuses on the estimated 50,000 Bosnian community members in the metro area. St. Louis Mosaic Project Executive Director Betsy Cohen will introduce the speakers, who are appearing as part of the “Fighting Bigotry & Hatred” series. This program is co-sponsored by Mirowitz Center, ADL Heartland, Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis, and St. Louis Mosaic Project. Register online at http://bit. ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or call 314-7339813.

THURSDAY | MAY 18

Mirowitz Center book clubs

Librarian Hillary Peppers is facilitating two book club discussions, in person as well as online, on the third Thursday of each month at the Mirowitz Center. The May book is “Now Is Not the Time to Panic” by Kevin Wilson. The online club meets from 10 to 11 a.m. and the in-person group will meet from 1 to 2 p.m. Register online at http://bit.ly/ Register_MirowitzCenter or call 314-7339813.

NCJWSTL Lunch & Learn:

Legislative Session Wrap Up

At noon, join NCJWSTL State Policy Advocacy Chair Amy Kuo Hammerman and the Missouri Family Health Council’s Director of Policy and External Affairs Mandy Hagseth for a lunch and learn about this year’s Missouri legislative session. Both have been a constant presence in Jefferson City this session and will provide an insider’s view on what happened in the Missouri Capitol this year. Visit bit.ly/May23LnL to register for the May Lunch and Learn. For more information, email Jen Bernstein at jbernstein@ncjwstl. org or call 314-993-5181

FRIDAY | MAY 19

‘Who Is the God We Meet on Mt. Sinai?’

In preparation for Shavuot, the holiday that recalls the revelation of God on Mt. Sinai, the Jewish Mindfulness Center at Shaare Emeth will explore old and new metaphors of God based on Rabbi Toba Spitzer’s book, “God is Here.” Class will take place outside under the Pavilion at Congregation Shaare Emeth, weather permitting. To register, email Stacy Jespersen at SJespersen@ sestl.org. Shaare Emeth’s Rubin Library does have copies of the book, though pre-reading of the book is not required to attend and enjoy this class.

SATURDAY | MAY 20

CRC Open House

Immediately following Shabbat morning services, Central Reform Congregation will hold an open house in CRC’s multipurpose room. Join the CRC board, staff and rabbis for a fun afternoon of games, carnival performers and opportunities to learn more about CRC programs and membership. Find more details at www.centralreform.org/ events/crc-open-house/.

Maxwell Greenberg to discuss Jewish pioneer cemeteries

See related news brief on page 5.

SUNDAY | MAY 21

Opera discussion at Kol Rinah

At 7:30 p.m. Kol Rinah Women’s Social Group presents a discussion by Opera The-

Local Jewish organizations and congregations can submit calendar items to news@ stljewishlight.org. All items received by 5 p.m. Friday will be considered for the following week’s edition. MAY

On May 16, Crown Center will visit the Chihuly exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

email Alec Rothman at arothman@ncjwstl. org or call 314-993-5181.

WEDNESDAY | MAY 24

Crown Center presents: Eimear Arkins concert and happy hour

At 4 p.m. Irish singer Eimear Arkins comes to Crown for the first time to share her beautiful voice and violin skills. Enjoy an appetizer and mocktail while you are transported to the green hills of Ireland. All are welcome. RSVP to 314-991-2055.

Tech Tutor Computer Lab: Learn a new language with Duolingo

atre of St. Louis docent Phyllis Hyken of “Tosca” by Puccini. Although written more than a century ago, Tosca remains relevant to the political struggles and gender power dynamics of the 21st century.

Blood drive in memory of Ari

Dougan

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the community is welcomed to take part in a blood drive in honor of Ari Dougan, sponsored by Aish HaTorah and Congregation Shaare Emeth, and held at Shaare Emeth, 11645 Ladue Road in Creve Coeur. To register, call 800733-2767 or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter AriDougan.

MONDAY | MAY 22

Annual Mark Raiffie Memorial Lecture with Rabbi Ken Spiro

At 7 p.m. Aish will present the annual Mark Raiffie Memorial Lecture, featuring Rabbi Ken Spiro, who will discuss “Universalism vs Particularism: The Jewish Perspective.” Guests can stay after the talk for a dessert reception. The event is sponsored in loving memory of Mark Raiffie by his family, and will be held at the Aish Firehouse, 357 N. Woods Mill Road, in Chesterfield. For more information, call 314-862-2474 or email Rabbi Shmuel Greenwald at sgreeenwald@ aish.com.

Crown Center presents: Rabbi Smason discussion series

At noon at Crown Center, Rabbi Ze’ev Smason will continue his monthly discussion series “Living Your Best Life: Ways to Jewish Wisdom.” The May discussion theme is “Seek the Ultimate Happiness.” Call 314991-2055 for more information.

TUESDAY | MAY 23

Big Muddy Dance Company at Mirowitz Center

From 1 to 2 p.m. the Big Muddy Dance Company returns the Mirowitz Center for a free performance. Register online at http:// bit.ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or call 314733-9813.

TUESDAY | MAY 23

NCJWSTL Coffee Talk: Amy Fenster Brown and Jordan Palmer

Join NCJWSTL at 8:30 a.m. for its latest coffee talk, this month looking at the subject of journalism. Two St Louis personalities will engage in lively discussion about television, radio and print media in our community and beyond. Brown is an account executive with Morris Media Network and writes a St Louis Jewish Light column. Jordan Palmer is the Chief Digital Content Director for the Jewish Light. The coffee talk will be pre-recorded at the newly opened Lefty’s Bagels. Visit bit.ly/ May23CT to register. For more information,

The Mirowitz Center’s Tech Tutor series continues with a presentation on the language learning app Duolingo, from 2 to 3 p.m. Participants will be provided a Chromebook computer during this program to follow along with the instructor. Tech Tutor is supported by a grant from the Women’s Auxiliary Foundation for Jewish Aged. Free. Register online at http://bit.ly/Register_ MirowitzCenter or call 314-733-9813.

WED. | MAY 24 & 31

Three-part webinar series looks at ‘Sex and Judaism’

Shaare Emeth 20s and 30s and MaTovu invite the community to join Rabbi Nikki DeBlosi for an open-minded, queer-inclusive, personally relevant exploration of Jewish ideas about sex, sexuality and relationships. Sign up at https://sestl.co/nikki to attend the classes. Open to the community. The webinars began May 10 and continue May 24 (“The Torah of Sex”) and May 31 (“Relationship Goals and Problematic Faves”).

THURSDAY | MAY 25

Colon cancer prevention

Dr. Jean Wang of Washington University School of Medicine will lead a free, online Mirowitz Center discussion from 10 to 11 a.m. about colon cancer risk factors, symptoms and prevention. Register online at http://bit.ly/Register_MirowitzCenter or call 314-733-9813.

SUNDAY | MAY 28

Jewish War Veterans plan Memorial Day Ceremony

Jewish War Veterans, Post 644, St. Louis will conduct a Memorial Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. in the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The ceremony will honor those St. Louisans who died in past wars as well as veterans who passed away in 2022. The program will feature an address by Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. The program will also include the National Anthem, El Molai Rachamim and God Bless America Led by Cantor/Rabbi Ronald Eichaker of United Hebrew Congregation. The Ted and Rachael Pevnik Family Scholarship and the Chuck Sandroff Scholarship will be presented.

ONGOING

Tai Chi at Crown Center

Join Crown Center on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. for a Tai Chi class with physical therapist and Oasis instructor Jo Ann Roberts. The exercises aim to relieve pain, reduce stress and decrease fall risk, while improving balance, muscular strength and coordination. The cost is $2 per class. RSVP to Crown Center at 314-991-2055.

PHOTO: SCOTT MITCHELL LEEN

kol rinah

VISIONARY EVENT HONORING MICHAEL STAENBERG

Kol Rinah honored Michael Staenberg during an art-themed fundraiser April 16. The event recognized Staenberg’s “generous commitment of time, support and inspiration that helped us create and enhance this magnificent facility [the new Kol Rinah building] that will serve our community today and for generations to come.”

SP TLIGHT

PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS

SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to news@stljewishlight.org.

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

VIEW MORE ONLINE: stljewishlight.org/multimedia

NCJWSTL

Vice President of Membership Lisa Gubernik with Sheila Greenbaum, the Hannah G. Solomon Founders Award Honoree

ncjwstl

Celebrating Women Event

Sheila Greenbaum was this year’s recipient of the 2023 Hannah G. Solomon Founder’s Award, given by National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis. She received the award Wednesday, April 19, in the Berges Theatre at COCA.This is the highest honor awarded by NCJWSTL and is presented to an individual who has changed the lives of others through his or her leadership efforts and service. Other section and community honorees include Michelle Brooks, Leadership; Jennifer Deutsch, Volunteer Service; Dianna Fine and Wendy Flusser, Fritzi Lainoff Advocacy; Alison Fox, Emerging Leader;  Sarah Beth Matt, Community Impact; and Jake Hummel & Missouri ARL-CIO, Community Partnership Award.

Amanda Stein, Jake Hummel, Melissa Forrester, Dana Sandweiss, Alison Fox, Sheila Greenbaum, Jennifer Deutsch, Michelle Brooks, Phyllis Langsdorf, Dianna Fine, Wendy Flusser, Linda Dahl, Sarah Beth Matt, Patti Teper.

PHOTOS: PHILIP DEITCH

Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel receiving the first ever Community Partnership Award from NCJWSTL VP of Community Impact Amanda Stein

Honoree Sheila Greenbaum with her daughter Rubyn and husband Dr. Gary Wasserman.

Board President Nancy Litz sharing a story.

From left to right:

Event Chairs from left to right, Amy Gallant, Dana Sandweiss and Nanci Bobrow.

Staenberg and Randi Mozenter

Gary Kodner introduces Staenberg

Needleman: Honor mom with donation to cause close to her heart

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

portstl.org

• CHAD’s Coalition — Addresses depression and suicide risk suffered by young people, offers “signs of suicide class” at middle schools. www.chadscoalition.org

If she cares about addressing food insecurity? Consider:

• Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry - Serves 15,000 people/year including kosher options. https://bit.ly/HKJFP

• Urban Harvest — Grows produce at area urban farms and distributes it locally to those without access to healthy nutritious food. www.urbanharveststl.org

• EarthDance Farms — Based in Ferguson, it advances food justice by training organic farmers and gardeners of all ages, providing connection to healthy food www.earthdancefarms.org

If she’s worried about abused women, consider:

• Safe Connections — Crisis intervention services including a 24-hour crisis hotline, educators who go to schools to explain a “good relationship” and other preventative education, support groups and therapists. www.safeconnections.org

• YWCA-STL — Offers many women empowerment programs, including a Sexual Assault Response Team and other women’s crisis services. www.ywcastl.org

If she’s inspired to help disadvantaged neighborhoods:

• Beyond Housing — Provides comprehensive community development (mostly northside) programs implementing solutions for insufficient housing, education, health, employment and economic development. www.beyondhousing.org

• Dream Builders for Equity — Real Estate Program provides youth employment, training and mentorship. While working alongside minority contractors, youth rehab vacant homes to be sold to first-time homeowners. www.dream-

builders4equity.org

If she’s wants to support/assist immigrants and refugees:

• Bi-Lingual International -- Provides immigrant and refugees with social services and health and mental health services. Newest programs help Afghans and Ukrainian refugees. www.bilingualstl. org

• International Institute — (IISTL) Programs and services for immigrants and their families include connecting new arrivals with first-touch services and resources, case management, employment connections and more. www.iistl.org

If she wants to help under-resourced people seeking employment/job skills:

• Launchcode — Provides free education, apprenticeships and job opportunities to help individuals launch a career in technology. www.launchcode.org

• Employment Connection - Breaks down barriers to self-sufficiency for individuals with limited opportunities includ-

ing the homeless, ex-offenders, veterans, dropouts, women on welfare and at-risk youth. Provides valuable resources, training and support to empower clients to change their circumstances and become employed. www.employmentstl.org

Now it’s your turn to reflect.

Is your mom’s or grandmother’s or favorite aunt’s interest listed above? If not, what is relevant to her? Or where does she volunteer?

That’s where your Mother’s Day gift should be directed this year, and maybe every year.

Author Nina Needleman is a retired financial planner. She spent the first three-decades of her career in the financial services industry. Now she uses her business skills to help nonprofit organizations and more importantly — as a volunteer to teach people about personal finance and philanthropy.

Obituary: Remembering Harold Kushner, noted rabbi and author

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the Jewish Book Council, said in 2017 when it revived the Lifetime Achievement Award to honor Kushner. “He reached everybody’s heart. It wasn’t just the Jewish heart. He reached the heart of every human being.”

Kushner was born in Brooklyn and educated in the New York City public schools. After his ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1960, he went to court to have his military exemption waived.

For two years he served as a military chaplain in Oklahoma before assuming

his first pulpit, as an assistant rabbi at another Temple Israel, this one in Great Neck, N.Y.

Four years later he moved to Natick, where he remained even as he became a celebrity. In 1983, with his book a best-seller and demanding more of his time, Kushner cut back to part-time at the synagogue. Seven years later he stepped down to devote himself fully to writing.

The congregation, believing their then55-year-old rabbi too young to be named rabbi emeritus, made Kushner their rabbi laureate, a title held by only a handful of American spiritual leaders.

It would be one of a growing number of

accolades: Kushner was honored by the Roman Catholic organization the Christophers as someone who made the world a better place, and the organization Religion in America named him clergyman of the year in 1999. In 2004 he read from the book of Isaiah at the state funeral of President Ronald Reagan. He remained involved in the Conservative movement after leaving the pulpit, serving as a leader in the New England region of its rabbinical association and, with the novelist Chaim Potok, editing its 2001 Etz Hayim Torah commentary.

“My seminary training was all about Jewish answers. My congregational expe-

rience has been more in terms of Jewish questions,” Kushner told JTA in 2008. “I start with the anguish, the uncertainty, the lack of fulfillment I find in the lives of the very nice, decent people who are in this synagogue and who are my readers. And Judaism is the answer.”

He added, “How do I live a fulfilling life is the question. And Judaism is the answer.”

Kushner’s wife, Suzette, died in 2022, 45 years after their son Aaron. Kushner is survived by his daughter, Ariel Kushner Haber, and two grandchildren.