The Rep’s ‘Lehman Brothers Trilogy’ is both a Jewish and American story
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Introducing the 2023 Unsung Heroes Upcoming magazine, Nov. 28 event will spotlight these nine individuals, one couple BY ELLEN FUTTERMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Nine individuals and one married couple will be recognized as the 2023 Jewish Light Unsung Heroes on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. This year’s 14th annual event will take place at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Unsung Heroes, which began in 2010, shines a light on individuals of any background or faith who generously volunteer or go above and beyond to help the St. Louis Jewish community, and Jewish St. Louisans who volunteer, either within the local Jewish community and/or the community at large. This year, two of the 11 Unsung Heroes are not Jewish; both are teachers, one in Jefferson County, the other in Collinsville, and both are going above and beyond in their efforts to stop antisemitism in their classrooms and in their communities. This year’s co-chairs for the event will be two former Unsung Heroes, Marilyn Ratkin and Stan Shanker. Ratkin was recognized in the first class of Heroes for her outstanding volunteerism at organizations such as the Jewish Community Relations
The 2023 Unsung Heroes are (top row, from left) Elizabeth “Betty” Baumgartner, Murray Bresler, Nancy Wasserman Giannisi, Amy Kuo Hammerman, Alan Kirby, (second row) Cathy Lander-Goldberg, Helene Meyer, Sue Picus, Beth Saltzman, Dr. Bruce Frank and Enid Weisberg Frank. Council, the National Council of Jewish Women and Ready Readers, to name a few. Shanker was honored in 2017 for his passion and commitment in helping to settle new immigrants in St. Louis through the efforts of Congregation Shaare Emeth
and the International Institute of St. Louis. Since its inception, more than 120 St. Louisans have been honored as Jewish Light Unsung Heroes. Here are this year’s honorees: • Elizabeth “Betty” Baumgartner, a
sixth-grade teacher at Dorris Intermediate School in Collinsville. She took determined action after hearing one of her students proclaim, “Hitler is cool,” as he See UNSUNG HEROES on page 10
What’s the buzz around tzedakah? Teen starts chapter of Jewish youth philanthropy group BY MEGAN RUBENSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
Sari Gross
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Sari Gross, an incoming sophomore at Clayton High School, is bringing a new organization for Jewish teens to St. Louis: Honeycomb STL. Kicking off in September, the group will focus on tzedakah — charitable giving — and getting involved in the local Jewish community. She learned about Honeycomb, a global Jewish youth philanthropy organization, when her parents returned home from a philanthropic trip to Israel where they found out about Honeycomb’s work. After hearing about what it was, Sari decided it
was something that she and her peers could really benefit from. “Honeycomb is an organization that is working to teach Jewish teens, ‘What is philanthropy? What is the tzedakah?’ and why it’s an important part of our Judaism,” Sari said. “When my parents told me about it, I was like, wow, that sounds like something that would really interest me and that I can really see myself doing.” The organization’s website, honeycomb.org, states: “Honeycomb is uniquely focused on Jewish youth philanthropy because of the incredible impact and promise on which it delivers: strengthening young people’s connections to Jewish life, identity, community and values while cultivating a lasting desire and skill set to change the world.” Danielle Segal, executive director of Honeycomb (formerly the Jewish Teen Fund Network), which is based
in New York, said there are roughly 100 youth charitable giving programs across North America and internationally that engage about a thousand Jewish teens. “These programs each run independently but look to us for guidance, curriculum, research, conferences and professional development around Jewish youth philanthropy,” she said. Sari wants to bring Honeycomb’s mission to her peers and have them learn why tzedakah is important through doing. Throughout the year, the local cohort will participate in educational programming, raise money for an organization they will choose as a group and do volunteer work. “If you look back on Jewish leaders throughout the last 100 years, a lot of them have focused on tzedakah.” Sari said “I feel that historically, Jews are See HONEYCOMB STL on page 6
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