by Jordan Palmer and Ellen Futterman in the St. Louis Jewish Light

Overwhelming support from the St. Louis Jewish community turned out to be critical to St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell’s victory Tuesday over incumbent Rep. Cori Bush, a two-term progressive and outspoken critic of Israel.

The primary race for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District drew national attention because of Political Action Committees such as AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) investing over $9 million to oppose Bush, who was one of the first to urge a ceasefire in Gaza following the attack by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7 and also sought to cut aid to Israel.

Locally, however, some credit Bell’s victory to grassroots efforts that unified St. Louis Jews across all denominations and political preferences.

Stacey Newman, who served as a Democratic state representative in Missouri for nine years, joined Bell’s campaign as his Jewish vote coalition director. She worked closely with Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham of Congregation B’nai Amoona and Lisa Baron, a retired attorney and nonprofit director who belongs to Young Israel, to construct a campaign strategy that would fully engage the entire local Jewish community.

“What we all experienced as a result of Oct. 7 changed our world,” said Newman. “I don’t know that anyone had gone after the Jewish vote. We have never been a constituency important to the outcome of an election. We had no roadmap.”

Together, they secured support for Bell from more than 35 St. Louis area rabbis from all levels of Jewish denominations.

“Three weeks after our community was devastated and in pain by the news of Hamas’ horrific massacre in Israel, Prosecuting Attorney Bell announced he was running to represent Missouri District 1 in Washington, D.C.,” wrote the group “St. Louis Rabbis & Cantors for Wesley Bell for Congress” in a letter to the Jewish Light in June. “This district represents a large segment, but not the entirety of the St. Louis metropolitan area and has an impact beyond its boundaries.”

The letter, along with efforts by the local group “St. Louis Votes” to maximize Jewish voter turnout, sparked an unprecedented wave of unity among the Jewish community in St. Louis, with individuals and groups coming together like never before.

Cheryl Adelstein of St. Louis Votes, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) focused on empowering Jewish St. Louisans, highlighted the impact of their efforts. She noted that according to the St. Louis County Turnout Dashboard, voter turnout in University City, Olivette and a small part of Creve Coeur – each with a relatively large Jewish population — ranged from 40% to 50%.

“As average turnout for a primary is around 20%, we feel that our efforts had a positive impact in mobilizing the Jewish community to get out and vote,” added Adelstein.

“We came together, united across various denominations, recognizing the need to remove an antisemitic individual from Congress,” said Abraham, referring to Bush. “We were able to unite and be part of a greater cause, ensuring that we are represented by someone who genuinely cares about us and wants to understand our issues.”

Rabbi Ze’ev Smason, chairman of Coalition for Jewish Values Missouri and an Orthodox rabbi, said that in his more than three decades in St. Louis, he couldn’t remember an event, excluding an attack on Israel — that brought such disparate segments of the Jewish community together for a common cause.

“Thirty-six rabbis and clergy representing the broadest gamut—from Reform to Orthodox—signed a letter in support of Wesley Bell,” he said. “That was an astounding demonstration of how, when the situation calls for it, we can and should put aside our strongly held legitimate differences to do what’s best for the Jewish people and our community.”

Newman also emphasized the importance of this unity, saying, “Rabbi Smason and I agree on very little policy—he knows my record as a liberal reform activist—but we were able to stand together and work together for a more urgent, necessary cause. His testimony means a lot to me, and that we could work together respectfully without acrimony or mistrust. He understood the assignment and so did I. I saw this same unity throughout the Jewish community and hope we can continue this sense of mutual cooperation because we know there’s more ahead of us.”

Newman also highlighted the extensive national support Bell’s campaign received.

“In addition to overseeing Jewish outreach in St. Louis, I managed close to 200 Jewish volunteers across the country who were campaigning for Bell by making calls to voters in St. Louis. There was a modern Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles that did a big phone event for Bell last week,” she said. “A synagogue in Skokie, Illinois made calls every Tuesday morning. We had a lady in Cincinnati that made calls almost every day.”

Despite the concerted efforts to rally Jewish voters behind Bell, not all community members were convinced that he was the right choice for St. Louis

Michael Berg, a member of Progressive Jews of St. Louis, an organization that supported Bush, said many area rabbis and mainstream Jewish groups falsely accused her of being antisemitic because of her “unwavering commitment to human lives, including Palestinian lives.” He harshly criticized the influx of AIPAC and other lobbyist monies for “the purpose of smearing Cori Bush’s name and removing this beloved Black congresswoman from office. This has created rifts that will not easily heal.”

Rabbi Michael Rovinsky, director of the Jewish Student Union and an Orthodox rabbi, sees the situation very differently. He says Bell’s campaign truly galvanized the local Jewish community in ways it never came together before.

“It’s sad that it takes a Cori Bush to unite us, but we learned that we are capable of uniting, and now we have to learn to unite without a negative such as Bush’s influence,” he said.

Originally published in the St. Louis Jewish Light

Photo Credit: Michael B. Thomas on Flickr