Pictures and videos captured by Raphael Jones of Hi Neighbor
Information provided by Sababa festival organizers
Sababa Festival is St. Louis’ Jewish Arts & Culture Festival, bringing contemporary Jewish culture to life through music, food, art, family experiences and community. Rooted in Jewish culture and created for the entire St Louis region, Sababa welcomes everyone to explore, celebrate, and experience something new.
Sababa brings contemporary Jewish culture to life through live music, culinary experiences, visual art, family-friendly activities, and organizations from across the St. Louis Jewish community.
What To Expect
• Dining: enjoy delicious treats from food and beverage vendors, then take a challah braiding workshop!
• Kid’s/Family Corner: the kids will find a variety of fun activities such as a bubble party, video game truck, magician, toddler soft play and a reading library. • Culture and Community: peruse local artist booths selling their works, then check community organizations and their interactive activities!
o More than 25 different artists ranging from glassworks to jewelry, photography and pottery
o Community organizations include synagogues, schools, PJ Library with activities ranging from balloon animals to face painting and photo booths • Merchandise Area: take home branded Sababa merchandise as a souvenir!
Musical Artist Lineup
• Lisa Loeb – With a legacy of nearly 20 studio albums and EPs, multiple entrepreneurial ventures, her own weekday SiriusXM radio show on ’90s on 9, and a proliferation of TV, film, commercial, and voiceover work, the Grammy winning singer-songwriter behind such era-defining hits like ‘Stay (I Missed You)’ from Reality Bites and ‘I Do,’ continues to cement her status as one of the entertainment industry’s hardest working, most creative and revered musical artists.
• Nissim Black – Nissim Black is an American Israeli rapper, singer, and spiritual influencer known for his remarkable transition from secular hip-hop to Hasidic Jewish music. Raised in Seattle by parents who were early hip-hop pioneers, he navigated a turbulent childhood surrounded by street gangs and drug culture, initially finding local success on MTV and festival circuits under the name, D. Black. Following a profound spiritual search that led him through Christianity & Islam, he converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2013, subsequently moving with his wife to Israel a few years later. Today, he lives a fully Hasidic lifestyle with seven kids in Bet Shemesh, where he records music & podcasts from his home-studio. His music blends contemporary rap, pop, and R&B to share uplifting messages of faith, accumulating over 1-million views on YouTube for 9 of his music videos, including hit singles like “Hashem Melech”, “Million Years”, “Fly Away”, “Motherland Bounce”, and “The Hava Song”.
• Yuval Raphael – Yuval Raphael is a 25-year-old Israeli singer and songwriter and a survivor of the 10/7 Nova Festival attack. She gained international prominence by representing Israel at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in second place with her emotional track, ‘New Day Will Rise’. This stellar performance introduced her remarkable voice and heartfelt artistry to audiences around the world. With her powerful vocals, compelling stage presence, and deeply personal connection to music, Raphael is quickly emerging as one of Israel’s most exciting young performers.
• Elana Jagoda & Saul Kaye – Elana Jagoda’s recordings have long been a gold standard in the world of Jewish music, and her latest album, This Is What I Offer You, continues to elevate the field. With a background in both secular and religious music traditions, she has crafted a unique sound that bridges cultures and generations. Saul Kaye is a pioneering Jewish musician, spiritual leader, and the creator of Jewish Blues—a soulful meeting place between the ancient sounds of Jewish prayer and the raw honesty of American roots music. Over more than two decades, his music has taken him to communities around the world, blending blues, folk, prayer, storytelling, and spiritual practice into experiences that invite audiences to listen, sing, and connect more deeply.
• Klezundheit – A dynamic, 13-piece Klezmer band which blends traditional and modern klezmer with Balkan and jazz influences. The band’s unique name is a playful mashup of the Yiddish word “klezmer” and the German “Gesundheit” (meaning “bless you”). They are known for bringing high energy and a family friendly atmosphere to their shows. Klezundheit has been performing for over 20 years.
Featured Food Partners
• Zelda’s Table (Sababa Sandwich pictured below)
o Plain Bagel from Bagels & Bliss
o Beef Bacon
o Hashbrown Pattie
o Pareve American Cheese
o No-Nut Pesto Aioli
• St. Louis Bartenders (Sababa Spritzer pictured below)
o 2 oz. Aperol
o 3 oz. Prosecco
o 1 Oz. Soda Water
o Garnished with orange slice
• Corner Café
• 613 Catering
• Clementine’s Ice Cream
Tree of Life Activation
The Tree of Life is a twelve-foot interactive
sculpture built from salvaged steel, rebar
and found metal.
Over the course of the festival it is completed
by the people who attend it: participants
write a message on a colorful leaf and hang
it on the branches. The tree arrives bare in
the morning and is full of color by the end of
the day.
A staircase of roots winds up the base so
that children and shorter participants can
reach the higher branches without
assistance. The piece is designed to stand
freely, to be disassembled for transport, and
to be reassembled in future years.
The sculpture is built in four parts, and each
part carries its own meaning.
The Roots — Tradition
Judaism is rooted in tradition. These roots form the foundation of faith and culture; without them there is no anchor. Here the roots also do practical work: they rise to form a set of steps, so that reaching the higher branches means climbing on the foundation that came before you.
The Trunk — The People
The bulk of the culture and religion that grows from those roots — sturdy, strong, the mass of the whole Jewish people. Built from reclaimed steel: simple and unornamented. It is not the focus of the piece, but everything else depends on it.
The Limbs — Generations
The branches of generations. Families and communities, all joined at the trunk of a shared culture, yet diverse and long-reaching. Formed from rebar into a wide tangled canopy, kinked and twisting rather than orderly.
The Leaves — The Individual
The individuals who experience and represent Jewish faith and culture. The leaves are paper, cut in a range of colors and hung by hand, each one different from the next — and each one deliberately lighter and more fragile than the steel that carries it. The tree is not finished until they are on it.
But there’s more to the story in this unique art installation, in celebration of the Jewish Federation’s 125th anniversary …
For Jewish families whose stories are rooted in the scrap metal industry, this Tree of Life carries an especially meaningful connection.
Generations ago, many Jewish immigrants entered the scrap business because it offered something other industries often did not: a chance to build a livelihood with limited resources, to work independently, and to create opportunity for their families.
What began with peddlers, small yards and salvaged metal grew into businesses passed from parents to children and grandchildren, with each generation building on the work of the one before it. Today, the success created by those families is being transformed again, this time through philanthropy that is helping build the future of Jewish St. Louis.
A Tree of Life forged from reclaimed metal beautifully tells that story: roots planted by one generation, strength built by the generations that followed, and branches reaching toward a Jewish future they are helping make possible.
Sponsors:
• World Wide Technology
• United Hatzalah
• Vogel Law Office
• TPC Capital Solutions
• Centene Corporation
• GFI Digital
• BJC HealthCare
• Commerce Bank
• Daniel & Henry
• Alter Trading Corporation
• Bank of Washington
• Powers Insurance & Risk Management
• Dowd Bennet
• The Oberman Group and WNW Group at Morgan Stanley • Becker Iron & Metal
• Trimarc Metals
• Premier Rentals
• Contemporary Productions
• Grey Eagle Distributors
• Schnucks
