Short Takes

From Russia With Lens

12/27/2012 | Sandee Brawarsky

In November 1991, Michael Datikash was driving his daughter to school in Tbilisi, Georgia, when two cars passed him, one on each side, and the drivers started shooting at each other.

Yanks Now Eight Shy Of A Minyan

12/18/2012 | Jonathan Mark | Associate Editors

The Yanks have signed Kevin Youkilis, the scrappy, dirty-uniformed third-baseman, who instantly becomes the most prominent Jewish ballplayer in the Bronx since Jack Ukeles (the Jewish communal demographer and planner, but no relation) last took his glove to the park.

Harlem Hebrew Charter Gearing Up

12/11/2012 | Julie Wiener | Associate Editors

A Hebrew charter school slated to open in Manhattan in August has hired a head of school, secured a location and is beginning to accept applications for kindergarten and first grade.

Robin Natman, a longtime public school teacher and administrator, will head Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School.

Along The ‘Sexuality Spectrum’

12/11/2012 | Sandee Brawarsky | Special To The Jewish Week

A woman’s detached hand holds an iron made of wood, atop a wooden ironing board. The man’s fragile shirt that’s being pressed is lined with the kinds of words the woman tells herself to improve her relationship. “I’m willing to try harder.” “Try to remember all the good too.”

The assemblage of wood, paper and found objects, “Ironing It Out” (2011), is featured in “The Sexuality Spectrum,” at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion Museum. The presence of the faceless woman beyond the wooden hands is felt.

The Cantor Of Cabaret

12/04/2012 | Sandee Brawarsky

Rebecca Joy Fletcher is a messenger of the lost world of European Jewish cabaret.

In her hands, it’s an electric art form brought to life, with traces of German operetta, jazz and Tin Pan Alley, and lyrics that are full of irony, wit and emotions that turn on a dime.

This month, she’ll be presenting her one-woman show “Cities of Light” in two Manhattan venues, belting out cabaret tunes from between the world wars in Paris, Berlin and Warsaw, and Tel Aviv in the years before the State of Israel’s founding.