Short Takes

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.

New App Brings The Aleph Bet To The iPad

12/03/2012 | Julie Wiener | Associate Editor

Would you prefer your preschool-age child do less “Angry Birds” and more “Aleph Bet?"

Blended Learning, In A War Zone

11/27/2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

The rockets falling on southern Israel were anything but virtual, but for a week, school was. And the situation for students there during the recent Gaza war gives fresh relevance to the educational concept of “distance learning.”

In between running to the bomb shelter during eight days of Hamas rocket fire, Paz Azran, 17, kept up with her studies at the Israel Sci-Tech Henry Ronson High School in Ashkelon with the help of her computer and the school’s virtual school.

Reunited, After 67 Years

11/27/2012 | Chavie Lieber/JTA

Even though 67 years had passed since they last saw each other, Wladyslawa Dudziak and Rozia Beiman reunited as if they hadn’t missed a moment.

Dudziak, 85, was flown to New York last week from Poland to meet with Beiman, whom she had saved from the Nazis more than a half-century before.

Thanksgiving Thursday, Then #GivingTuesday

11/20/2012 | Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

Sol Adler, executive director of the 92nd Street Y, got special delight out of paying some bills on the Chase Bank website on Sunday — before logging off, he noticed an announcement for “Giving Tuesday,” a national program under the Y’s auspices that will start next week.

Beyond Kvetch And Kvell

11/20/2012 | Helen Chernikoff | Staff Writer

From alte kaker, or old man in Yiddish, to zatar, an Israeli spice, Americans’ Jewish identity has long flavored their English.

Now a professor has harnessed the Internet to collect those heimish (cozy and warm) expressions that have made their way into the vernacular from sources including, but not limited to, Aramaic, Ladino, Yiddish and Hebrew.