Short Takes

Moving Memorial Plaques To A Different Kind Of Wall

06/19/2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Memorial plaques placed on the walls of synagogues serve as touchstones for the bereaved. But a new website takes those plaques to the next level by not only allowing people to create them in cyberspace but also to write tributes to their loved ones, as well as post pictures and eventually videos.

When Work And Religion Collide

06/12/2012 | Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

Two religious accommodation cases last week that involved Orthodox Jews — a prospective Sabbath-observant employee of a New York-based consulting firm, and a chasidic Jew whose beard threatens to keep him out of the New York Police Department — are part of an ongoing tug of war between employers and religious workers, says the veteran lawyer who has advocated on behalf of Shabbat-observant Jews for more than four decades.

Sign Of The Times: Gays March, ‘No One Cared’

06/05/2012 | Helen Chernikoff | Staff Writer

Even as the brilliantly sunny Sunday of the Celebrate Israel Parade turned into an overcast and chilly start to the workweek, excitement persisted over the long-sought inclusion of a coalition of organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Jews.

Honoring ‘The Queen’ Of Yiddish Preservation

06/05/2012 | George Robinson | Special To The Jewish Week

Chana Mlotek admits that at 90 she’s a little less productive than she used to be.

“My legs don’t go as fast as they did,” she says, her eyes twinkling. “But I can still work three times a week at YIVO, I still write a column for the Forverts, and the work is always interesting.”

Tweeting #Torah For Shavuot

05/29/2012 | Helen Chernikoff | Staff Writer

Some people get ready for Shavuot by making blintzes. Some draft notes on the text to be taught or learned in the wee hours of the morning at one of the all-night sessions during which the giving of the Torah at Sinai is celebrated through study.

And some congregate on Twitter, the micro-blogging website on which posts can be no longer than 140 characters, composing their own tweets of Torah, reading others’ efforts and furiously re-tweeting.

Hold The Bagels: Two Jews Schmeer ‘Battleship’

05/29/2012 | Adam Dickter | Assistant Managing Editor/Online Editor

Roper and Ebert, they’re not, but John and Joan Schwartz have some strong opinions about the latest movies they’d like to share.

“ ‘Battleship’ sucked,” and the recent action movie flop based on a board game may be the worst movie they have ever seen.

Still, it gets one and-a-half-bagels out of sheer generosity.

That’s one of the few times they agree, said Joan, who said Terrence Malick’s 2011 Oscar-nominated “Tree of Life” was a “masterpiece” while John hated it.