Joyce Brothers, a noted pioneer in the genre of TV psychology and a prolific writer and television personality, died Monday of respiratory failure in New York. She was 85. Brothers was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, to two Jewish parents who were both attorneys. Brothers set out to have a professional career of her own as a young woman, earning teaching jobs at Hunter College and Columbia University. After the birth of her daughter, however, Brothers returned home to act as primary care giver. Her husband, Dr. …More

It's brunch time at Mother's Bistro & Bar and owner-chef Lisa Schroeder has a small crisis on her hands involving the accidental defenestration of a busboy. Moments earlier, a server had tripped and gone flying through one of the restaurant's large picture windows. Shattered glass covered the pavement outside, where the hapless staffer was being treated for a nasty gash by an ambulance crew. Meanwhile, dozens of undeterred diners were waiting to be seated. “What's a big piece of glass in somebody's …More

A series of Brooklyn mezuzahs desecrated on Holocaust Remembrance Day is being investigated as a hate crime. Eleven mezuzahs in total were scorched yesterday, leaving residents of an Orthodox section of Williamsburg frightened and outraged in the later hours of Yom HaShoah, when the Jewish world remembers those lost in the Holocaust. The incident was named a hate crime by police, who have opened a full scale investigation. "The mezuzahs appear to have been burned with either a lighter or perhaps a lighter with …More

One of the most famous American candies of all time, the Tootsie Roll, was invented by an Austrian immigrant named Leo Hirschfeld who came to America in the late 1890s. Jews have always played a large role in candy making of yore, as Tablet magazine explains: “One hundred years ago, most confections were generic, sold as penny candy from jars on shop counters. They were usually distributed by peddlers, most of them Jewish immigrants from Europe who sold a variety of goods on their rounds. Some of those …More

The filming schedule of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” has been changed in response to a request made by a haredi Orthodox community in Brooklyn. The second installment of the Hollywood franchise was supposed to be shot at the Marcy Avenue Armory, a building located in the mostly Yiddish-speaking part of Williamsburg, during the holiday of Passover. Now the producers have agreed to reduce the presence of vehicles in the neighborhood for the duration of Passover. Plans to close a local intersection were …More

Brooklyn's Prospect Park has issued a communal memo asking the Jewish community not to dispose of chametz (leavened bread) in the park's lake. Observant Jews must remove all chametz from the home before the Passover holiday, and the park authorities believe some are doing so by tossing it into the lake, which harms the birds that live there. “For many years people have brought chametz to Prospect Park to throw into the lake to feed the waterfowl,” the memo explains. “While this is done with the …More

Bernard Malamud is considered one of the greatest Jewish authors of the 20th century. This Brooklyn native has granted the community a trove of classic works, still acclaimed today decades after the iconic writer’s death. Malamud was born April 26, 1914, to Russian Jewish immigrants, and was a natural storyteller from a young age. As he grew, his education turned to literature and education. Malamud worked as a teacher in training before obtaining a BA, then a master’s from Columbia University. He …More

Spider-Man is set to swing by Brooklyn, and the local Jewish community is none too pleased about it. The problem centers on the exact time the web slinger plans to drop in. Organizers for a sequel to the blockbuster “Amazing Spider-Man” want to shoot scenes in the heavily Jewish neighborhood over the Passover holiday. “We ask that you not issue a permit for any of the High Holy Days,” the local community board wrote to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, after …More

A New Jersey rabbi faces thousands in fines for illegally burying a Jewish object. [USA Today] The Brooklyn Jewish community responds negatively to the “Amazing Spider-Man” movie beginning it’s local filming during Passover. [CBS] A famous Holocaust photograph, "Jews of Warsaw," is transformed into a modern-day cartoon. [Heeb] Jewish marrow donors will increase medical compatibility for Jewish recipients. [Prague Daily] Greece will hold a remembrance for the 70-year anniversary of the first …More

Three with Jewish ties vie for LA mayoral spot. [Forward] Survivor's Schindler manuscript set to be published. [Times of Israel] Brooklyn Jews mourn the death of the "miracle" hit and run baby. [Times of Israel] Hebrew University ranked among world's best on education list. [Algemeiner] Israeli windsurfer secures fourth world championship. [Haaretz] Virgin Mary painting returned to heirs of Jewish art dealer. [Bloomberg] Iranian-born Israeli pop star Rita will perform at a UN event. [Haaretz] Are …More

A Jewish infant that was delivered after its parents were killed in a hit and run died this morning, following initial reports that the child was expected to survive. Nachman and Raizi Glauber, both 21 from the Hasidic Satmar sect in Brooklyn, died in a car accident while racing to see a doctor after midnight Saturday evening. Raizi reportedly could no longer feel the baby and was seeking medical attention, when a BMW sedan hit the livery cab the Glaubers were riding in. Both parents were pronounced dead upon …More

On a freezing Friday night in Brooklyn, a group of 18 Crown Heights residents scurry through the crowds of Jews leaving synagogue and make their way to a second-story apartment on Rogers Avenue for Shabbat dinner. Inside, hippie art and vintage John Lennon photos share wall space with drawings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late leader of the Chabad hasidic sect, and a yellow “Moshiach” flag, the symbol of the movement's messianic wing. A large glass table holds the evening's spread: sauteed …More