Nearly 1,000 Users Access Newly Released Yahrzeit and Shabbat Lighting Apps
New York? Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, the only not-for-profit Jewish funeral home serving the metropolitan New York Jewish community, has introduced the first and only free mobile applications for Yahrzeit and Shabbat candle lightings. Both are available for free download to iPhone, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices.
Plaza’s Yahrzeit app informs and reminds users the date of each Yahrzeit, every year and also allows users to personalize their Yahrzeit calendars for 25 years with the added function of emailing the calendar to family and friends. Plaza?s Shabbat candle lighting app allows users to check Shabbat candle lighting times around the world. When users enter their zip code and city, the app returns the Shabbat time, taking into account time zone and seasonal changes.
?We are excited to be on the cutting edge of technology that allows us to merge Jewish traditions with high-tech communications,? said Stephanie Garry, marketing director of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel.
In the first week of launching the apps, nearly 1,000 users have downloaded either one or both apps.
Plaza Jewish Community Chapel is a not-for-profit corporation governed by an unpaid Board of Directors that includes rabbis from all of the major denominations, representatives of Jewish social service agencies, individuals who serve as lay leaders in synagogues and Jewish communal organizations. Plaza ensures that every member of the Jewish community receives a dignified and respectful Jewish funeral by eliminating the profit motive and commercialism often associated with the funeral industry and providing appropriate connections to Jewish communal resources that the bereaved may need to cope with emotional or practical problems.
