Community Maverick Judy Menkes

Designs a Unique Adventure

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

BROOKLINE - Judy Weiner was one of the few kids in Winthrop who commuted to and graduated from Maimonides. She went on to lead a notable and singular existence, graduating from Lesley College. Her father, Harry, owned American Kosher Products Company in Mattapan, later owned by her brother Leon. She married Barry Menkes, her brother Allen’s roommate at Yeshiva University, and taught public school in his native Canada. When they moved to Brockton, she became Sisterhood President of Agudas Achim, taught Hebrew school at Stoughton’s Ahavath Torah, day school at Brockton’s South Shore Hebrew Academy and Hebrew school, becoming principal, at Randolph’s Temple Beth Am.

But she also liked to design invitations for celebrations, and did that on the side with a friend. A little over a year ago, she and her daughter, Elka Tovah, also a Maimonides grad, started a storefront business in Brookline, Unique Simchas, at 1382A Beacon St. in Coolidge Corner. Her husband is now a realtor with the office of Chobee Hoy in Brookline, and her daughter recently married Dr. Solomon Davidoff, a professor at the New England Institute of Art and Communications.

“The move,” said Menkes, “has led, as we had hoped, to a much wider range of clientele, and we are greatly enjoying the range of tastes and occasions which our customers bring into the store.”

Menkes and Solomon feature invitations and announcements for every occasion, births to Bar Mitzvahs, birthdays to bridal showers to weddings, as well as calligraphy service and both boxed and personalized stationery, cards and gifts. On their window, a great variety is displayed in clothesline-format, in a colorful and vibrant splash that causes passers-by to automatically stop and gawk. Clearly, Menkes has carried her inimitable accomplished style into her art as well. “We have 200 albums of thermographed, engraved, and letterpressed invitations and stationery,” she said. “We try to make the planning of an event as delightful an experience as the party itself!”

The mother and daughter combo have won many international awards for their creative use of the InScribe computerized calligraphy system, with its selection of over 150 calligraphy styles and 2,000 colors of ink.

While in Brookline, the family has been affiliated with Congregation Beth Pinchas, Young Israel of Brookline, and Congregation Kadimah Toras Moshe.

"The benefit and advancement of the Jewish community have always been priorities of mine,” said Menkes, “no matter which career or interest I have been pursuing at the time."

Unique Simchas Invitations and Calligraphy, located at 1382A Beacon Street in Coolidge Corner, Brookline, is open Sunday 12–5 p.m., Monday and Tuesday 10–6 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 10–8 p.m. For more information, call them at 617-734-3114, or visit their Web site at www.uniquesimchas.com. Unique Simchas is a member of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce and the Coolidge Corner Merchants Association.