The Jewish Week | New York News

(JTA) -- The 19-year-old man charged in attacks on two northern New Jersey synagogues confessed to the crimes, prosecutors said.

Anthony Graziano confessed to the Jan. 11 firebomb attack on a synagogue and residence in Rutherford and the Jan. 3 arson attack on a synagogue in Paramus, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney said Tuesday, according to reports.

Also Tuesday, Graziano pleaded not guilty to additional charges that he planned to attack the Jewish Community Center of Paramus.

The emergence of Hebrew charter schools — publicly funded schools that teach Hebrew language and aspects of Jewish culture — has been a controversial development in recent years. Required by law to be open to all regardless of religion or ethnicity, and prohibited from promoting religion, these tuition-free schools nonetheless have drawn scrutiny from church-state watchdogs, as well as Jewish leaders concerned they could draw students away from Jewish day schools.

As anticipated, New York’s legislative task force for redistricting last week released a map that packs several heavily Orthodox neighborhoods into one Senate bailiwick for a Jewish Brooklyn “superdistrict.”

But not everyone is embracing the idea.

“This is a smoke-filled, backroom deal,” said Councilman David Greenfield, who represents parts of Borough Park and Flatbush. Last year, Greenfield testified before the redistricting committee that two or three senators, rather than the current six should represent Orthodox areas.

Alexander Levin, a rags-to-riches Ukrainian businessman who announced a new international forum for Russian-speaking Jews this week at the United Nations, says he knows how to deal with world leaders like Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.