New York News

Conservative Rabbis:Israel Blaming Us In Conversion Mess

06/12/1998 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

The conversion issue has again surfaced in Israel, reigniting bitter animosities that were shelved during failed efforts to resolve the conflict. And unlike before, the non-Orthodox are blaming the Israeli government for the crisis.

HIAS Leader: Ready Despite Drop In Emigres

06/12/1998 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

As a teenager, Leonard Glickman was an activist in the Soviet Jewry movement. That cause has become his life’s work. Since March he has overseen the resettlement here of Jews from the former Soviet Union in his capacity as executive vice president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
Glickman, 35, had served for seven years as executive assistant at the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Later this month he will be moving from Washington to Millburn, N.J., with his wife, Sandi, and their three daughters.

Feds: Witness Threatened In Hikind Trial Claim menacing phone calls, false alarm attempted to intimidate matchmaker linked to COJO.

06/12/1998 | by Lawrence Cohler-Esses | Staff Writer

A key prosecution witness has been harassed and threatened in an effort to intimidate him from testifying in the trial of Assemblyman Dov Hikind and Rabbi Elimelech Naiman, federal prosecutors claimed this week.
The alleged tactics, by members of the Ger chasidic sect, have not been tied by prosecutors to either of the defendants. And at the judge’s urging, Naiman, a Ger leader, has obtained rulings from Ger religious courts in Jerusalem and Brooklyn demanding that any such actions cease.

Greenfield: Conservative Observance Is Growing

06/05/1998 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Bruce Greenfield of North Bellmore, L.I., is celebrating his 25th year with the New York Metropolitan Region of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which covers the five boroughs of New York, Long Island and Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Putnam counties.

Shelly’s Shidduch

06/05/1998 | by Adam Dickter | Staff Writer

He’s a Catholic district attorney from Brooklyn who came in third in his last run for statewide office. She’s a Jewish former speech therapist from Monroe County who became the first woman supervisor of her Rochester suburb in 1991.
They may have little in common, but thanks to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Charles J. Hynes and Sandra Frankel are running mates in September’s Democratic primary.

Divorce Court Battle Heats Up

06/05/1998 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

Striking out at a controversial new religious divorce court that says it has freed more than 150 women from recalcitrant husbands, a group of 31 mainstream Orthodox rabbis has denounced the bet din as illegitimate.