New York News

Spitzer’s Turn

12/04/1998 | by Adam Dickter | Staff Writer

As he celebrates one of the narrowest political victories in New York state history, Eliot Spitzer finds himself frequently explaining why he spent more than $7 million of his family’s wealth to capture a job that currently pays $110,000.
The answer, he says, is simple. “In my view this is about as stupendous a position as one can imagine,” says the Democrat of the attorney general’s office.

ADL Poll Not Black And White

12/04/1998 | by Lawrence Cohler-Esses and Eric J. Greenberg  | Staff Writers

Prominent black leaders and activists had mixed reactions this week to a new survey by the Anti-Defamation League in which African Americans were four times more likely than whites to harbor attitudes the ADL termed “most anti-Semitic.”

Witness: Yeshiva Faked Documents For Grants

12/04/1998 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

The former dean of a Brooklyn-based yeshiva the government charges was fictitious and stole millions in federal subsidies testified in federal court Tuesday that he helped fake documents to obtain state accreditation in order to receive grants from the state and U.S. Department of Education.
Abraham Berkowitz was testifying in the trial of four chasidic men — three from the upstate village of New Square and one from Brooklyn — charged with stealing millions of dollars from federal and state benefit programs during a decades-old conspiracy.

Reform Backlash Over ‘Ten Principles’

12/04/1998 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

The Reform movement is embroiled in an emotional national debate on the future of its belief system.
At issue is a controversial draft document titled the “Ten Principles of Reform Judaism” that seeks to set guidelines for how North America’s 1.2 million Reform Jews should practice their faith in the 21st century.
Rather than fostering unity, the platform, authored by the leader of the movement’s rabbinic arm, has provoked a firestorm of criticism from Reform lay leaders, academics and rabbis nationwide.

Needy U.S. Survivors To Get Checks

11/27/1998 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

As of next week, as many as 60,000 needy survivors in the United States are expected to begin receiving checks of about $500 each from the Swiss humanitarian fund.

For Modern Orthodox Rabbis, Wye Is OK

11/27/1998 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

In response to sharp criticism by some right-wing Orthodox rabbis who charged that the Wye accords violate Jewish law, a group of Modern Orthodox rabbis this week issued a counter statement saying that last month’s deal between Israel and the Palestinians is indeed religiously legal.
The group, Shvil Hazahav, gathered the signatures of 28 Modern Orthodox rabbis to support an unequivocal statement asserting that the Wye deal does not violate Jewish law, or halacha.