News Brief

A Month Of Laughter

03/12/2008 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

No, that’s not Groucho Marx with the ersatz mustache.
Sometimes Naomi Chiel likes to pretend she is. “I have to be in the mood,” she says. Last Saturday night she was. At the “Comedy Night @ Kittay,” an evening of humor hosted by Kittay House, an independent living facility for senior citizens in the Bronx where Chiel works as Jewish Program Coordinator.

Preparing For Passover

03/05/2008 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

In Israel, Passover is not a last-minute affair. The planning starts before Purim.
In the weeks and months before the first night of Pesach, tons of shmura matzah are baked, yom tov food orders are placed, seder invitations are made and accepted, and hotel reservations are confirmed.
The work isn’t reserved for families, merchants and rabbis.
Cities make plans too.

New Effort To Aid Ex-Gazans

03/05/2008 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

The Israeli organization that represents the nearly 9,000 people evacuated from Gaza in 2005 has started a $40 million fundraising effort in the United States for the evacuees’ financial, educational and psychological needs.
The $40 million, to be raised over three years, will fill “the gap” between basic needs and the money that the government has pledged to provide, said Dror Vanunu, international coordinator or the Gush Katif Residents Committee (www.katifund.org; Friends of Gush Katif, P.O.B. 1184, Teaneck, NJ 07666).

An Exhibit Of Conscience

02/27/2008 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

The 53 pieces of art that went on exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem last week, worth millions of dollars, are on loan from several French museums.
If the exhibit is a success, some of the paintings won’t return to France — they’ll go back to their rightful owners or the owners’ heirs.

A Super-ior Fundraising Day

02/03/2008 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

Another day, another dollar.
This week it was another Super Sunday, another million dollars.
UJA-Federation held its annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Sunday, more than 1,000 volunteers making calls from the philanthropy’s headquarters in Manhattan, Long Island and Westchester. Together, they raised more than $1 million.
This year’s theme was Israel’s 60th anniversary.

Restitution Lawyer Wants Higher Fee

01/30/2008 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

The law professor last month awarded $3.1 million for his work on the Swiss Bank Holocaust settlement now wants $300,000 more.
The professor, Burt Neuborne, said in court papers that he is owed interest for the two years he waited while the court weighed survivors’ objections to his fee request.
“Shock is the only way to describe this obscene effort at enrichment at a time when Holocaust survivors are dying in poverty,” said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants.