Short Takes

Prize Day For L.I. Girls

12/07/2001 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

The students at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls heard their assistant principal’s voice over the intercom system Monday morning. “I have a very important announcement to make,” Tzipora Meier said. Looking at the concerned faces of people in her office, she knew what was on their mind — the violence in Israel.

Getting The Fax Out

12/07/2001 | by Debra Nussbaum Cohen | Staff Writer

Their backs were against the Wall, so to speak.
But a flood of faxes sent to Israeli legislators has staved off — at least temporarily — consideration of a new law that if passed, would ban women from conducting any religious ceremony in their section at the Western Wall.
The bill, submitted to the Knesset by members of the United Torah Judaism party, would prohibit women from opening a Torah scroll, blowing a shofar, or wearing a tallit or tefillin at Judaism’s holiest site. Violators would face seven years in prison.

New Role, New Opportunity

08/03/2001 | by Steve Lipman and Gary Rosenblatt | Staff Writer

Women interested in a larger role in traditional religious services will have a new opportunity for participation this High Holy Days season.

The Grape White Way

05/11/2001 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

You no longer have to drink only red wine to benefit from its medicinal qualities. Now Israeli scientists have found a way to give white wine the same properties.
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa published a study in 1995 in which they found that red wine contains flavonoids, a natural chemical that counteracts cholesterol oxidation, a major contributor to blocked arteries. The flavonoids, found in the skin of grapes, seep into the wine over several weeks when left in contact with the juices of the squeezed grapes.

The Conservative Influence

04/20/2001 | by Debra Nussbaum Cohen | Staff Writer

When it comes to the Jewish community’s recent focus on Jewish education, you can thank the Conservative movement.
That’ll be the rouse-the-faithful message of Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Ismar Schorsch at his annual state-of-the-movement address next week in Jacksonville, Fla.

Across The Great Divide

01/19/2001 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

A mini-van with 18 high school students aboard will stop at the museum of Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot, north of Haifa, on Sunday afternoon. The students will spend four hours — viewing an exhibit, watching a film, taking part in a seminar — learning about the Jewish ghettoes established by the Nazis during World War II.
The students all are Arab.