Short Takes

The Power Of A Smile

05/31/2002 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

Gershon Resnik, a Canadian-born New Yorker, knows some French, Italian, Hebrew and Yiddish, but the other day he greeted Israeli children in fluent Chihuahua.
With a red rubber nose, floppy pants and a big grin, he walked on stage (in Haifa, in a northern neighborhood of Jerusalem, in a West Bank city) holding a hula hoop. "I'd bark at the audience and try to get them to bark back at me," before jumping through the hoop, Resnik says.

Timing Is Everything

05/24/2002 | by Adam Dickter | Staff Writer

It was meant to be an expression of solidarity with New York and a gesture of American unity against terror.
But a special joint session of Congress, to convene in the Big Apple this fall, is being panned by local representatives as "disrespectful," "problematic" and "an insult."
As it turns out, the session is scheduled to convene Friday, Sept. 6: the eve of Rosh HaShanah.

Teens' Tales Of Terror

05/24/2002 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

In Israel's public relations war, one of its best weapons is 16-year-old Gili Karo.
Karo, who lives on a moshav in central Israel, was one of seven Israeli high school students in New York this month pressing Israel's case in media interviews, at the United Nations Special Session on Children and in appearances at schools and synagogues.
The teens were telling the world what life has been like in Israel over these last 19 months since the start of the Palestinian intifada.

Haider's Latest Salvo

05/17/2002 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Israel doesn't have many friends in Europe so it doesn't exactly come as a shock that Jorg Haider, former head of Austria's governing far-right Freedom Party, said he thinks "it's a good idea" that Iraq sends $25,000 to the families of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up to kill Israelis.

Whose Tenement Is It?

05/17/2002 | by Julia Goldman | Staff Writer

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum's bid to take over the tenement next door is heating up for a new round of fighting.

Paid Leave For Nevison

05/10/2002 | by Debra Nussbaum Cohen | Staff Writer

Temple Emanu-El has granted its cantor, who is awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew, a paid leave of absence, The Jewish Week has learned.
A letter sent to members last week from Robert Bernhard, the temple's president, said Cantor Howard Nevison has been on leave since Feb. 20, the day of his arrest, when he was "relieved of all duties."
A source connected with the synagogue said it is a paid leave "because this is not punitive."