Short Takes

Obstacle To Roots Search

10/18/2002 | by Julie Wiener | Staff Writer

Allan Jordan, a Jewish genealogy buff from Roslyn, L.I., has hit a roadblock in tracking down his family history: Bayside Cemetery.

“My great-grandfather is buried at Bayside, but we can’t find the plot,” says Jordan.

High Court Paves Way

10/11/2002 | by Adam Dickter | Staff Writer

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of Lemrick Nelson Jr. in the Crown Heights murder case, the family of riot victim Yankel Rosenbaum fears that federal prosecutors will renew talks for a plea deal in the racially explosive case.

Dangerous Liaisons

09/27/2002 | by Debra Nussbaum Cohen | Staff Writer

Just when you thought nothing could still shock, a New Year’s postcard arrives bearing a wrapped condom and this warning: “This will not protect you from the real intentions of the Christian right wing. Abstinence from strange bedfellows is advised. Practice safe politics.”
It ain’t Hallmark, that’s for sure.

Buckley Bucking A Trend

09/27/2002 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

Turning his back on what one interfaith rabbi called “the emerging new Catholic theology about Jews and Judaism,” William F. Buckley Jr. says Jews still need to be targeted for conversion.
In a recent syndicated column, the noted Catholic pundit and leading conservative chides a group of progressive Catholic Bishops for declaring that proselytizing Jews is no longer theologically acceptable.

‘MoSex’ And The Jews

09/27/2002 | by Julia Goldman | Staff Writer

The careers of stage-and-screen star Mae West, moral crusader Anthony Comstock and birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger are intimately bound up in the history of sexuality in America. So, too, are those of burlesque queen Ida Mencken, publisher Samuel Roth and condom-maker Julius Schmidt. Their enterprising exploits will be on display when the Museum of Sex opens this week.

Tutoring Teens On Israel

09/27/2002 | by Julie Wiener | Special To The Jewish Week

Over the past two years, the Jewish community has slowly begun to address that Jewish university students largely lack the knowledge to argue Israel’s case on campus.

Now the community is preparing an even younger group: day school students.