Short Takes

The State Of Islam

07/12/2002 | by Eric J. Greenberg | Staff Writer

How does the State of Israel figure into the crisis for the soul of Islam?
These questions are raised, and more importantly answered, in an important double edition of Bill Moyers' critically acclaimed "NOW" weekly news show airing July 12 on PBS.

Cards From The Diaspora

06/28/2002 | by Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Impressed with the outpouring of letters of support to New Yorkers following the 9-11 attacks, a local rabbinical student studying in Israel has organized a similar effort for Israelis. In three months it has triggered 13,000 cards of support.
"I won't give up if you don't give up," said a handwritten card from a youngster named Moshe.
"Dear Israel," wrote 8-year-old Jared from New York, "I watch the news every day. I pray for Israel when I walk from my house to my school and sometimes I cry. I wish I could come to help, but I'm only a kid."

Web Of Deceit

06/28/2002 | by Adam Dickter | Staff Writer

Go to alaqsabrigade.com and you get this about the terror group linked to Yasir Arafat's Fatah party: Al Aqsa is a group of Iraqi citizens "trained by Saddam to terrorize cities in Israel."

Accused SS Guard Leaves U.S.

06/28/2002 | by Steve Lipman | Staff Writer

Michael Gruber, who was accused of serving as an SS guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany during World War II, returned to Austria last week, two years after a Manhattan Immigration Court ruled that he should be deported. Gruber, 86, a retired auto body worker who lived in New City in Rockland County, is a native of Croatia with Austrian citizenship.

Generosity And The Faithful

06/28/2002 | by Debra Nussbaum Cohen | Staff Writer

Though it may come as a surprise to the folks in charge of collecting the Yom Kippur pledges, religious people are the most charitable donors in the country.
A new study by Independent Sector and the National Council of Churches shows a direct relationship between being religiously inclined and being a generous philanthropist.