New York News

A former senior employee of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and two codefendants were convicted last Wednesday in Manhattan federal court of helping defraud the organization out of $57.3 million intended for Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Questions were being raised this week about the actions of the Claims Conference in its handling of a 2001 “smoking gun” letter that spelled out details of the fraud that ended up costing the Claims Conference $57.3 million.

Karen Hochberg, who founded a Memorial Day weekend march for Israel in her Jamaica Estates neighborhood a dozen years ago, now coordinates larger-scale marches around the world for the nonprofit group Afikim to honor Israel’s anniversary.

On a warm Sunday morning last month in Washington Square Park, parents were leisurely pushing strollers, sunbathers were strewn about on the grass, and people of all ages were lounging on the wooden benches and sipping coffee.

The first group gasp came when Marion Sacher told about her childhood in the Third Reich.

Putnam Valley, N.Y. — On a sunny afternoon last week, while the rest of New York’s schoolchildren were stuck indoors, 15 kids were literally rolling around in the dirt while their parents looked on approvingly.

Jewish Week's “36 under 36” section, now in its sixth year, was born after Jewish Week staffers reflected that there ought to be a way to honor the best and the brightest young stars in the firmament of New York's Jewish community.

Iran acquires nuclear weapons and Israel and the United States have only a window of a week to ensure pre-emptive capability. Shortly after hearing the news, the Israeli Prime Minister slips into a coma. Enemies of Israel announce it will soon be the end of the Jewish state. Are their words simply bravado or a real threat? The crew of the Israeli sub “The Dolphin” heads out into deadly waters and they are prepared to fire nuclear weapons against Iran if need be. And among many questions that arise, there is one that sticks out in Noah Beck’s new novel “The Last Israelis.”

There’s something “sinister” about City Hall’s “regulatory excess” and “bureaucratic targeting” of Orthodox Jews, says a prominent lawyer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson has Jewish friends in Borough Park and Manhattan. Christine Quinn is likely to find some backing from chasidim who respect her positions on crime and her support for nonprofit groups and city services.