“Is there a doctor in the house?” NBC’s “Today” anchor Ann Curry joked at the November 18 Lenox Hill Hospital “Fantastique” ball at the Waldorf-Astoria when she presented the Medal of Distinction to her co-host Al Roker and to ABC’s “20/20” regular Deborah Roberts, who is married to Roker. “I’m embarrassed at seeing all the…
Cuban-born percussionist Roberto Rodriguez takes center stage at the JCC in Manhattan, teaming up with renowned clarinetist David Krakauer and his Roberto Rodriguez Septet to perform music from his album “El Danzon De Moises,” released on John Zorn’s Tzadik record label. The record, Rodriguez’s first as the primary composer, brings together Cuban clave rhythms and…
JERUSALEM — Israel’s political establishment, from left to right, is waiting nervously for the expected unveiling next week by Prime Minister Sharon of his long-awaited plan for ending Israel’s current standoff with the Palestinians. Sharon is said to be planning to outline a detailed plan in a speech next Thursday at the conclusion of the…
Yeshiva University, defending itself against a lawsuit by an Israeli religious academy with which it severed ties, is countersuing the Israeli school, alleging that it “utterly refused to protect” Y.U.’s exchange students from a rabbi affiliated with the academy. The Israeli school, Derech Etz Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem, accused the university in a federal suit…
JERUSALEM — The Reform and Conservative movements appeared to win a small victory against Israel’s Orthodox religious establishment this week when a representative of the Israel Prison Service said a Conservative rabbi would be granted permission to meet with two lesbian inmates. While attorneys working on behalf of the Conservative rabbi said they had not…
My oldest friend has chosen to be a stay-at-home mom. I respect the choice she has made. What I cannot tolerate is that her children now seem to be her only topic of conversation. I dread talking to her. Is there a nice way to say, “You’ve turned into a colossal bore”? — Talking points…
WASHINGTON — Distrust and anger in the Bush administration is growing over the refusal of Prime Minister Sharon to dismantle illegal outposts in the West Bank. Administration officials recently told pro-Israel activists in Washington that Sharon’s failure to dismantle these mini-settlements — some of them uninhabited and all of them erected without Israeli government approval…
JERUSALEM — A film alleging Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian town of Jenin has sparked an emotional legal debate over the limits of free speech and government censorship. The Israeli Supreme Court has already issued two rulings — first permitting screenings of the 50-minute film “Jenin, Jenin,” then putting that decision on hold. The court…
Most traditional Yiddish lullabies are intended to do much more than rock a child to sleep. As often as not, they are commentaries on the state of the world in which the child will someday find himself or herself. One such lullaby appears in Yosl and Chana Mlotek’s compilation, “Songs of Generations.” It is a…
The American ambassador in Beirut urged Jessica Stern not to proceed with her mission, but that did not deter her. She made a phone call to her husband in Boston, telling him that if she did not call later that day, he should consider alerting the embassy about her disappearance. Then, she set off to…
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the son of Prime Minister Sharon must surrender documents linked to a fundraising scandal that some observers have said could eventually bring down the Israeli leader. Justices Theodor Or, Eliyahu Mazza, Michael Cheshin, Dorit Beinisch and Edmond Levy ruled that Gilad Sharon must hand the documents over to…
