Local news in brief more

Rabbi Shlomo of Kartin said: “If you want to raise a man from mud and filth, do not think it is enough to keep standing on top and reaching down to him a helping hand. You must go all the way down yourself, down into mud and filth. Then take hold of him with strong hands, and pull him and yourself out into the light.” more

The stage is askew and sounds of seagulls squawk at the off-Broadway Castillo Theatre, where Dan Friedman’s “The Learning Play of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhak, Son of Sara, of Berdichev,” takes the setting of a deck aboard a late 19th century steamer heading to America, with four Russian Jews representing the religious spectrum between socialism and Orthodoxy. more

The Great Neck Synagogue had a colorful Simchat Torah this year, with a huge tallit cloth held up by six poles in the main sanctuary, the work of local couple Ina and Isaac Greszes, in memory of Ina’s father Charles Frankel. “My wife is a graphic designer and I’ve worked with fabrics all my life,” Isaac Greszes said. “We combined out know-how.” more

The Tower of Babel story teaches many lessons. Arguably the most blatant problem in the story is that the goal of the people involved was to “make for ourselves a name.” (Bereishit 11:4) more

“If you don’t support Barack Obama, shut the heck up!” That appears to be the message of the leading secular Jewish organizations, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in a joint statement released on Tuesday asking Jews not to make Israel a political Issue more

Letters to the Editor more

Amid the cacophony of drumbeats, rhyming protest chants and spirited debates, an outspoken activist blogger vows to keep the Jewish presence in downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park beyond its highly publicized Sukkot. “We have a traditional egalitarian minyan and we will continue with Shabbat dinners as long as we can,” said Daniel Sieradski, 32, a self-described “Orthodox anarchist,” with a long resume of social causes and online campaigns. more

A pair of HAFTR seniors was among the semifinalists in the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology held on Oct. 21. Wade Miller and Erich Hirsch studied the use of graphene and graphene oxide as a potential substitute for stem cells in replacing body tissue. more

When a Muslim family in Yugoslavia protected its Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust, the family had no idea that Israel would rescue them from genocide during the Bosnian War 50 years later. But that is exactly what happened for one Muslim family, and a descendant is now telling her remarkable story, on a visit on Oct. 16 to Glen Cove. more