Rosh Hashanah 5758

JANUARY

A two-day strike by employees of State of Israel
Bonds ends with a new three-year contract. Employees
will receive 2.5 percent raises annually for the next three
years ... Israeli soldier Noam Friedman opens fire in the
Hebron market area, wounding seven Palestinians.
Friedman said he was compelled to stop the Hebron
redeployment ... Two bombs explode near Tel Aviv's cen-
tral bus station, injuring at least 13 people. No one
claims responsibility ... The Vaad Harabonim of Queens,
a rabbinical organization, issues a resolution banning
women's tefillah groups, resulting in widespread media
coverage ... The Knesset approves the Hebron agree-
ment, transferring most of the West Bank town to the
Palestinians while maintaining Israeli control over holy
sites and the Jewish enclave ... Natan Sharansky, Israel's
minister of industry and trade, visits Moscow for the
first time since he was deported in 1986 in a prisoner
exchange. Sharansky had been arrested by the KGB in
1977.

FEBRUARY

In a set-up staged by Israel's Channel 2, cameras catch
Rabbi Michael Dushinsky, supervisor of kashrut for the
Israeli Ministry of Welfare, counting out $15,000 in
$100 bills given to him by a man and woman posing as
an interfaith couple looking for a "quickee" conversion.
The videotape transaction is televised and the rabbi and
his associate are booked on suspicion of fraud. Other
Israelis come forward claiming they, too, were subjected
to extortion in their efforts to become Jews ... New York-
is host to the first International Conference on
Feminism and Orthodoxy, Feb. 16-17. Some 850
attend, 400 more than expected ... Research by the
Washington Post reveals that Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright has Jewish roots ... Seventy-three Israeli soldiers
are killed in Israel's worst air force disaster, when two
army helicopters collide en route to southern Lebanon ...
The three largest Swiss banks transfer $71 million to
establish a humanitarian fund for Holocaust victims ... A
federal jury convicts Lemrick Nelson Jr. of violating the
civil rights of Yankel Rosenbaum, the Chasidic Jew mur-
dered during the 1991 Crown Heights riots ... Israeli
police question government officials, including Prime
Minister Netanyahu, about allegations of impropriety
surrounding the short-lived appointment of Roni Bar-
On as attorney general ...
A 69-year-old Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip
opens fire on the crowded observatory deck of the
Empire State Building, killing one person and wounding
six others, before taking his own life ... O.J. Simpson is
found liable by a California civil court for the deaths of
Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

MARCH

Four French museums announce they will have a spe-
cial exhibit of artworks taken during World War II
German occupation of France. The hope is some of the
works will be claimed by their owners ... Purim websites
spring up across the Internet, with holiday tips, touts
and tickles ... Israel breaks ground for construction of a
Jewish neighborhood at Har Homa in southeastern
Jerusalem, despite worldwide opposition to the move ...

9/26
1997

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