RABBIS CALL FOR TIMES BOYCOTT

By KEITH J. KELLY
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May 1, 2002 -- Three prominent Jewish leaders are calling for a
boycott of the New York Times over what they feel is biased
coverage against Israel in the current Middle East crisis.
"I told my congregation at services on Friday night and again on
Saturday morning that I am no longer buying the Times, and I've
urged them to do the same," said Rabbi Avi Weiss at the Hebrew
Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx and the head of the Coalition
for Jewish Concerns. Among his objections was the Times failure to
cover a massive pro-Israel rally that drew 50,000 demonstrators on
April 21. (The story ran on page 4 The Post on April 22).

He's also supporting a call by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, of Kehilaph
Jeshurun, who is running an ad and a letter to the editor in the
Jewish Week which hits this Thursday, which calls for Jewish
organizations to stop running obituary notices in the Times as
well as halt purchase of the paper. Lookstein said he is calling
for a boycott to commence on May 9 and to last for one month.

Last June, he had called for an earlier boycott to run last
September stretching from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. At that
time, the then Executive Editor Joe Lelyveld met with him after he
had written a letter to the editor. This time, he said he has
written no letter and had no meeting with Howell Raines. "We're
trying to send a message," said Lookstein.

Rabbi Shmeuel Goldin of Congregation Ahavath Torah in New Jersey
said he is calling for a boycott to commence today.

"We're telling people to cancel their subscriptions and to tell
them when they do so that it is because of the unfair coverage of
Israel," said Goldin.

A New York Times spokesman could not be reached for comment at
presstime.