Mrs. Halberstam Corners Pataki

By COLlive reporter

A diplomatic incident almost broke out Wednesday night at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights when the former Governor of New York George Pataki was cornered on stage.

Pataki, who was there to receive the Ari Halberstam Memorial Award, looked utterly surprised when Ari’s mother Devora Halberstam handed him three unsigned legislative bills and told him to sign.

“We have three bills here from Governor Paterson’s office that you must sign right now,” urged Halberstam, Director of Foundation and Government Services at the Lubavitch-run museum.

“They were started when Pataki was in office,” she explained to the audience. “But were not finished before Pataki ended his term.”

Halberstam’s son Ari was killed in a 1994 terrorist shooting in New York City and she has been lobbying elected officials ever since.

At first Pataki hesitated, inquiring whether the current governor David Paterson approved the move. An Albany official assured Pataki it was kosher, and Pataki signed amidst applause from the crowd.

“You know, in my years in office I kept a picture of Ari in my drawer,” Pataki revealed. “And whenever things got tough, I would look at the picture and say “This is why I’m here, this is why I’m fighting the fight. For Ari.”

The 4th annual dinner of the museum honored 16 New York City Council members and awarded Eric Brody and Nola Weinstain the “Young Leadership Award.” The master of ceremonies was Tom Llamas of NBC News 4 New York.

The program and video presentation was preceded by a cocktail buffet and followed by dessert. “We’ve taken stock of our economic situation, cutting 20 percent of our budget in the past year,” the director Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson said.

As the crowd made its way out, passing the museum’s conspicuous Dreidel, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was seen rushing in. “Better late then never,” he told COLlive. “It’s just one of those days.”