News at a Glance

Nikki Bart (left) and her mother, Cheryl, stand atop Cho Oyu in Tibet after conquering the world's sixth-highest mountain last year.

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- Ain't no mountain high enough!

Seven years after their first adventure in Nepal, Cheryl and Nikki Bart are heading back to Katmandu this month in an attempt to become the first mother-daughter team to conquer Everest.

If they manage to reach the roof of the world, the Sydney pair also would be the first mother and daughter to have scaled the so-called seven summits -- the highest peaks on each of the Earth's continents.

Both are graduates of Moriah College, Australia's largest Jewish school. Cheryl is an ambassador of the Australian chapter of the Peres Center for Peace. Nikki, 23, is in her final year of studying medicine.

Since 2001, Cheryl and Nikki have climbed the highest peaks on each continent: Mount Elbrus in Europe, 18,510 feet; McKinley-Denali in North America, 20,320 feet; Kilimanjaro in Africa, 19,340 feet; Aconcagua in South America, 22,834 feet; Vinson Massif in Antarctica, 16,066 feet; and Kosciuszko in Australia, 7,310 feet.

Their final frontier is Everest, at 29,035 feet, which has claimed the lives of more than 200 climbers since the first attempts were made in the 1920s.

The Barts hope to leave base camp at the beginning of April and reach the summit in May.

On April 19 -- the first seder night of Passover -- they probably will be near the highest point on Earth.

"We will definitely be taking some matzah along," says Nikki. "But due to the high-carb diet we need to maintain for energy, keeping Pesach may be difficult."

Day-School Director Slammed for Naughty Poetry

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The director of a Toronto day school resigned in a controversy over explicit poetry on his Web site.

David Prashker, who heads the Reform Leo Baeck Jewish Day School, quit on March 14 following an outcry from parents.

Earlier in the week, six poems written by Prashker had been circulated to a handful of parents in an anonymous e-mail.

The writer of the e-mail questioned whether parents should trust the director with their children.

Some of Prashker's poems used the "F" word and vivid sexual imagery.

One started with the line "the first act of killing is the hardest" and ended with "the second time is remarkably straightforward."

It isn't clear when Prashker, who describes himself as a poet, playwright and novelist, wrote the verses. His resignation takes effect Aug. 31.

Until then, Prashker is on leave from the school, which enrolls 800 students on two campuses.

Jewish Agency Rep's R.I. Home Attacked

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the apartment of the Jewish Agency representative in Rhode Island.

The attack, which happened before dawn Saturday, caused a small fire.

The Jewish Agency said that no one was hurt, and that the incident is under police and FBI investigation.

The Jewish Agency, which has hundreds of representatives in North America, said the firebomb attack was unprecedented.