October 11, 1992

Work is to begin next spring in Manhasset, L.I., on a Holocaust resource center that will serve as a combination memorial, museum and education center. The center will go up on a portion of the property owned and occupied by Temple Judea, a synagogue at 333 Searingtown Road, where that road meets the westbound service road of the Long Island Expressway. Temple Judea has donated the land for the center and members of its congregation are raising funds for its construction.

AFTER a female plumber jumped back into the Fifth Congressional District election as an independent candidate, the contest developed into an unpredictable fight that may now be the tightest Congressional race in the state. The candidate, Lynn A. Taborsak, rocked the political establishment when she decided to run on the ticket of A Connecticut Party after she narrowly lost in a bitter Democratic primary last month to James J. Lawlor. Now, they are both challenging the one-term incumbent, Gary A. Franks, who was thrown into the national spotlight as soon as he was elected by virtue of being the only black Republican in Congress.

Exit snarling. The 102d Congress left town this week without good humor or credibility, remembered as much for its embarrassments as for its legislation, and notable for battles with President Bush when one side or the other claimed victory but national problems like the recession endured. This Congress will make the history books, but primarily for foreign policy, for moments when it followed Mr. Bush's lead and voted for war in the Persian Gulf and for peace with Russia, along with foreign aid, after a cold war that had lasted longer than the tenure of almost every Senator or Representative.

A SHIFT in retailing is under way in the county toward larger discount-store and warehouse shopping. There is also an increase in the number of smaller discount and outlet centers. Virtually all major warehouse membership clubs are inquiring about or negotiating sites to build stores in the county, most likely in New Rochelle, Greenburgh, Yonkers, Port Chester and Yorktown. These clubs, which charge a nominal membership fee, provide a no-frills, warehouse type of self-service operation in which they sell a range of goods in bulk at wholesale prices.

THE CHANGE Women, Aging and the Menopause. By Germaine Greer. 422 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $24.