InDepth

No Jewish voices were invited as the World Council of Churches (WCC) convened in Bern, Switzerland this month "an international ecumenical debate" to consider the theological issues related to the Holy Land and help it formulate positions regarding "the Promised Land, the Church and Israel, justice and peace."

Assemblyman Dov Hikind deserves credit for his attempt to deal with the issue of abuse in the Orthodox community – a community where people still refer to cancer as "yener machlah" (that disease); where mental illnesses (even those that are not genetic, such as postpartum depression) are rarely spoken of publicly; and where some parents are still afraid to have their sons and daughters tested and registered with Dor Yeshorim even though doing so might prevent a marriage resulting in children with genetic diseases.

Back in late 1999 through the fall of 2000, when Hillary Clinton was first running for the U.S. Senate, this column had some uncomplimentary things to say about the then-first lady. From time to time since her election, readers have wondered whether the Monitor had any second thoughts, especially given Sen. Clinton’s generally solid foreign policy record.

It is always difficult to believe that any thinking friend of Israel, let alone a prominent Israeli academic strategist, could find something positive in Israeli territorial surrenders and associated capitulations.

September 13 passed uneventfully in Israel. It was supposed to have been a national holiday: the anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords.

It is customary before the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days, to look back at the past and strive to do better the following year, through Teshuvah.

It has taken me a couple of weeks but I think I’ve finally gotten handle on why Sarah Palin’s bravado Republican convention speech was such a smash among conservatives: After nearly eight years of watching President Bush curl up in the fetal position each time he was savaged by the angry left, it was positively invigorating to see a conservative Republican finally fight back – and with wit and charm.

With the arrival of the new year, we must stop to reflect upon our deeds in order to pave the way for self-improvement. The current crisis here in Israel indicates that there is a serious problem. By drawing the necessary conclusions now, we can emerge from these difficulties into the light of solace and salvation.

It is used once in seven years. A small, innocuous legal oddity, it looms large in interdenominational diatribes and is often cited as the “proof of proofs” that the disingenuous Orthodox are being less than honest about the available flexibility in the normative halachic process. It is the prozbul.

We stand at the threshold of a new year. What will 5769 bring? Will we greet Moshiach? Will we see, God forbid, a world of troubles? Perhaps both.

Editor’s Note: As the world knows by now, Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin had been scheduled to speak at Monday’s rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance at the UN of Iranian president Ahmadinejad. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) had also been invited to speak, but upon learning that Gov. Palin would be there, decided against attending. Then, under intense pressure from the Obama campaign, the Democratic Party and influential Jewish Democrats, the organizations sponsoring the event rescinded Gov. Palin’s invitation. The following is what Gov. Palin would have said had she not been disinvited:

Looking back over the original recommendations of Project Daniel, The Group concerned itself with, inter alia, the need for an expanded policy of preemption; an ongoing re-evaluation of "nuclear ambiguity";

It's always hottest at the end of summer. I am not a meteorologist and I have not checked the latest statistics.

On Sunday, Israeli military intelligence commanders sounded the alarm bells on Iran.

If there were any doubt that Sen. John McCain will shake up Washington and institute real change, the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee has put that question to rest. Few people can match McCain's maverick spirit and bipartisan nature like Gov. Palin.

One of the most intriguing episodes of American political history, and one with particular resonance for observers of this year’s presidential race, took place at the Democratic National Convention in 1896.

It was the Chazon Ish’s custom that whenever a person with special needs walked into his office, his study, his home or his shul, he would stand up.

The Beijing Summer Olympics represented the first time the United States and its Western allies unanimously participated in an Olympics hosted by a totalitarian regime since 1936, when the games were held in Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany.

All week long my e-mail inbox and the comment threads on many of the frum blogs have been melting down with irate comments from frustrated members of our community expressing their justifiable anger at the horrible treatment my dear friend and colleague Dr. Benzion Twerski has received at the hands of askonim (activists) and kanoim (extremists). I actually think of them as baryonim (destructive fanatics; see Gittin 56a).

Perhaps sensing that the liberal media’s attack template of Sarah Palin as lightweight rube had not made a discernible difference in the campaign polling numbers – and may in fact have driven swing voters to the McCain-Palin ticket – The New York Times appeared to be trying a different tack last weekend.