InDepth

In the past weeks Israel has been rocked by a rash of murders - murders of children at the hands of their parents or in one case, the grandfather.

The first national conference of non-Jewish Poles, who care for Jewish heritage sites in Poland, has just taken place.

The day Israel released the baby-murdering Arab terrorist Samir Kuntar was without doubt the most disgraceful in modern Jewish history.

So much has been written about the Rubashkins, specifically the allegations made against their company. AgriProcessors has been filleted by writers, roasted by bloggers, and smoked by former employees. It’s not my purpose here to defend the company against those allegations; I'll let the public-relations professionals and attorneys handle that. I merely wish to share my personal experiences with Rubashkin meat.

There are countries that practice diplomacy as a form of fine art and there are countries that practice diplomacy as an “in your face” martial art. And there are countries that practice a mix of the two arts.

Schools have multiple missions. They primarily exist to educate children, to provide knowledge, and to develop skills that stimulate intellectual growth and prepare youngsters for a productive adulthood and success in life. They also serve a socialization function, inculcating in children behavioral patterns and attitudes that foster respect and the acceptance of appropriate norms and rules.

So powerful are the media that they have been referred to as the fourth branch of government. Indeed, they can make or break reputations.

For numerous reasons the most active time for Jewish events in Poland is the summer.

About a year ago I saw a Russian television broadcast in which Vladimir Putin, riding a noble steed, reaches the edge of a lake, deftly removes his shirt and in an impressive display of muscle, leans over and washes his face in the crystal- clear water.

In our age of Total War, Israel must always remain fully aware of those harms that would threaten its very continuance as a state.

Within hours of the announcement by Republican presidential candidate John McCain that he had chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, the Internet was ablaze with reports that Palin was a supporter of Patrick Buchanan. The arsonists were a left-wing blogger and an attack-dog Democratic politician.

Nothing is certain except death and taxes -- but a few things come close. One is that, come November, either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain will emerge as the next president. When that happens we'll be turning the page on eight years of rancorous political partisanship.

It makes no sense. It defies logic. You've got two reliable statistics from two reputable sources and yet they stand in utter opposition to each other, like statistical non-sequiturs.

Critics are already trying to damn Sarah Palin for her perceived lack of foreign-policy experience, but what they are not allowing for is something more important -- that she has the right basic attitudes and sense of priorities.

1. Coming from the conservative wing of the Republican party, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin unites the GOP by helping to secure support from the conservative base, which was not enthusiastic about all of John McCain’s positions. And McCain’s choice of Palin shows his willingness to work with conservatives and recognize their concerns. Donations for the campaign will now flow in.

Project Daniel examined some of the precise ways in which a nuclear war might actually begin between Israel and its enemies.

Yehudit Dasberg was one of the first victims of Oslo. Her daughter and son-in-law were murdered in a drive-by shooting near Gush Etzion.

We all eat to live, but the vast majority of us truly live to eat. We think about what we will have for lunch while we are still eating breakfast. We conjure up scrumptious dinners before we’ve digested lunch. While we are enjoying our delicious dinners, our most compelling conversations are about other wonderful meals we’ve enjoyed or what we will be eating the following evening. We imagine outlandish desserts. We think of food between meals.

Fifty years ago the battle over a federal humane slaughter law came to a close. On August 27, 1958, Congress adopted, which established the “use of humane methods of slaughter of livestock as a policy of the United States” – forbidding the federal government from purchasing meat slaughtered by inhumane methods and giving the Department of Agriculture inspection authority in this area.

We are all too aware of the impact exorbitant gas prices have had on us as individuals and on the general economy. The surge in transportation expenses has fueled a rise in food prices and other necessities and driven our economy to the brink of recession (if not beyond).