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Clinton most recently rankled Jewish sensibilities when, during a visit to the Middle East in November, she sat silently as Suha Arafat, wife of the Palestinian Authority president, accused Israel of poisoning Palestinian women and children. Clinton reportedly explained that she had not gotten a full translation of Arafat's words until later and did not want to turn the event into an international incident.

Last year, the first lady had angered many Jews when she appeared to endorse a Palestinian state, a position she has since backed away from.

Ganchrow and Nathan Diament, director of the O.U.'s Institute for Public Affairs, summed up Clinton's position on a number of issues:

*She supports a bill banning physician-assisted suicide, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), an Orthodox Jew who attended the meeting.

*She is open to constitutionally approved programs that support parochial school families, but does not support school vouchers.

*She endorsed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, a particular lobbying effort of the O.U.'s institute.

*Clinton declined to say if she would press for the release of Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. Clinton said that as a U.S. senator she would have access to classified material that would better inform her decision on the matter.

Also, Clinton reportedly reiterated her position that Jerusalem is "the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel," but said that, in the interest of the peace process, the timing was not right to move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.