by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
It's the holiest day of the Jewish year. Might as well know what we're doing and get it right!
ANGEL FOR A DAY
What are "angels?" Angels are completely spiritual beings, whose sole focus is to serve their Creator.
On Yom Kippur, every Jew becomes like an angel. As the Maharal of Prague explains:
"All of the mitzvot that God commanded us on [Yom Kippur] are designed to remove, as much as possible, a person's relationship to physicality, until he is completely like an angel."
Just as angels (so to speak) stand upright, so too we spend most of Yom Kippur standing in the synagogue. And just as angels (so to speak) wear white, so too we are accustomed to wear white on Yom Kippur. Just as angels do not eat or drink, so too, we do not eat or drink.
FIVE ASPECTS
There are five areas of physical involvement which we remove ourselves from on Yom Kippur. They are:
Eating and Drinking
Washing
Applying oils or lotions to the skin
Marital Relations
Wearing Leather Shoes
Throughout the year, many people spend their days focusing on food, work, superficial material possessions (symbolized by shoes) and superficial ...   more »

By Jonathan Rosenblum    
Why "fear" is actually rooted in optimism
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Each of us has some mission in life that is ours and ours alone. No two human beings are born with the same talents or the same challenges; no two are born into the same familial situation or the identical time and place in human history. These unique aspects of each of us constitute the raw material within which our mission in life will unfold.
Targum Onekolos translates the words "a living being" in the verse (Genesis 2:7) ". . . And G-d blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, as "l'ruach m'mal'la" — a speaking being. The ability to speak is thus intimately connected with the Divine soul that the Divine breathed into Adam. Each of us was brought into the world to "speak," to proclaim some aspect of G-d that no one else could. That proclamation is our mission in life.  
In the section of the Rosh Hashanah prayers known as zichronos (remembrances), a similar idea appears. The prayer describes how "the remembrance of everything fashioned comes before You: everyone's deed and mission ( ma'aseh ish u'pikudaso)." ...   more »

By Israel Insider staff   
Right wing MKs are threatening to leave Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition if concludes a deal with the Palestinians would include dividing Jerusalem and relinquishing exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, according to Haaretz.
"There is not even a shadow of a doubt over whether Shas would agree to dividing Jerusalem and a withdrawal to the 1967 borders, or would sit in a government that signed such an accord," Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai, who is also chairman of Shas.
Yishai added that other right wing parties would withdraw from Olmert's coalition if the prime minister seeks an agreement that is modeled on former United States president Bill Clinton's proposed peace deal for an almost complete pullout from the West Bank.
"Not only Shas will leave the government, but also Yisrael Beiteinu will not sit one day in government that opposes all of its principles" he added.
Yishai's remarks follow recent reports that Hamas is just as strong as Fatah in the Judea and Samaria, and that its members are more motivated than Fatah's supporters.
National Religious Party and Likud party activists met and considered the possibility of forming an alternative government, without ...   more »

Kuwaiti newspaper says Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on targets Air Force allegedly attacked last week without Turkish government's authorization
Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on the Syrian targets allegedly attacked by the Air Force last week without the Turkish government's authorization, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda reported Thursday.   
Al-Jareeda quoted several sources as saying that Israel and senior Turkish military personnel coordinated Israel's invasion of Turkish airspace during the operation to send a message to the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP. Senior military officials in Turkey, most of whom are secular, oppose the Islamist party's platform.  
According to the sources, AKP member and newly-elected President Abdullah Gul is not doing enough to prevent the transfer of arms from Iran to terror groups in Syria and Lebanon via Turkey.
However, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi refused to take a call from his Turkish counterpart, who asked for clarifications on the attack.
Original Source

   more »

Washington Post reports recent US gathered intelligence points to possible cooperation between Syria, N. Korea on nuclear facility. Israeli satellite images strengthen claims, but many US officials uncertain of significance
Yitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON – Intelligence gathered by the United States over the past six months points to a possible cooperation between North Korea and Syria on building a nuclear facility on Syrian land, according to a report published by the Washington Post Thursday.  
Evidence Revealed 
The report said the evidence for the claim came primarily from Israel, including satellite images that led US officials to believe the facility could be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.  
The new information, in particular images received by the US over the past month, has only been shared with a few senior officials, as was instructed by national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.  
Despite reports, the Washington Post said many in the intelligence community were unaware of the images, or uncertain of their significance. Intelligence sources emphasized that preliminary reports on suspicious activity are often reassessed over time and found to be inaccurate.  
According to the Washington Post, some security sources expressed doubt over the possibility that Syrian was ...   more »