by Research from Rabbi Moshe Lazerus
The opportunity of Rosh Hashana is too important to leave things to chance. Here's a handy checklist of what you'll need to know.
PRE-ROSH HASHANA
A key component of Rosh Hashana preparation is to ask for forgiveness from anyone one may have wronged during the previous year. To whatever extent possible, we want to begin the year with a clean slate -- and without anyone harboring a grudge against us. One should also be quick to forgive those who have wronged him.
Many people have the custom to go to the mikveh before Rosh Hashana after midday. A mikveh, which has the power to purify from certain types of spiritual impurities, can be an important part of the teshuva process.
Some have the custom of visiting a cemetery on the morning of Rosh Hashana and praying at the graves of the righteous. Of course, we do not pray "to" the righteous, but only to God who hears our prayers in the merit of the righteous.
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By MATTI FRIEDMAN
JERUSALEM - The U.S. has provided Israel with an advanced radar system that will give it early warning in case of an Iranian missile attack, Israeli officials said Sunday, confirming a new defense tool in what is potentially the Mideast's deadliest feud.   
Israel considers Iran its biggest threat, a view reinforced by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
The radar system, to be run by some 120 accompanying U.S. military personnel, was delivered last week, the Israeli defense officials said. It has been set up temporarily at the Nevatim air base in the Negev desert and will likely be moved to a permanent site in the next few months, they said.
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For the first time ever American soldiers have been deployed to Israel on a permanent basis to man a new early-warning radar system.
Defense News reported that 120 US military technicians and advisors will be based permanently in Israel to operate the FBX-T radar system, which should give Israel advanced warning of any Iranian missile attack.
The radar and its operating crew arrived in Israel aboard more than a dozen US European Command (EUCOM) aircraft last Sunday.
The deployment is believed to be part of the Bush Administration's compensation to Israel for not backing an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities
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Mideast Quartet discusses Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, parties emerge optimistic about progress being made between Livni, Qureia; but also express "deep concern" over continuing settlement expansion in West Bank
News agencies
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday Middle East peace negotiations were making progress despite the tense political situation in Israel, and that a deal was still possible this year.  
She also commended the efforts of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, charged with trying to form a new government as the newly elected chairwoman of the Kadima Party.    A ministerial session of quartet members – the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations – ended with a call on the parties "to make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008."
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Who really stands by Israel? Obama’s, McCain’s worldviews provide the answer
Yoram Ettinger
A worldview shapes presidential attitude toward Israel as a strategic asset or a liability and toward Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights. A presidential worldview determines the scope of the US posture of deterrence in face of Middle East and global threats, which directly impacts Israel's national security.      
For example, President Nixon was not a friend of the US Jewish community and was not a leader of pro-Israeli legislation in the US Senate. In 1968, he received only about 15% of the Jewish vote. However, his worldview recognized Israel's importance to US national security, as was demonstrated in 1970, when Israel rolled back a Syrian invasion of Jordan, preventing a pro-Soviet domino scenario into the Persian Gulf. It was Nixon's worldview which led him to approve critical military shipments to Israel - during the 1973 War - in defiance of the Arab oil embargo and brutal pressure by the Saudi lobby in Washington, and in spite of the Democratic pattern of the Jewish voters. 
On the other hand, President Clinton displayed an affinity toward Judaism, the Jewish People and the Jewish State. However, his ...   more »