Elul, Preparation for Repentance
Gary Cooperberg
Today is the first day of the month of Elul. Starting today, and for the entire month, we sound the shofar every morning after our prayers to prepare ourselves for the Days of Awe which are coming. I had taken my shofar with me and was looking forward to the moment when I would sound it in the Cave of Machpelah. The moment came. I lifted the beautiful Shofar, placed it upon my lips and began to blow.

New Regulations Will Protect Healthcare Workers’ Religious Convictions
Joe Pitts
The Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed new regulations meant to protect health care providers’ right of conscience. This proposal is an important step toward ensuring that healthcare professionals will not have to abandon their moral and religious convictions when they come to work.

Reinvigorating Citizenship
Jon Kyl
As the presidential election approaches, we will be hearing a lot about citizenship and civic duties. So-called public service announcements will urge us to do our civic duty and vote, for instance. But, amid all the calls to be "good citizens," Americans rarely hear what exactly makes one a good citizen. Indeed, today, when we think about citizenship, we usually think in terms of doing something, such as voting or rendering some type of service to the nation.

Comparison of Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears Insulting
TruthNews Commentary
The McCain campaign recently released an advertisement comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The ad is insulting and wrong, as can be seen from the following chart.

Solzhenitsyn: One Book That Shook The World
How much impact can one book have? If that book is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago," quite a bit. When it was published in the West in 1973, Solzhenitsyn's most famous work reverberated loudly on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. forces were withdrawing from Vietnam. Detente and peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union were in vogue.

Anglican Leaders’ Summit Unlikely To Repair Rift
The primate of the worldwide Anglican communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is about to begin welcoming church leaders to a once-in-a-decade summit. The occasion is not a happy one, however, as the church is dealing with a widening rift between its conservative and progressive wings, and hundreds of bishops of the conservative mold are boycotting the meeting.

Ultra-Orthodox Loosen Ban On Entering Temple Mount
The rabbinic ban against the entry of Jews on the Temple Mount which has been maintained by a broad consensus of ultra-Orthodox authorities since the 1967 Six-Day War has begun to splinter, according to Ha'aretz. After religious Zionist rabbis recently began to lift the ban and increase the amount of religious Zionist visitors to the sensitive site, an increasing number of haredi ultra-Orthodox have started visiting the Temple Mount.

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
George W. Bush
This week, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives held a conference to highlight the work being done by our Nation's armies of compassion, with help from the Federal government. This conference demonstrated the remarkable difference these groups have made over the past eight years. When I first came to office, I was troubled to see many of our citizens' greatest needs going unmet.

Anglicans Perilously Close To Split Over Gay Clergy
The Anglican church communion, numbering some 77 million people worldwide, is facing the possibility of a complete fracture over the question of gay clergy. A conference of conservative churchmen is now going on in Jerusalem in which they may decide that they can no longer live under the same roof as their liberal colleagues.

Tajikistan: Dushanbe’s Last Synagogue Demolished
Tajikistan's ancient Jewish community lost its only remaining synagogue in downtown Dushanbe, as authorities decided to tear down old buildings in the synagogue's neighborhood so that yet another presidential palace can be built. The one-story synagogue was located in the city center, where authorities have begun construction of the so-called Palace of the Nation -- a luxurious presidential complex complete with parks and fountains.

Berlin Airlift Remembered After 60 Years
June 26, 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift - one of the biggest humanitarian operations ever, and a turning point in the Cold War. VOA's Kent Klein looks back at the Berlin Airlift, with a man who took part in it, and a woman who is still grateful for it. Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gail Halvorsen drops candy to children from a transport plane that flew in the Berlin Airlift.

Mother’s Day
George W. Bush
Today is my daughter Jenna's wedding day. This is a joyous occasion for our family, as we celebrate the happy life ahead of her and her husband Henry. It's also a special time for Laura, who this Mother's Day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle. Mother's Day is a special time for mothers all across America.

Economy and Education
George W. Bush
As we approach graduation season, many American students are looking forward to beginning college in the fall. This new chapter of life is a time of great expectation but can also be a time of anxiety. And that anxiety is being heightened by the recent credit crunch, which has raised concerns about the potential availability of student loans. Recently, some lenders have dropped out of the Federal program that provides college loans to students who have often little or no credit.