o Today in Judaism
o Today is: Nissan 14, 5771 • 4 18, 2011
o Erev Pesach ('Eve of Passover') - First Seder tonight
o Today's Laws & Customs
o Fast of the Firstborn
o Firstborn males over the age of Bar Mitzvah (13) are obligated to fast on the 14th of Nissan, in recognition of the fact that during the "Plague of the Firstborn" (which occurred at midnight of Nissan 15) G-d "passed over" the Jewish firstborn when He killed all firstborn Egyptians. If there is a firstborn male in the family under 13, the obligation to fast rests with the father. The prevailing custom, however, is for the firstborn to exempt themselves from the obligation to fast by participating in a seudat mitzvah (a meal marking the fulfillment of a mitzvah), such as a siyyum--a festive meal celebrating the conclusion of the study of a section of Torah).
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shaynee ............Second day
ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם. 6
And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'
ז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ, וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ, וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 7
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
ח וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָרָקִיעַ, שָׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שֵׁנִי. {פ} 8
And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. {P}
o Chametz Eating Deadline
o The Torah (Exodus 12:15, as per Talmud, Pesachim 5a) sets midday of Nissan 14--today--as the deadline for the destruction and/or removal of all leavened foods ("chametz") from our possession in preparation for the festival of Passover, which begins this evening at nightfall. In practice, Torah law mandates that we desist from eating chametz two hours before midday, and that no leaven remain in our possession an hour before midday. These are not clock hours but "proportional hours", defined by Jewish law as a 12th part of the time between sunrise and sunset.
o Click here for the chametz eating deadline for your location.
o From this point until the end of the festival of Passover, it is forbidden to eat leaven, or anything containing even the slightest trace of leaven.
o Links: What is Chametz; A Speck of Flour; The Escape Hatch
o Burn and Nullify Chametz
o Chametz is disposed of by: a) selling it to a non-Jew; b) burning the chametz found in our search on the previous evening (see entry for Nissan 13); c) "nullifying" the chametz that has not been found by declaring it ownerless.
o The deadline for selling, burning and nullifying chametz is one "proportional hour" before midday.
o Passover Offering
o When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the Passover offering was brought there on the afternoon of Nissan 14. Today it is commemorated by our recitation of the "Order of the Passover Offering" this afternoon, by the "shankbone" placed on the seder plate this evening, and the afikoman -- a portion of matzah eaten in its stead at the end of the seder meal.
o Links: About the Passover offering
o Passover Seder Tonight
o The 8-day festival of Passover--also called "The Festival of Matzahs" and "The Time of Our Freedom"--begins tonight at nightfall.
o In the evening, we conduct a seder ("order") -- a 15-part ritualistic feast that encompasses the observances of the Passover festival: telling our children the story of the Exodus as described and expounded in the Haggadah; eating the matzah (unleavened bread), the bitter herbs dipped in charoset, and the afikoman (an additional portion of matzah eaten as "dessert" in commemoration of the Passover offering); drinking the four cups of wine; and numerous other symbolic foods and rituals commemorating both our slavery in Egypt and our liberation on this night.
o Links:
o www.Passover.org includes a Seder guide, text of the Haggadah, in-depth studies, and more
o The Seder Wizard is a step-by-step guide to conducting the Seder
o Today in Jewish History
o Maimonides Born (1135)
o Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Talmudist, Halachist, physician, philosopher and communal leader, known in the Jewish world by the acronym "Rambam" and to the world at large as "Maimonides", was born in Cordova, Spain, on the 14th of Nissan of the year 4895 from creation--1135 of the Common Era
o Daily Quote
o Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to G-d. Do not do any work: neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your animal, nor your sojourner who is in your cities. For in six days G-d made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore G-d blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11 (4th of the Ten Commandments)
o Daily Study
o Chitas and Rambam for today:
o Chumash: Kedoshim, 2nd Portion Leviticus 19:15-19:22 with Rashi
o Tehillim: Chapters 72 - 76
o Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 41
o Rambam:
o Sefer Hamitzvos:
o 1 Chapter: Kelim Chap. 13
o 3 Chapters: Kri'at Shema Chapter One, Kri'at Shema Chapter Two, Teshuvah Chapter Ten
o Hayom Yom:
o Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides) Dedicate an email
o Nissan 14, 5771 • April 18, 2011Today's Mitzvah
o A daily digest of Maimonides' classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
o Listen Online
MP3 Download
o Important Message Regarding This Lesson
o The Daily Mitzvah schedule runs parallel to the daily study of 3 chapters of Maimonides' 14-volume code. There are instances when the Mitzvah is repeated a few days consecutively while the exploration of the same Mitzvah continues in the in-depth track.
o Positive Commandment 73
o Confessing Sins
o "And he shall confess that he has sinned"-Leviticus 5:5.
o One who has sinned is obligated to verbally confess and say, "Please, G-d, I have sinned by doing..." The individual should then elaborate to the best of his ability and ask G-d for atonement. This mitzvah applies whether the sin was against G-d or against a fellow man.
o Even in the times of the Holy Temple when a person would bring a sin-offering to attain forgiveness, he was still required to orally confess his sin. The same for those who were guilty of capital offenses, they were asked to confess their sin prior to their execution.
o Positive Commandment 10
o The Shema
o "And you shall talk of them ... when you lie down and when you rise up"-Deuteronomy 6:7.
o We are commanded to recite the Shema twice daily: morning and night. Women are not obligated in this time-bound mitzvah.
o Topics in the news
o An Egyptian court orders the dissolution of the former ruling National Democratic Party of Hosni Mubarak (pictured) as part of overall political reform.
o States of emergency are declared in several areas across the southern United States after at least 45 people are killed in a large tornado outbreak.
o Former Croatian general Ante Gotovina is sentenced to 24 years in prison after being found guilty of war crimes during Operation Storm.
o BRICS states meet in Sanya, China, for an annual summit that features South Africa for the first time.
o The Japan Atomic Energy Agency raises the severity of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents to level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
o ...
o Current events of 4 18 2011 (2011-04-18)
o Armed conflicts and attacks
o Gaddafi's forces commit mass rape of women in Misrata. (The First Post) (Ottawa Citizen)
o
o Suspected Muslim insurgents detonate a bomb in southern Thailand, killing one and injuring 23 people. (Straits Times)
o Disasters
o Storms in Guangdong, southern China, kill at least 18 people and leave 150 injured. (BBC) (Xinhua)
o A landslide kills 10 people in Indonesia's East Java province. (Jakarta Post) (The Hindu)
o International relations
o An anti-piracy conference opens in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Al Jazeera)
o North Korea criticises United States intervention in the 2011 Libyan uprising. (Yonhap)
o Politics
o Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is arrested during a protest against high food and fuel prices in the capital Kampala. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
o Today is: Nissan 14, 5771 • 4 18, 2011
o Erev Pesach ('Eve of Passover') - First Seder tonight
o Today's Laws & Customs
o Fast of the Firstborn
o Firstborn males over the age of Bar Mitzvah (13) are obligated to fast on the 14th of Nissan, in recognition of the fact that during the "Plague of the Firstborn" (which occurred at midnight of Nissan 15) G-d "passed over" the Jewish firstborn when He killed all firstborn Egyptians. If there is a firstborn male in the family under 13, the obligation to fast rests with the father. The prevailing custom, however, is for the firstborn to exempt themselves from the obligation to fast by participating in a seudat mitzvah (a meal marking the fulfillment of a mitzvah), such as a siyyum--a festive meal celebrating the conclusion of the study of a section of Torah).
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shaynee ............Second day
ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם. 6
And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'
ז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ, וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ, וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 7
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
ח וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָרָקִיעַ, שָׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שֵׁנִי. {פ} 8
And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. {P}
o Chametz Eating Deadline
o The Torah (Exodus 12:15, as per Talmud, Pesachim 5a) sets midday of Nissan 14--today--as the deadline for the destruction and/or removal of all leavened foods ("chametz") from our possession in preparation for the festival of Passover, which begins this evening at nightfall. In practice, Torah law mandates that we desist from eating chametz two hours before midday, and that no leaven remain in our possession an hour before midday. These are not clock hours but "proportional hours", defined by Jewish law as a 12th part of the time between sunrise and sunset.
o Click here for the chametz eating deadline for your location.
o From this point until the end of the festival of Passover, it is forbidden to eat leaven, or anything containing even the slightest trace of leaven.
o Links: What is Chametz; A Speck of Flour; The Escape Hatch
o Burn and Nullify Chametz
o Chametz is disposed of by: a) selling it to a non-Jew; b) burning the chametz found in our search on the previous evening (see entry for Nissan 13); c) "nullifying" the chametz that has not been found by declaring it ownerless.
o The deadline for selling, burning and nullifying chametz is one "proportional hour" before midday.
o Passover Offering
o When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the Passover offering was brought there on the afternoon of Nissan 14. Today it is commemorated by our recitation of the "Order of the Passover Offering" this afternoon, by the "shankbone" placed on the seder plate this evening, and the afikoman -- a portion of matzah eaten in its stead at the end of the seder meal.
o Links: About the Passover offering
o Passover Seder Tonight
o The 8-day festival of Passover--also called "The Festival of Matzahs" and "The Time of Our Freedom"--begins tonight at nightfall.
o In the evening, we conduct a seder ("order") -- a 15-part ritualistic feast that encompasses the observances of the Passover festival: telling our children the story of the Exodus as described and expounded in the Haggadah; eating the matzah (unleavened bread), the bitter herbs dipped in charoset, and the afikoman (an additional portion of matzah eaten as "dessert" in commemoration of the Passover offering); drinking the four cups of wine; and numerous other symbolic foods and rituals commemorating both our slavery in Egypt and our liberation on this night.
o Links:
o www.Passover.org includes a Seder guide, text of the Haggadah, in-depth studies, and more
o The Seder Wizard is a step-by-step guide to conducting the Seder
o Today in Jewish History
o Maimonides Born (1135)
o Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Talmudist, Halachist, physician, philosopher and communal leader, known in the Jewish world by the acronym "Rambam" and to the world at large as "Maimonides", was born in Cordova, Spain, on the 14th of Nissan of the year 4895 from creation--1135 of the Common Era
o Daily Quote
o Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to G-d. Do not do any work: neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your animal, nor your sojourner who is in your cities. For in six days G-d made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore G-d blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11 (4th of the Ten Commandments)
o Daily Study
o Chitas and Rambam for today:
o Chumash: Kedoshim, 2nd Portion Leviticus 19:15-19:22 with Rashi
o Tehillim: Chapters 72 - 76
o Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 41
o Rambam:
o Sefer Hamitzvos:
o 1 Chapter: Kelim Chap. 13
o 3 Chapters: Kri'at Shema Chapter One, Kri'at Shema Chapter Two, Teshuvah Chapter Ten
o Hayom Yom:
o Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides) Dedicate an email
o Nissan 14, 5771 • April 18, 2011Today's Mitzvah
o A daily digest of Maimonides' classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
o Listen Online
MP3 Download
o Important Message Regarding This Lesson
o The Daily Mitzvah schedule runs parallel to the daily study of 3 chapters of Maimonides' 14-volume code. There are instances when the Mitzvah is repeated a few days consecutively while the exploration of the same Mitzvah continues in the in-depth track.
o Positive Commandment 73
o Confessing Sins
o "And he shall confess that he has sinned"-Leviticus 5:5.
o One who has sinned is obligated to verbally confess and say, "Please, G-d, I have sinned by doing..." The individual should then elaborate to the best of his ability and ask G-d for atonement. This mitzvah applies whether the sin was against G-d or against a fellow man.
o Even in the times of the Holy Temple when a person would bring a sin-offering to attain forgiveness, he was still required to orally confess his sin. The same for those who were guilty of capital offenses, they were asked to confess their sin prior to their execution.
o Positive Commandment 10
o The Shema
o "And you shall talk of them ... when you lie down and when you rise up"-Deuteronomy 6:7.
o We are commanded to recite the Shema twice daily: morning and night. Women are not obligated in this time-bound mitzvah.
o Topics in the news
o An Egyptian court orders the dissolution of the former ruling National Democratic Party of Hosni Mubarak (pictured) as part of overall political reform.
o States of emergency are declared in several areas across the southern United States after at least 45 people are killed in a large tornado outbreak.
o Former Croatian general Ante Gotovina is sentenced to 24 years in prison after being found guilty of war crimes during Operation Storm.
o BRICS states meet in Sanya, China, for an annual summit that features South Africa for the first time.
o The Japan Atomic Energy Agency raises the severity of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents to level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
o ...
o Current events of 4 18 2011 (2011-04-18)
o Armed conflicts and attacks
o Gaddafi's forces commit mass rape of women in Misrata. (The First Post) (Ottawa Citizen)
o
o Suspected Muslim insurgents detonate a bomb in southern Thailand, killing one and injuring 23 people. (Straits Times)
o Disasters
o Storms in Guangdong, southern China, kill at least 18 people and leave 150 injured. (BBC) (Xinhua)
o A landslide kills 10 people in Indonesia's East Java province. (Jakarta Post) (The Hindu)
o International relations
o An anti-piracy conference opens in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Al Jazeera)
o North Korea criticises United States intervention in the 2011 Libyan uprising. (Yonhap)
o Politics
o Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is arrested during a protest against high food and fuel prices in the capital Kampala. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
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