• Today is: Erev Shabbat, The 6th Day , 1 Days to Shabbat, Nissan 25, 5771 • 4 29, 2011




• Topics in the news



• More than 290 people are killed in the Southern United States in the deadliest tornado outbreak since 1974.

• Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah sign a deal to form a unity government ahead of elections.

• Sony announces that a breach of its PlayStation Network may have compromised users' personal data.

• The Syrian government deploys tanks and troops in Daraa, killing 25 demonstrators, as protests (pictured) continue across the country.

• Indian guru and spiritual figure Sathya Sai Baba dies at the age of 84.

• Former South Vietnamese First Lady Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu dies at the age of 87.

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• Current events of 29 April 2011 (2011-04-29) (Friday) edit history watch



• Armed conflicts and attacks



• 2011 Libyan civil war in Tunisia:

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• Muammar Gaddafi brings the 2011 Libyan civil war over the border into Tunisia. The Tunisian foreign ministry warns of a "dangerous military escalation" and makes its "extreme indignation known" in a statement referring to "Shots fired at a populated area on Tunisian territory" as "a violation of Tunisia's territorial integrity and a violation of the security of the residents of this region". (BBC)



• 2011 Syrian uprising:



• A "Day of Rage" is to get underway in Syria as the popular uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime continues. (BBC)



• 2011 English protests:



• People engage in an early morning protest against controversial retailer Tesco, with police reporting violent scenes, in Stokes Croft, Bristol, England, UK. It follows last week's protests which saw complaints made against police. (BBC) (Bristol) (Avon and Somerset Constabulary)



• Arts and culture



• American conservatives react with disgust to the news that Superman has threatened to renounce his U.S. citizenship. (The Guardian)

• The wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton will take place in Westminster Abbey. (New York Times), (Daily Mirror)



• Business and economy



• Air India pilots continue a strike for a third successive day with 120 flights cancelled. (Hindustan Times)



• International relations



• 22,000 residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa file suit demanding the closure of the Kadena United States Airforce base at night and demand compensation from the Government of Japan. (Japan Times)

• Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez submitted her resignation letter to President Benigno Aquino III at about 10 a.m. Friday. Gutierrez is facing impeachment charges for, among others, alleged neglect of duty in failing to act on the criminal and administrative cases filed primarily against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and husband, Jose Miguel. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)



• Law and crime



• Three people are shot dead and another three injured following a siege in the South Australian city of Adelaide in the suburb of Hectorville. (ABC News Australia)



• Science



• The Space Shuttle Endeavour is to go into space for its final mission. (BBC)



• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)

• Today's Mitzvah

• A daily digest of Maimonides' classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"

• Positive Commandment 19

• Grace after Meals

• "And you will eat and be sated then you will bless G-d"-Deuteronomy 8:10.

• We are commanded to express gratitude to G-d after every meal.

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• Today in Judaism

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• Omer: Day 10 - Tifferet sheb'Gevurah

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• Today's Laws & Customs

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• Count "Eleven Days to the Omer" Tonight

• Tomorrow is the eleventh day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is eleven days, which are one week and four days, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).

• The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.

• Tonight's Sefirah: Netzach sheb'Gevurah -- "Ambition in Restraint"

• The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot."

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• Today in Jewish History

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• Egyptians "Sue" For Gold & Silver (4th Century BCE)

• Egyptian representatives appeared in the court of Alexander the Great, demanding that the Jews pay restitution for all the Egyptian gold and silver they took along with them during the Exodus. Geviha the son of Pesisa, a simple but wise Jew, requested the sages' permission to present a defense on behalf of the Jews.

• Geviha asked the Egyptians for evidence that the Jews absconded with their wealth. "The crime is clearly recorded in your Torah," the Egyptians gleefully responded.

• "In that case," Geviha said, "the Torah also says that 600,000 Jews were unjustly enslaved by the Egyptians for many, many years. So first let us calculate how much you owe us..."

• The court granted the Egyptians three days in which to prepare a response. When they were unable to do so they fled on the following day, the 25th of Nissan, and never returned.

• In Talmudic times, the day when the Egyptian delegation fled was celebrated as a mini-holiday.

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• Daily Quote

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• Tree, o' tree, with what can I bless you? That your fruit should be sweet? Your fruit is sweet. That your shade should be plentiful? Your shade is plentiful. That a stream of water should run beneath you? Water runs beneath you. The one thing left for me to bless you is: May all the plantings from your seed be like you!

- Talmud, Taanit 5b

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• Daily Study

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• Chitas and Rambam for today:

• Chumash: Kedoshim, 6th Portion Leviticus 20:8-20:22 with Rashi

• Tehillim: Chapter 119, Verses 1-96

• Tanya: Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 42

• Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Kelim Chap. 24

• 3 Chapters: Berachot Chapter One, Berachot Chapter Two, Berachot Chapter Three

• Hayom Yom:





Yom Ha´shee´shee ....Sixth day

כד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה לְמִינָהּ, בְּהֵמָה וָרֶמֶשׂ וְחַיְתוֹ-אֶרֶץ, לְמִינָהּ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 24

And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.' And it was so.

כה וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ לְמִינָהּ, וְאֶת-הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ, וְאֵת כָּל-רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה, לְמִינֵהוּ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 25

And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

כו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ; וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 26

And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'

כז וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם. 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

כח וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 28

And God blessed them; and God said unto them: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.'
כט וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה. 29
And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall be for food;
ל וּלְכָל-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וּלְכָל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְכֹל רוֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, אֶת-כָּל-יֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב, לְאָכְלָה; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 30
and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food.' And it was so.
לא וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, וְהִנֵּה-טוֹב מְאֹד; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. {פ} 31 And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day