• Today is: YOM RISHONE, Iyar 25, 5771 • 5 29, 2011
• Topics in the news
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of the de facto Republic of Abkhazia, dies from complications of lung surgery in Moscow.
The UEFA Champions League concludes with FC Barcelona defeating Manchester United in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Egypt re-opens the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron dies at the age of 62.
Leaders of the G8 countries meet at the 37th G8 summit in France.
Mac Defender poses the first major malware threat to Macintosh users.
•
• Current events
• Armed conflict and attacks
2011 Yemeni uprising
Three French foreign aid workers disappear in Yemen's Hadramout province. (TV New Zealand)
Reports from the coastal town of Zinjibar claim that al-Qaeda gunmen have captured the town. (Al Jazeera), (The Telegraph)
• Disasters
Dennis Daugaard, the Governor of the US state of South Dakota warns residents living south of the state capital of Pierre to prepare evacuation plans ahead of likely flooding of the Missouri River. (AP via MSNBC)
• Politics and elections
Political parties in Nepal agree to extend the life of the Constituent Assembly for three months. (Al-Jazeera)
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, dies from complications of lung surgery in Moscow. (BBC)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
Omer: Day 40 - Hod sheb'Yesod
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Count "Forty-One Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-first 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 forty-one days, which are five weeks and six 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: Yesod sheb'Yesod -- "Connection in Connection"
•
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."
•
• Today in Jewish History
•
• Cologne Jews Saved (1096)
During the First Crusade, the crusaders are locked out of Cologne, Germany and the local Jews are saved, following the orders of the local bishop to close the gates to the city. (see "Today in Jewish History" for Iyar 8)
In a number of local provinces, where the local bishop tried to avert the masses from harming the Jews, the Bishop would have to escape for his own safety.
• Toledo Massacre (1355)
1,200 Jews were massacred by a Christian and Muslim mob attack on the Jewish section of Toledo, Spain, on this date in 1355.
•
• Daily Quote
•
When a person knows and grasps in his mind a Torah law... he thereby grasps and holds and encompasses with his mind the divine wisdom and will... while his mind is simultaneously enveloped within them. This makes for a wonderful union, like which there is none other and which has no parallel anywhere in the terresterial world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, is attained.
- Tanya, ch. 5
Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 1st Portion Numbers 4:21-4:28 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapter 119, Verses 1-96
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 51
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter One
• 3 Chapters: Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Three, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Four, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Five
Hayom Yom:
''Today's Day'' Dedicate an email
Iyar 25, 5771 • May 29, 2011Iyar 25, 40th day of the omer
Print this Page
Iyar 25, 40th day of the omer 5703
Torah lessons: Chumash: Bamidbar, first parsha with Rashi.
Tehillim: 119, 1-96.
Tanya: In a truly (p. 269)...in the very lowest. (p. 269).
Among the Alter Rebbe's maamarim of 5555 (1795) in Lyozna: "The reward of a mitzva is the mitzva."1 The mitzva in its ultimate essence - state is the reward. The revelation of this essence will take place in the Time to Come. This is the "enduring principal of the mitzva."2 However, man also "eats of its fruits in This World,"3 each mitzva according to its particular nature; i.e. when man has that particular need, he is answered.
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
Iyar 25, 5771 • 5 29, 2011Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
Important Message Regarding This Lesson
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.
•
• Positive Commandment 171
• Giving a Half Shekel
"Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to G‑d"—Exodus 30:12.
Every Jewish man is obligated to contribute annually a half a shekel [to the Temple coffers].
This biblical mitzvah only applies during the Temple Era.
Positive Commandment 153
Calculating Months and Years
"This month shall be to you the beginning of months"—Exodus 12:2.
We are commanded to establish a calendar and calculate its months and years. The months are lunar months, with a new month established when the new moon appears; the years follow the solar seasonal cycle, necessitating the periodic addition of an extra (thirteenth) month to a year – which then becomes a "leap year" – because twelve lunar months are several days short of a solar year. This mitzvah is known as Sanctifying the New Moon.
This mitzvah is entrusted to the Jewish Supreme Court that presides in Israel. Unlike the counting of six days and then observing the Shabbat, a mitzvah that is incumbent upon every individual, no individual can unilaterally decide that a new month has arrived simply because he espied the new moon, and no individual can decide to add a month to the calendar based on his personal (even Torah-based) calculations.
Only the Supreme Court can make these calculations, and only in the Land of Israel. We follow the rulings issued by the Supreme Court in Israel even if they inadvertently established the "wrong" day as the New Moon, even if they did so under duress.
In the event that there are no qualified rabbis remaining in Israel, these calculations can be made, and months and leap years established, by a court that was ordained in Israel—even if it finds itself in the Diaspora.
Today we no longer sanctify the months based on the testimony of witnesses who saw the new moon, because there is no longer a sitting rabbinical Supreme Court in Israel—much as we no longer offer sacrifices, because we lack a Holy Temple. But under no circumstances can an individual or court outside of Israel establish a new month or a leap year. Our calculations today in the Diaspora are only to determine which days the Court in Israel established as the New Moon, and which years they established as leap years.
[Editor's Note: Nachmanides asks, if so, how do we have holidays and a calendar today, when there is no rabbinical Supreme Court in Israel? He answers that there is a tradition that Hillel the Prince, who resided in Israel, established a calendar until the arrival of Moshiach, and sanctified all the new months and leap years until that time. Therefore, we can use our calculations to determine exactly what he previously established.]
Some laws associated with this mitzvah:
The extra month added to a leap year is the one contiguous to the month of Passover—i.e. Adar.
The establishment of new months and leap years must be done during daylight hours.
A year must be comprised of complete months; a month must be comprised of complete days.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Reeshone........... First day
א בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ. 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
ב וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם. 2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
ג וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר. 3
And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.
ד וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, כִּי-טוֹב; וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ. 4
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
ה וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם אֶחָד. {פ} 5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. {P}
• Topics in the news
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of the de facto Republic of Abkhazia, dies from complications of lung surgery in Moscow.
The UEFA Champions League concludes with FC Barcelona defeating Manchester United in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Egypt re-opens the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron dies at the age of 62.
Leaders of the G8 countries meet at the 37th G8 summit in France.
Mac Defender poses the first major malware threat to Macintosh users.
•
• Current events
• Armed conflict and attacks
2011 Yemeni uprising
Three French foreign aid workers disappear in Yemen's Hadramout province. (TV New Zealand)
Reports from the coastal town of Zinjibar claim that al-Qaeda gunmen have captured the town. (Al Jazeera), (The Telegraph)
• Disasters
Dennis Daugaard, the Governor of the US state of South Dakota warns residents living south of the state capital of Pierre to prepare evacuation plans ahead of likely flooding of the Missouri River. (AP via MSNBC)
• Politics and elections
Political parties in Nepal agree to extend the life of the Constituent Assembly for three months. (Al-Jazeera)
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, dies from complications of lung surgery in Moscow. (BBC)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
Omer: Day 40 - Hod sheb'Yesod
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Count "Forty-One Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-first 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 forty-one days, which are five weeks and six 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: Yesod sheb'Yesod -- "Connection in Connection"
•
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."
•
• Today in Jewish History
•
• Cologne Jews Saved (1096)
During the First Crusade, the crusaders are locked out of Cologne, Germany and the local Jews are saved, following the orders of the local bishop to close the gates to the city. (see "Today in Jewish History" for Iyar 8)
In a number of local provinces, where the local bishop tried to avert the masses from harming the Jews, the Bishop would have to escape for his own safety.
• Toledo Massacre (1355)
1,200 Jews were massacred by a Christian and Muslim mob attack on the Jewish section of Toledo, Spain, on this date in 1355.
•
• Daily Quote
•
When a person knows and grasps in his mind a Torah law... he thereby grasps and holds and encompasses with his mind the divine wisdom and will... while his mind is simultaneously enveloped within them. This makes for a wonderful union, like which there is none other and which has no parallel anywhere in the terresterial world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, is attained.
- Tanya, ch. 5
Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 1st Portion Numbers 4:21-4:28 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapter 119, Verses 1-96
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 51
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter One
• 3 Chapters: Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Three, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Four, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Five
Hayom Yom:
''Today's Day'' Dedicate an email
Iyar 25, 5771 • May 29, 2011Iyar 25, 40th day of the omer
Print this Page
Iyar 25, 40th day of the omer 5703
Torah lessons: Chumash: Bamidbar, first parsha with Rashi.
Tehillim: 119, 1-96.
Tanya: In a truly (p. 269)...in the very lowest. (p. 269).
Among the Alter Rebbe's maamarim of 5555 (1795) in Lyozna: "The reward of a mitzva is the mitzva."1 The mitzva in its ultimate essence - state is the reward. The revelation of this essence will take place in the Time to Come. This is the "enduring principal of the mitzva."2 However, man also "eats of its fruits in This World,"3 each mitzva according to its particular nature; i.e. when man has that particular need, he is answered.
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
Iyar 25, 5771 • 5 29, 2011Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
Important Message Regarding This Lesson
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.
•
• Positive Commandment 171
• Giving a Half Shekel
"Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to G‑d"—Exodus 30:12.
Every Jewish man is obligated to contribute annually a half a shekel [to the Temple coffers].
This biblical mitzvah only applies during the Temple Era.
Positive Commandment 153
Calculating Months and Years
"This month shall be to you the beginning of months"—Exodus 12:2.
We are commanded to establish a calendar and calculate its months and years. The months are lunar months, with a new month established when the new moon appears; the years follow the solar seasonal cycle, necessitating the periodic addition of an extra (thirteenth) month to a year – which then becomes a "leap year" – because twelve lunar months are several days short of a solar year. This mitzvah is known as Sanctifying the New Moon.
This mitzvah is entrusted to the Jewish Supreme Court that presides in Israel. Unlike the counting of six days and then observing the Shabbat, a mitzvah that is incumbent upon every individual, no individual can unilaterally decide that a new month has arrived simply because he espied the new moon, and no individual can decide to add a month to the calendar based on his personal (even Torah-based) calculations.
Only the Supreme Court can make these calculations, and only in the Land of Israel. We follow the rulings issued by the Supreme Court in Israel even if they inadvertently established the "wrong" day as the New Moon, even if they did so under duress.
In the event that there are no qualified rabbis remaining in Israel, these calculations can be made, and months and leap years established, by a court that was ordained in Israel—even if it finds itself in the Diaspora.
Today we no longer sanctify the months based on the testimony of witnesses who saw the new moon, because there is no longer a sitting rabbinical Supreme Court in Israel—much as we no longer offer sacrifices, because we lack a Holy Temple. But under no circumstances can an individual or court outside of Israel establish a new month or a leap year. Our calculations today in the Diaspora are only to determine which days the Court in Israel established as the New Moon, and which years they established as leap years.
[Editor's Note: Nachmanides asks, if so, how do we have holidays and a calendar today, when there is no rabbinical Supreme Court in Israel? He answers that there is a tradition that Hillel the Prince, who resided in Israel, established a calendar until the arrival of Moshiach, and sanctified all the new months and leap years until that time. Therefore, we can use our calculations to determine exactly what he previously established.]
Some laws associated with this mitzvah:
The extra month added to a leap year is the one contiguous to the month of Passover—i.e. Adar.
The establishment of new months and leap years must be done during daylight hours.
A year must be comprised of complete months; a month must be comprised of complete days.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Reeshone........... First day
א בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ. 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
ב וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם. 2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
ג וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר. 3
And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.
ד וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, כִּי-טוֹב; וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ. 4
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
ה וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם אֶחָד. {פ} 5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. {P}
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