• Today is: Yom Revee´ee Fourth day, Two more days to Shabbat! Buy your Challah bread, wine and candles! Clean your home! Iyar 7, 5771 • 5 11, 2011
•
• Topics in the news
•
• Microsoft announces the acquisition of Internet phone service Skype for US$8.5 billion.
• Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt (pictured) dies in a crash during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, becoming the first cyclist killed on a Grand Tour since 1995.
• In the Singaporean general election, the People's Action Party is returned to power, while the opposition wins its first Group Representation Constituency.
• In association football, A.C. Milan win their 18th Serie A title.
• Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao retains his WBO Welterweight championship after defeating American Shane Mosley.
• Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros dies after a three-year battle with cancer.
•
• Current events of 11 2011 (2011-05-11)
•
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
• Syrian Army tanks shell the suburb of Bab Amro in the suburb of Homs. (Reuters via Alertnet)
•
• Business and economy
•
• Venezuela starts rationing electricity after the country was hit by blackouts earlier in the week. (BBC)
• Trial runs begin for the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway in the People's Republic of China ahead of its opening on 20 June, 2011. (AFP via The West Australian)
•
• International relations
•
• Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, receives a human rights medal for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights", from the Sydney Peace Foundation. (ABC News Australia)
•
• Law and crime
•
• The trial of United States citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer in Tehran, Iran on espionage charges is again delayed. (CNN)
• The Supreme Court of India dismisses a government petition for seven people convicted for their role in the Bhopal disaster in 1984 to receive tougher sentences. (Reuters)
•
• Politics
•
• Former Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania David Bartlett resigns as a Minister and will resign from the House of Assembly. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time since the victory of the Scottish National Party in the recent election. (BBC)
• The Ugandan Opposition, the Forum for Democratic Change, claims that its leader Kizza Besigye has been barred from a flight from Nairobi in Kenya back to Kampala. (Reuters via Alertnet)
•
• Sport
•
• Nepalese Sherpa Apa Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for a record 21st time. (AFP via Google News)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
• Omer: Day 22 - Chessed sheb'Netzach
• Today's Laws & Customs
•
• Count "Twenty-Three Days to the Omer" Tonight
•
• Tomorrow is the twenty-third 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 twenty-three days, which are three weeks and two 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: Gevurah sheb'Netzach -- "Restraint in Ambition"
• 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."
•
• Sanctification of the Moon
•
• Once a month, as the moon waxes in the sky, we recite a special blessing called Kiddush Levanah, "the sanctification of the moon," praising the Creator for His wondrous work we call astronomy.
• Kiddush Levanah is recited after nightfall, usually on Saturday night. The blessing is concluded with songs and dancing, because our nation is likened to the moon-as it waxes and wanes, so have we throughout history. When we bless the moon, we renew our trust that very soon, the light of G-d's presence will fill all the earth and our people will be redeemed from exile.
• Though Kiddush Levanah can be recited as early as three days after the moon's rebirth, the kabbalah tells us it is best to wait a full week, till the seventh of the month. Once 15 days have passed, the moon begins to wane once more and the season for saying the blessing has passed.
• Today in Jewish History
•
• Jerusalem Walls Dedicated (335 BCE)
•
• The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was celebrated with great jubilation nearly 88 years after they were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.
•
• Venetian Ghetto (1516)
•
• On the 7th of Iyar, 1516, the Venetian City Council decreed that all Jews be segregated to a specific area of the city.
• Venice's ghetto was surrounded by water, with a canal leading to its gates. At night the "Christian guards" patrolled the waters around the ghetto to ensure that the night curfew wasn't violated. At the same time of the establishment of this ghetto, numerous other degrading laws were enacted, including the requirement that all Jews wear yellow stars as identification.
• Despite all these restrictions, the Jewish community blossomed and functioned normally. In 1797, the ghetto was abolished by Napoleon during the course of the French Revolution.
• The site chosen to accommodate the Jews had once housed the city's foundries, gettos in Italian -- and thus the eventual popularization throughout Europe of the word "ghetto" to describe the city sections where Jews were forced to reside.
•
• Daily Quote
•
• There was once a king who had an only daughter, and one of the kings came and married her. When her husband wished to return to his country, her father said to him: "My daughter, whose hand I have given you, is my only child; I cannot part with her. Neither can I say to you, 'Do not take her,' for she is your wife. This one favor, however, I ask of you: wherever you go to live, prepare a chamber for me that I dwell with you, for I cannot leave my daughter" ... In the same way, G-d said to Israel: "I have given you the Torah. I cannot part with her, and I also cannot tell you not to take her. But this I request of you: wherever you go, make for Me a house wherein I dwell..."
- Midrash Rabbah
•
• Daily Study
•
• Chitas and Rambam for today:
• Chumash: Behar, 4th Portion Leviticus 25:25-25:28 with Rashi
• Tehillim: Chapters 39 - 43
• Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 46
• Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Mikvot Chap. 8
• 3 Chapters: Shabbos Chapter Eighteen, Shabbos Chapter Nineteen, Shabbos Chapter Twenty
• Hayom Yom:
•
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
•
• Iyar 7, 5771 • 11, 2011Today's Mitzvah
• A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
•
• Negative Commandment 321
•
• Going Beyond City Limits on Shabbat
•
• "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day"—Exodus 16:29.
• It is forbidden on Shabbat to travel more than 2,000 cubits (approximately 3000 ft.) out of a city's parameters.
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Revee´ee............Fourth day
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה; וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים, וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים. 14
And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
טו וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהָאִיר עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 15
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so.
טז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים: אֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל, לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם, וְאֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה, וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים. 16
And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.
יז וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם, לְהָאִיר, עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 17
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
יח וְלִמְשֹׁל, בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה, וּלְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 18
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
יט וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם רְבִיעִי. {פ} 19
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. {P}
•
• Topics in the news
•
• Microsoft announces the acquisition of Internet phone service Skype for US$8.5 billion.
• Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt (pictured) dies in a crash during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, becoming the first cyclist killed on a Grand Tour since 1995.
• In the Singaporean general election, the People's Action Party is returned to power, while the opposition wins its first Group Representation Constituency.
• In association football, A.C. Milan win their 18th Serie A title.
• Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao retains his WBO Welterweight championship after defeating American Shane Mosley.
• Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros dies after a three-year battle with cancer.
•
• Current events of 11 2011 (2011-05-11)
•
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
• Syrian Army tanks shell the suburb of Bab Amro in the suburb of Homs. (Reuters via Alertnet)
•
• Business and economy
•
• Venezuela starts rationing electricity after the country was hit by blackouts earlier in the week. (BBC)
• Trial runs begin for the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway in the People's Republic of China ahead of its opening on 20 June, 2011. (AFP via The West Australian)
•
• International relations
•
• Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, receives a human rights medal for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights", from the Sydney Peace Foundation. (ABC News Australia)
•
• Law and crime
•
• The trial of United States citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer in Tehran, Iran on espionage charges is again delayed. (CNN)
• The Supreme Court of India dismisses a government petition for seven people convicted for their role in the Bhopal disaster in 1984 to receive tougher sentences. (Reuters)
•
• Politics
•
• Former Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania David Bartlett resigns as a Minister and will resign from the House of Assembly. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time since the victory of the Scottish National Party in the recent election. (BBC)
• The Ugandan Opposition, the Forum for Democratic Change, claims that its leader Kizza Besigye has been barred from a flight from Nairobi in Kenya back to Kampala. (Reuters via Alertnet)
•
• Sport
•
• Nepalese Sherpa Apa Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for a record 21st time. (AFP via Google News)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
• Omer: Day 22 - Chessed sheb'Netzach
• Today's Laws & Customs
•
• Count "Twenty-Three Days to the Omer" Tonight
•
• Tomorrow is the twenty-third 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 twenty-three days, which are three weeks and two 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: Gevurah sheb'Netzach -- "Restraint in Ambition"
• 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."
•
• Sanctification of the Moon
•
• Once a month, as the moon waxes in the sky, we recite a special blessing called Kiddush Levanah, "the sanctification of the moon," praising the Creator for His wondrous work we call astronomy.
• Kiddush Levanah is recited after nightfall, usually on Saturday night. The blessing is concluded with songs and dancing, because our nation is likened to the moon-as it waxes and wanes, so have we throughout history. When we bless the moon, we renew our trust that very soon, the light of G-d's presence will fill all the earth and our people will be redeemed from exile.
• Though Kiddush Levanah can be recited as early as three days after the moon's rebirth, the kabbalah tells us it is best to wait a full week, till the seventh of the month. Once 15 days have passed, the moon begins to wane once more and the season for saying the blessing has passed.
• Today in Jewish History
•
• Jerusalem Walls Dedicated (335 BCE)
•
• The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was celebrated with great jubilation nearly 88 years after they were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.
•
• Venetian Ghetto (1516)
•
• On the 7th of Iyar, 1516, the Venetian City Council decreed that all Jews be segregated to a specific area of the city.
• Venice's ghetto was surrounded by water, with a canal leading to its gates. At night the "Christian guards" patrolled the waters around the ghetto to ensure that the night curfew wasn't violated. At the same time of the establishment of this ghetto, numerous other degrading laws were enacted, including the requirement that all Jews wear yellow stars as identification.
• Despite all these restrictions, the Jewish community blossomed and functioned normally. In 1797, the ghetto was abolished by Napoleon during the course of the French Revolution.
• The site chosen to accommodate the Jews had once housed the city's foundries, gettos in Italian -- and thus the eventual popularization throughout Europe of the word "ghetto" to describe the city sections where Jews were forced to reside.
•
• Daily Quote
•
• There was once a king who had an only daughter, and one of the kings came and married her. When her husband wished to return to his country, her father said to him: "My daughter, whose hand I have given you, is my only child; I cannot part with her. Neither can I say to you, 'Do not take her,' for she is your wife. This one favor, however, I ask of you: wherever you go to live, prepare a chamber for me that I dwell with you, for I cannot leave my daughter" ... In the same way, G-d said to Israel: "I have given you the Torah. I cannot part with her, and I also cannot tell you not to take her. But this I request of you: wherever you go, make for Me a house wherein I dwell..."
- Midrash Rabbah
•
• Daily Study
•
• Chitas and Rambam for today:
• Chumash: Behar, 4th Portion Leviticus 25:25-25:28 with Rashi
• Tehillim: Chapters 39 - 43
• Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 46
• Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Mikvot Chap. 8
• 3 Chapters: Shabbos Chapter Eighteen, Shabbos Chapter Nineteen, Shabbos Chapter Twenty
• Hayom Yom:
•
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
•
• Iyar 7, 5771 • 11, 2011Today's Mitzvah
• A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
•
• Negative Commandment 321
•
• Going Beyond City Limits on Shabbat
•
• "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day"—Exodus 16:29.
• It is forbidden on Shabbat to travel more than 2,000 cubits (approximately 3000 ft.) out of a city's parameters.
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Revee´ee............Fourth day
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה; וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים, וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים. 14
And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
טו וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהָאִיר עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 15
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so.
טז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים: אֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל, לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם, וְאֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה, וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים. 16
And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.
יז וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם, לְהָאִיר, עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 17
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
יח וְלִמְשֹׁל, בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה, וּלְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 18
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
יט וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם רְבִיעִי. {פ} 19
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. {P}
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