• Yom Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day
• Iyar 29, 5771 • 6 2, 2011 TWO MORE DAYS TO SHABBAT!!
• Topics in the news
•
Sepp Blatter (pictured) is re-elected President of FIFA amid corruption allegations within association football's world governing body.
One of the largest outbreaks of E. coli ever recorded strikes Germany and several other European countries.
Germany permanently closes eight nuclear plants and announces plans to abandon nuclear power by 2022.
President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh dies from complications of surgery in Moscow.
In auto racing, Sebastian Vettel wins the Monaco Grand Prix and Dan Wheldon wins the Indianapolis 500.
A referendum to introduce divorce passes in Malta.
•
• Current events
•
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
Twenty-five Pakistan Army soldiers die after an attack by Afghan militants on a border post in the Dir District. (Reuters)
•
• Business and economy
•
Canada Post workers prepare to start a mail strike as last minute talks fail. (CBC)
International relations
South Korea and the United States launch an investigation into allegations by former United States Army soldiers that chemicals including Agent Orange were dumped at Camp Carroll near the city of Daegu. (Yonhap News)
•
• Politics and elections
•
• Japanese politics
•
The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan survives no-confidence motion in the Diet (Bloomberg via Business Week), (AP via Seattle PI)
Kan states that he will step down when the country has achieved some recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Reuters, (Kyodo News)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
Omer: Day 44 - Gevurah sheb'Malchut
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Count "Forty-Five Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-fifth 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-five days, which are six weeks and three 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: Tifferet sheb'Malchut -- "Harmony in Receptiveness"
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
• Hebron Liberated (1967)
One day after Israeli forces liberated Eastern Jerusalem in the course of the Six Day War, another of the holy cities, Hebron, was also liberated.
Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan took over the control of Hebron along with the rest of the West Bank. During this time, Israelis were not allowed to enter the West Bank. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated, 58 synagogues were destroyed and an animal pen was built on the ruins of the Patriarch Abraham Synagogue.
• Daily Quote
The birds and many of the land animals forbidden by the Torah are predators, while the permitted animals are not. We are commanded not to eat those animals possessive of a cruel nature, so that we should not absorb these qualities into ourselves
- Nachmanides
• Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 5th Portion Numbers 7:1-7:41 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapters 140 - 150
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 52
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter Five
• 3 Chapters: Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Fifteen, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Sixteen, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Seventeen
• Hayom Yom:
• ''Today's Day''
The ascent of the soul1 occurs three times daily, during the three times of davening. This is particularly true of the souls of tzadikim who "go from strength to strength."2 It is certain that at all times and in every sacred place they may be, they offer invocation and prayer on behalf of those who are bound to them and to their instructions, and who observe their instructions. They offer prayer in particular for their disciples and disciples' disciples, that G-d be their aid, materially and spiritually.
• Daily Mitzvah
• 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 Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day
כ וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים--יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה; וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל-הָאָרֶץ, עַל-פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם. 20
And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.'
כא וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים; וְאֵת כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם, וְאֵת כָּל-עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ, וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 21
And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
כב וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, לֵאמֹר: פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים, וְהָעוֹף, יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ. 22 And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.'
כג וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי. {פ} 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. {P}
• Iyar 29, 5771 • 6 2, 2011 TWO MORE DAYS TO SHABBAT!!
• Topics in the news
•
Sepp Blatter (pictured) is re-elected President of FIFA amid corruption allegations within association football's world governing body.
One of the largest outbreaks of E. coli ever recorded strikes Germany and several other European countries.
Germany permanently closes eight nuclear plants and announces plans to abandon nuclear power by 2022.
President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh dies from complications of surgery in Moscow.
In auto racing, Sebastian Vettel wins the Monaco Grand Prix and Dan Wheldon wins the Indianapolis 500.
A referendum to introduce divorce passes in Malta.
•
• Current events
•
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
Twenty-five Pakistan Army soldiers die after an attack by Afghan militants on a border post in the Dir District. (Reuters)
•
• Business and economy
•
Canada Post workers prepare to start a mail strike as last minute talks fail. (CBC)
International relations
South Korea and the United States launch an investigation into allegations by former United States Army soldiers that chemicals including Agent Orange were dumped at Camp Carroll near the city of Daegu. (Yonhap News)
•
• Politics and elections
•
• Japanese politics
•
The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan survives no-confidence motion in the Diet (Bloomberg via Business Week), (AP via Seattle PI)
Kan states that he will step down when the country has achieved some recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Reuters, (Kyodo News)
•
• Today in Judaism
•
Omer: Day 44 - Gevurah sheb'Malchut
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Count "Forty-Five Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-fifth 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-five days, which are six weeks and three 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: Tifferet sheb'Malchut -- "Harmony in Receptiveness"
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
• Hebron Liberated (1967)
One day after Israeli forces liberated Eastern Jerusalem in the course of the Six Day War, another of the holy cities, Hebron, was also liberated.
Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan took over the control of Hebron along with the rest of the West Bank. During this time, Israelis were not allowed to enter the West Bank. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated, 58 synagogues were destroyed and an animal pen was built on the ruins of the Patriarch Abraham Synagogue.
• Daily Quote
The birds and many of the land animals forbidden by the Torah are predators, while the permitted animals are not. We are commanded not to eat those animals possessive of a cruel nature, so that we should not absorb these qualities into ourselves
- Nachmanides
• Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 5th Portion Numbers 7:1-7:41 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapters 140 - 150
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 52
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter Five
• 3 Chapters: Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Fifteen, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Sixteen, Kiddush HaChodesh Chapter Seventeen
• Hayom Yom:
• ''Today's Day''
The ascent of the soul1 occurs three times daily, during the three times of davening. This is particularly true of the souls of tzadikim who "go from strength to strength."2 It is certain that at all times and in every sacred place they may be, they offer invocation and prayer on behalf of those who are bound to them and to their instructions, and who observe their instructions. They offer prayer in particular for their disciples and disciples' disciples, that G-d be their aid, materially and spiritually.
• Daily Mitzvah
• 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 Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day
כ וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים--יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה; וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל-הָאָרֶץ, עַל-פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם. 20
And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.'
כא וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים; וְאֵת כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם, וְאֵת כָּל-עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ, וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 21
And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
כב וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, לֵאמֹר: פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים, וְהָעוֹף, יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ. 22 And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.'
כג וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי. {פ} 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. {P}
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