NEWS AND MIDRASH

In the news

*Today is:, Sivan 13, 5771 • 6 15, 2011



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• Armed conflicts and attacks

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Admiral Kim Sung-chan, the head of the Republic of Korea Navy, vows a stronger response to aggression from North Korea. (Yonhap News)



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• 2011 Yemeni uprising

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The Associated Press claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency is building an airbase in the Persian Gulf to target terrorists in the event of an anti-Americanism element taking control of Yemen. (AP via Richmond Times-Dispatch)



Islamic militants seize parts of the southern city of Houta in Lahij province in a surprise dawn raid. (AP via USA Today)

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• Business and economy

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Canada Post closes down operations after a campaign of rolling strikes by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. (CBC)

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• Disasters

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• New South Wales floods

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Thousands of people living on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales face a flooding risk, with the town of Kempsey under particular threat and with ten thousand people isolated. (ABC News Australia), (Daily Telegraph)



One man dies near the town of Taree, after a tree hits his car. (ABC News)

2011 Puyehue eruption



Australian airlines QANTAS and Virgin Australia suspends flights to Perth, Western Australia, due to ash from the eruption in Chile, with flights to Tasmania and New Zealand also cancelled. (BBC News), (NineMSN)



Flights remain cancelled in Argentina and Uruguay. (AFP via Google News)

International relationa



The Yonhap news agency reports that nine North Koreans have defected to South Korea across the Yellow Sea. (Yonhap)

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• Law and crime

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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that the son of the acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Sam Abal has been arrested on murder charges. (AP via Google News)

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• Politics

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The General Assembly of the US state of North Carolina votes on a motion to veto override by the Governor Bev Perdue of the state budget. (News and Observer)



Greek unions prepare for a general strike and protesters vow to surround the Hellenic Parliament as it prepares to discuss austerity measures. (Reuters via France 24)

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• Sport

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The Caribbean Football Union accuses FIFA whisteblower Chuck Blazer of "slander" after making allegations of corruption against members of the FIFA committee. (Sky News)



• Today in Judaism



• Today in Jewish History





• Moses Ascends to the Top of Mount Sinai (1313 BCE)



"Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain...for six days. On the seventh day G-d called to Moses from within the cloud... And Moses came within the cloud, and he went up to the top of the mountain, and Moses was upon the mountain forty days and forty nights" (Exodus 24:15-18).



On the morrow of the giving of the Ten Commandments (see Jewish History for the 6th of Sivan), Moses ascended Mount Sinai in order to receive from G-d the remainder of the Torah -- the remaining commandments and the Oral Law. After being "cleansed" by the cloud for six days, he was ushered into the presence of G-d on the 13th of Sivan.





• Rebbe's Parents Wed (1900)



The Lubavitcher Rebbe's parents, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944) and Rebbetzin Chana Yanovsky (1880-1964) were married on the 13th of Sivan, 1900. Their oldest son, Menachem Mendel, was born two years later, on the 11th of Nissan of 1902.





• Bombing in Cairo Jewish Quarter (1948)



Following the War of Independence (see Jewish History for the 6th of Iyar), citizens in many Arab countries began harassing their Jewish co-citizens, often times inflicting casualties and substantial property damage.



The 5,000 Jews living in Cairo, Egypt were also repeatedly victimized. On the 13th of Sivan a bomb exploded in the Jewish quarter of Cairo, murdering 22 Jews and wounding more than 40 others.



The systematic persecution caused most Egyptian Jews to flee, many choosing to move to Israel. Today, there are virtually no Jews remaining in Egypt.



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• Daily Quote

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When two people meet, something good should result for a third



- The Lubavitcher Rebbe, quoting his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn

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• Daily Study

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Chitas and Rambam for today:



Chumash: Shlach, 4th Portion Numbers 14:26-15:7 with Rashi



Tehillim: Chapters 69 - 71



Tanya: Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, beginning of Chapter 4



Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:



• 1 Chapter: Gezelah va'Avedah Chapter Nine

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



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• Hayom Yom:

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"Today's Day"



The Tzemach Tzedek composed many melodies. He studied Torah aloud and with song. It would happen that he would interrupt his studies, or his writing Chassidus or responsa, and sing some melody.

My grandfather related that from the sound of the Tzemach Tzedek's melody he could tell in what subject he was then occupied.

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• Today's Mitzvah

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A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"

Today's Mitzvah



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• Positive Commandment 222

• Divorce

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"And he shall write her a bill of divorce and place it in her hand"—Deuteronomy 24:1.

In the event that a couple decides to divorce, it is a mitzvah for the husband to effectuate the divorce through a bill of divorce, known as a get.



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• THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH

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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}