* Today in Judaism
Today is: Shabbat, Sivan 2, 5771 • 6 4, 2011
Omer: Day 46 - Netzach sheb'Malchut
*Today's Laws & Customs
• Ethics of the Fathers: Chapter 6
In preparation for the festival of Shavuot, we study one of the six chapters of the Talmud's Ethics of the Fathers ("Avot") on the afternoon of each of the six Shabbatot between Passover and Shavuot; this Shabbat being the Shabbat before Shhavuot, we study Chapter Six. (In many communities -- and such is the Chabad custom -- the study cycle is repeated through the summer, until the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.)
Link: Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 6
• Count "Forty-Seven Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-seventh 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-seven days, which are six weeks and five 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: Hod sheb'Malchut -- "Humility 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
• Chosen People (1313 BCE)
Sivan 2 is marked on the Jewish calendar as Yom HaMeyuchas ("Day of Distinction"); it was on this day that G-d told Moses -- when Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the first time -- to tell the people of Israel: "You shall be My chosen treasure from among all the nations, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4-6).
On the Essence of Choice
More on the "choseness" of the Jewish people
• Israeli Defense Forces Capture Golan Heights (1967)
Until the Six Day War (see "Today in Jewish History" for Iyar 26), the Syrian army was deployed in strong fortifications on the Golan Heights, from which they repeatedly shelled the Israeli settlements below. On the fifth day of the war, the Israeli Army broke through the Syrian front. Facing very difficult topographical conditions, they scaled the steep and rugged Heights. The Engineering Corps cleared the way of mines, followed by bulldozers which leveled a route for the tanks on the rocky face. After a more than 24 hours of heavy fighting, the Syrian deployment collapsed and the Syrian forces fled in retreat.
Links: More on the Six Day War
*Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 7th Portion Numbers 7:72-7:89 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapters 10 - 17
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 52
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter Seven
• 3 Chapters: Ta'aniyot Chapter Two, Ta'aniyot Chapter Three, Ta'aniyot Chapter Four
• Hayom Yom:
Today's Day"
ShabbatSivan 2, 46th day of the omer5703
Torah lessons:Chumash: Bamidbar, Shevi'i with Rashi.
Tehillim: 10-17.
Tanya: As (this wisdom) (p. 273)...is termed "Shechinah" (p. 277).
*Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
*Positive Commandment 59
• Blowing Trumpets
"On the day of your joy, on your holidays and on the heads of your months you shall blow with trumpets"—Numbers 10:10.
We are commanded to blow trumpets while the sacrifices offered on special dates were being offered in the Holy Temple.
We are also commanded to blow trumpets during times of distress, to accompany our prayer to G‑d.
Ana B'choach at Kabalat Shabbat (p. 131) is said in an undertone.
Ufros aleinu... at Kabalat Shabbat (p. 138) is said standing.
In the year 5589 (1829) the Shabbat of Parshat Bamidbar was on 5 Sivan. Before the kindling of the Shabbat candles, the Tzemach Tzedek delivered the maamar, S'u et rosh...avotam.1 Following the commentary of Ibn Ezra, he interpreted the word S'u in the sense of elevation, as in "Ki tisa et rosh,"2 (lit. "When you take up the head.") The implication is that through avoda of the radiance of the soul within the body, an elevation is effected in the head (rosh) and essence of the soul as it is Above.3 In this vein he then explained a number of Torah-verses and statements in Zohar and Midrash.
At noon on Shabbat the Rebbe delivered the maamar V'eirastich and its elaboration as printed in Likutei Torah. The next day, the first day of Shavuot, he delivered the maamar Us'fartem and its elaboration as printed in Likutei Torah. During the festival meal of the second day of Shavuot, the Rebbe delivered the maamar V'hachachma mei'ayin timatzei which is the second elaboration on the subject of tisp'ru chamishim yom printed in Likutei Torah.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shabbat Rest.......7th Day
Genesis Chapter 2 בְּרֵאשִׁית
א וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, וְכָל-צְבָאָם. 1
And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
ב וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה; וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. 2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
ג וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ: כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. {פ} 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.
Today is: Shabbat, Sivan 2, 5771 • 6 4, 2011
Omer: Day 46 - Netzach sheb'Malchut
*Today's Laws & Customs
• Ethics of the Fathers: Chapter 6
In preparation for the festival of Shavuot, we study one of the six chapters of the Talmud's Ethics of the Fathers ("Avot") on the afternoon of each of the six Shabbatot between Passover and Shavuot; this Shabbat being the Shabbat before Shhavuot, we study Chapter Six. (In many communities -- and such is the Chabad custom -- the study cycle is repeated through the summer, until the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.)
Link: Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 6
• Count "Forty-Seven Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-seventh 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-seven days, which are six weeks and five 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: Hod sheb'Malchut -- "Humility 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
• Chosen People (1313 BCE)
Sivan 2 is marked on the Jewish calendar as Yom HaMeyuchas ("Day of Distinction"); it was on this day that G-d told Moses -- when Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the first time -- to tell the people of Israel: "You shall be My chosen treasure from among all the nations, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4-6).
On the Essence of Choice
More on the "choseness" of the Jewish people
• Israeli Defense Forces Capture Golan Heights (1967)
Until the Six Day War (see "Today in Jewish History" for Iyar 26), the Syrian army was deployed in strong fortifications on the Golan Heights, from which they repeatedly shelled the Israeli settlements below. On the fifth day of the war, the Israeli Army broke through the Syrian front. Facing very difficult topographical conditions, they scaled the steep and rugged Heights. The Engineering Corps cleared the way of mines, followed by bulldozers which leveled a route for the tanks on the rocky face. After a more than 24 hours of heavy fighting, the Syrian deployment collapsed and the Syrian forces fled in retreat.
Links: More on the Six Day War
*Daily Study
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Naso, 7th Portion Numbers 7:72-7:89 with Rashi
Tehillim: Chapters 10 - 17
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 52
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Genevah Chapter Seven
• 3 Chapters: Ta'aniyot Chapter Two, Ta'aniyot Chapter Three, Ta'aniyot Chapter Four
• Hayom Yom:
Today's Day"
ShabbatSivan 2, 46th day of the omer5703
Torah lessons:Chumash: Bamidbar, Shevi'i with Rashi.
Tehillim: 10-17.
Tanya: As (this wisdom) (p. 273)...is termed "Shechinah" (p. 277).
*Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
*Positive Commandment 59
• Blowing Trumpets
"On the day of your joy, on your holidays and on the heads of your months you shall blow with trumpets"—Numbers 10:10.
We are commanded to blow trumpets while the sacrifices offered on special dates were being offered in the Holy Temple.
We are also commanded to blow trumpets during times of distress, to accompany our prayer to G‑d.
Ana B'choach at Kabalat Shabbat (p. 131) is said in an undertone.
Ufros aleinu... at Kabalat Shabbat (p. 138) is said standing.
In the year 5589 (1829) the Shabbat of Parshat Bamidbar was on 5 Sivan. Before the kindling of the Shabbat candles, the Tzemach Tzedek delivered the maamar, S'u et rosh...avotam.1 Following the commentary of Ibn Ezra, he interpreted the word S'u in the sense of elevation, as in "Ki tisa et rosh,"2 (lit. "When you take up the head.") The implication is that through avoda of the radiance of the soul within the body, an elevation is effected in the head (rosh) and essence of the soul as it is Above.3 In this vein he then explained a number of Torah-verses and statements in Zohar and Midrash.
At noon on Shabbat the Rebbe delivered the maamar V'eirastich and its elaboration as printed in Likutei Torah. The next day, the first day of Shavuot, he delivered the maamar Us'fartem and its elaboration as printed in Likutei Torah. During the festival meal of the second day of Shavuot, the Rebbe delivered the maamar V'hachachma mei'ayin timatzei which is the second elaboration on the subject of tisp'ru chamishim yom printed in Likutei Torah.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shabbat Rest.......7th Day
Genesis Chapter 2 בְּרֵאשִׁית
א וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, וְכָל-צְבָאָם. 1
And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
ב וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה; וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. 2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
ג וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ: כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. {פ} 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.
No comments:
Post a Comment