NEWS AND MIDRASH

• Today is:, Tammuz 5, 5771 • July 7, 2011




• Topics in the news



• The International Olympic Committee announces that Pyeongchang, South Korea, will host the

• 2018 Winter Olympics.



• Otto von Habsburg (pictured), former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, dies at the age of 98.

• In the Thai general election, the Pheu Thai Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, wins a landslide majority.



• In tennis, Petra Kvitova wins the women's singles and Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships.



• Treasure worth at least 25 billion rupees (€385 million) is found at the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, India.





• Current events



• Armed conflicts and attacks



• 2011 Libyan uprising:



• A Libyan family announces plans to sue NATO for the mistaken deaths of five family members in an airstrike on June 19. (Sky News)



• Russia announces plans to send another planeload of humanitarian aid to the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Tripoli. (RIA Novosti)



• 2011 Yemeni uprising: Security forces clash with rebels near the town of Zinjibar with eight dead including one soldier. (Al Jazeera)



• Business and economy



• Japanese automaker Toyota announces plans to fully restore production from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in October, one month earlier than previously announced. (Japan Times)

• Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority applies to extend grounding of Tiger Airways services in Australia to August 1. (BBC)



• Disasters



• A 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of the New Zealand's Kermadec Islands resulting in a tidal surge. (TV New Zealand)



• At least 36 people are trapped underground in a coal mine in China's Shandong Province after a fire breaks out. (AFP via Straits Times)



• At least thirty people are feared dead after a collision between a passenger train and a bus in Uttar Pradesh, India. (The Times of India)



• International relations



• South Korea starts work on a new facility to rehouse refugees from North Korea to avoid both food shortages and political oppression. (Yonhap News)



• Law and crime



• Australia bans eight types of synthetic cannabis from tomorrow. (News Limited)



• A man holds thirty children and teachers hostage in a kindergarten in the city of Muar in Malaysia's Johor state with some reports of hostages having died. (AP via Houston Chronicle), (New Straits Times)



• Politics



• A general strike continues in Bangladesh over a proposed change to the electoral system. (CNN)



• The People's Republic of China dismisses reports of the death of former President Jiang Zemin as "pure rumour". (AFP via Yahoo! News)



• Noteworthy



• Bahamas become fourth country to ban shark fishing



• Jamaican Olympian and coach Pablo McNeil dies aged 71





• Today in Judaism





• Today in Jewish History





• Ezekiel's Vision of the "Chariot" (429 BCE)



• On the 5th of Tammuz of the year 3332 from creation (429 BCE), Ezekiel, the only one of the Prophets to prophesy outside of the Holy Land, beheld a vision of the Divine "Chariot" representing the spiritual infrastructure of creation.





• Daily Quote





• Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it



- Psalms 34:15







• Daily Study



• Chitas and Rambam for today:



• Chumash: Balak, 5th Portion Numbers 23:13-23:26 with Rashi

• Tehillim: Chapters 29 - 34



• Tanya: Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, middle of Chapter 10

• Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Rotseah uShmirat Nefesh Chapter Five

• 3 Chapters: MaAchalot Assurot Chapter 17, Shechitah Chapter 1, Shechitah Chapter 2



• Hayom Yom:



• "Today's Day"



• One of the Alter Rebbe's great and very close chassidim had yechidus, in the course of which the Rebbe inquired after his situation. The chassid complained bitterly that his financial situation had utterly deteriorated. The Rebbe responded: You are needed to illuminate your environment with Torah and avoda of the heart - (davening). Livelihood and what you need - that, G-d must provide for you. You do what you must, and G-d will do what He must.



• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)



• Negative Commandment 193



• Vegetables or Grains Grown in a Vineyard



• "Lest the seed that increase become forbidden"—Deuteronomy 22:9.



• If vegetables or grains grew in a vineyard, it is forbidden to consume both the grapes as well as the vegetables or grain.

• This biblical prohibition only applies in the land of Israel.



• Negative Commandment 153



• Untithed Produce



• "And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that which they offer to G‑d"—Leviticus 22:15.



• It is forbidden to partake of produce before all the requisite tithes – those that belong to the kohen, Levite, the poor, and the tithe that is separated and eaten on Jerusalem – are separated.



• Negative Commandment 194



• Idolatrous Libations



• "Who eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drink the wine of their libations"—Deuteronomy 32:38.



• It is forbidden to drink wine that was used as a libation for an idol.



• Positive Commandment 146



• Slaughtering



• "And you shall slaughter of your cattle and of your sheep...as I have commanded you"—Deuteronomy 12:21.



• We are commanded to ritually slaughter [animals and fowl] if wishing to eat from their flesh. Only through slaughter is flesh rendered fit for consumption.



• THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH



• Genesis Chapter 1

• בְּרֵאשִׁית



• Yom Ha´shee´shee ....Sixth day



• כד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה לְמִינָהּ, בְּהֵמָה וָרֶמֶשׂ וְחַיְתוֹ-אֶרֶץ, לְמִינָהּ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 24

• And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.' And it was so.

• כה וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ לְמִינָהּ, וְאֶת-הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ, וְאֵת כָּל-רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה, לְמִינֵהוּ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 25

• And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

• כו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ; וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 26

• And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'