Today is: , Tammuz 17, 5771 • 7 19, 2011
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Topics in the news
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Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland wins The Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the last in the Harry Potter film series, debuts with a record-breaking opening weekend.
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The FIFA Women's World Cup concludes with Japan defeating the United States to become the first Asian team to win the tournament.
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Dawn, a robotic spacecraft, enters orbit around the asteroid 4 Vesta, four years after being launched.
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Current events of 7 19 2011
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Armed conflicts and attacks
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2011 Syrian uprising: Security forces shoot dead at least 10 people in Homs. (Emirates 24/7) (AP via Google News)
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Forces loyal to Guinean President Alpha Conde repel an attack by unknown assailants on his residence in Conakry. (BBC)
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A leaked United Nations report suggests war crimes may have been committed in South Kordofan in Sudan during a recent conflict. (Al Jazeera)
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Eight Pakistani employees of the United States based American Refugee Committee are kidnapped in southwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. (Reuters)
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Arts and culture
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Pope Benedict XVI appoints Charles J. Chaput, the current Archbishop of Denver, as the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia replacing Cardinal Justin Rigali. (AP via Google News)
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Disasters
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Typhoon Ma-on, the second typhoon of the 2011 Pacific typhoon season, approaches the main Japanese island of Honshu leading to cancellation of air services. (APA) (Japan Times)
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International relations
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ASEAN foreign ministers get together for their annual summit on the island of Bali in Indonesia with concerns over territorial claims on the South China Sea. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
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Politics
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News Corporation Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch will appear before a select committee of the United Kingdom parliament over the News of the World phone hacking affair. (Reuters)
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Voters in the 30th Senate in the US state of Wisconsin go to the polls for the first recall election for Democrat Dave Hansen. (New York Times)
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Science
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Iran says it has installed faster nuclear centrifuges to enrich uranium. (AFP via Google News)
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The Space Shuttle Atlantis undocks from the International Space Station for the final time in the history of the space shuttle program. (NASA)
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Sport
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The Japan women's national football team returns home to be greeted by thousands of fans after winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. (AP via Straits Times)
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Today in Judaism
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Fast of Tammuz 17
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Today's Laws & Customs
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• Fast Day
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Tammuz 17 is a fast day, devoted to mourning the breaching of Jerusalem's walls and the other tragic events that occurred on this day (see "Today in Jewish History") and repenting and rectifying their causes. We refrain from all food and drink from "daybreak" (about an hour before sunrise, depending on location) until nightfall. Special prayers and Torah readings are added to the day's services.
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• "The Three Weeks" Begin
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The 17th of Tammuz also marks the beginning of The Three Weeks period of mourning which culminates on the 9th of Av, commemorating the conquest of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Holy Temple and the dispersion of the Jewish people.
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Weddings and other joyful events are not held during this period; like mourners, we do not cut our hair, and various pleasurable activities are limited or proscribed. (Consult the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch) or a qualified rabbi regarding specific proscriptions).
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The Lubavitcher Rebbe urged that the Three Weeks should be a time of increased giving of charity and Torah study (in keeping with the verse (Isaiah 1:27), "Zion shall be redeemed by law, and her returnees by charity"), particularly the study of those portions of Torah that deal with the laws and the deeper significance of the Holy Temple.
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Today in Jewish History
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• Moses Breaks Tablets (1313 BCE)
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The Talmud (Taanit 28b) lists five tragic events in Jewish history that occurred on Tammuz 17, on account of which a fast was instituted on this day (see Laws & Customs").
The first of these occurred in 1313 BCE, forty days after the Giving of the Torah on Sivan 6. Upon descending Mount Sinai and witnessing Israel's worship of the Golden Calf (see "Today in Jewish History" for yesterday, Tammuz 16), Moses smashed the Tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments which he was carrying down from the mountain.
(for the other four tragedies of Tammuz 17, see below)
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• Temple Service Disrupted (423 BCE)
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The daily sacrificial offerings (Korban Tamid) in the Holy Temple were discontinued, three weeks before the Babylonians' destruction of the First Temple in 423 BCE.
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Jerusalem Walls Breached (69 CE)
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The other three national tragedies mourned on Tammuz 17 are connected with the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and their destruction of the Second Temple in the year 69 CE:
--The walls of the besieged city of Jerusalem were breached.
--The Roman general Apostomus burned the Torah and,
--placed an idol in the Holy Temple.
The fighting in Jerusalem continued for three weeks until the 9th of Av, when the Holy Temple was set aflame.
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Daily Quote
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All the people of Israel are guarantors for each other
- Talmud, Shevu'ot 39a
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Daily Study
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Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Matot, 3rd Portion Numbers 31:13-31:24 with Rashi
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Tehillim: Chapters 83 - 87
Tanya: Igeret HaTeshuva , end of Chapter 3
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Four
• 3 Chapters: Nedarim Chapter 10, Nedarim Chapter 11, Nedarim Chapter 12
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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"
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The difference between the first tablets (of the Ten Commandments) and the second:
In the tablets proper: The first were the "work of G-d"1 but the second, "hew for yourself."2
In the script: According to the sages in Eiruvin 54a, only the first ones had (the spiritual quality described by the words)3 "engraved on the tablets."
In the spiritual standing of the people Israel: When the first were given, they were tzadikim, for as they stood at Mt. Sinai "their defilement came to an end." But at the second tablets they were baalei teshuva, repentants.
In the spiritual standing of Moshe: When the Torah was given, Moshe received one thousand "lights" as a gift; with the sin of the Golden Calf these were taken from him and were not restored with the second tablets (except on Shabbat, as stated in P'ri Eitz Chaim).
The second tablets, however, did have this superior quality: That they were given along with halachot (laws), midrash and aggadot, etc., a "double gift of Torah-wisdom,"4 as explained in Nedarim 22b. Also, at the second, Moshe's face shone with rays of light.
FOOTNOTES
1. Sh'mot 32:17.
2. Ibid. 34:1.
3. Viz. Rashi on Eiruvin 54a: Had the first tablets not been broken, the Torah would have remained forever engraved in Israel's heart, and would never have been forgotten. This immense "spiritual quality" was absent from the second tablets, although they too were engraved in a Divine, miraculous manner. See Likutei Sichot Vol. 14, p. 31 et seq., and footnote 11 ibid.
4. Iyov 11:6 according to Metzudat Tziyon. Midrash Sh'mot Raba, Ch. 46 (beg.). Viz Likutei Sichot Vol. 9, p. 248, and footnotes there.
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Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
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Positive Commandment 95
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The Nullification of Vows
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We are commanded to practice the Torah-mandated procedure in the event that a vow is to be annulled.
(This commandment is somewhat based on the verse [Numbers 30:3] "he shall not profane his word," from which the Sages deduce that the one who enacted the vow may not profane his own word, but others – such as a sage or rabbinical court – may do so. Nevertheless, the Talmud says that the "annulment of vows flies in the air, with no [explicit biblical] support...")
The Torah explicitly tells us that a husband and father can nullify vows, and tradition teaches that a sage, too, has the power to do so.
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THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
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Genesis Chapter 1
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בְּרֵאשִׁית
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Yom Shlee´shee.........Third day
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וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל-מָקוֹם אֶחָד, וְתֵרָאֶה, הַיַּבָּשָׁה; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 9 And God said: 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so.
י וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לַיַּבָּשָׁה אֶרֶץ, וּלְמִקְוֵה הַמַּיִם קָרָא יַמִּים; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 10
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and God saw that it was good.
יא וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, תַּדְשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע, עֵץ פְּרִי עֹשֶׂה פְּרִי לְמִינוֹ, אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ-בוֹ עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 11
And God said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.' And it was so.
יב וַתּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע, לְמִינֵהוּ, וְעֵץ עֹשֶׂה-פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ-בוֹ, לְמִינֵהוּ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 12
And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
ג וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שְׁלִישִׁי. {פ} 13
And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. {P}
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