NEWS AND MIDRASH

Today is: Yom Revee'ee, Tammuz 18, 5771 • July 20, 2011


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NEWS

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Armed conflict and attacks

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Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari claims that Revolutionary Guards have shot down an unmanned United States spy plane over the Fordo uranium enrichment facility. (AP via Google)

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Disasters

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Typhoon Ma-on hits Japan early this morning in Tokushima Prefecture with at least 47 people injured and 1 person missing in fifteen prefectures before it is downgraded to a tropical storm. (Kyodo), (PhilStar), (US NO)

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International relations

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A South Korean official accuses North Korea of breaking international sanctions by importing luxury goods for senior officials. (Yonhap)

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Malaysia bans the import of horses from Australia following an outbreak of Hendra virus. (AAP via The West Australian)

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Law and crime

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Australian Federal Police officers are required to fire tear gas to subdue a riot by asylum seekers at the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre. (Herald-Sun)

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Serbia arrests Goran Hadžić, a Croatian Serb wartime leader, indicted for alleged crimes against humanity during the Croatian War of Independence. (Reuters via ABC Online)

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Politics

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News International phone hacking scandal

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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron will face questions in parliament over his decision to hire Andy Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World at the time of the phone hacking affair. (Reuters)

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A report by the Home Affairs Select Committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons accuses the Metropolitan Police of a "catalogue of errors" in relation to the affair. (BBC)

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In Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says that News Limited – the Australian arm of News Corporation – will face "hard questions" in the wake of the phone hacking scandal. (BBC)

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Sport

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Chinese basketball player Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets National Basketball Association team announces his retirement in Shanghai. (AP via USA Today)

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Today in Jewish History

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70 CE – First Jewish-Roman War: Siege of Jerusalem – Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.

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• Golden Calf Destroyed (1313 BCE)

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Moses destroyed the Golden Calf, and re-ascended Mount Sinai to plead G-d's forgiveness for the Jewish people. (Exodus 32:20; Talmud Taanit 30b. See "Today in Jewish History" for Tammuz 16 and Tammuz 17)

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Daily Quote

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One thing I ask of G-d, only this do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of G-d all the days of my life, to gaze upon the pleasantness of G-d and to visit His Temple

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- King David (in Psalms 27, recited during the month of Elul)

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Daily Study

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Chitas and Rambam for today:

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Chumash: Matot, 4th Portion Numbers 31:25-31:41 with Rashi

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Tehillim: Chapters 88 - 89

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Tanya: Igeret HaTeshuva , beginning of Chapter 4

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Rambam:

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• Sefer Hamitzvos:

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• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Five

• 3 Chapters: Nedarim Chapter 13, Nezirut Chapter 1, Nezirut Chapter 2

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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

Tamuz 18 5703

Torah lessons: Chumash: Pinchas, Revi'i with Rashi.

Tehillim: 88-89.

Tanya: Ch. 4. However, (p. 355) ...days and years! (p. 355).

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The Alter Rebbe said of R. Moshe Vilenker:1 "Moshe has mochin d'gadlut, magnitude of intellect2 and in his ten years of toil3, he has attained through his labors a powerful, capacious, wide-ranging intellectuality - (mochin rechavim)."4

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For three years R. Moshe Vilenker prepared himself for yechidus with the Alter Rebbe. Afterwards he remained in Lyozna for seven years to translate the yechidus into actual avoda.

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FOOTNOTES

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1. A giant among the early chassidim.

2. A mind capable of integrating even opposing concepts.

3. "Toil" and "labor," refer to enormous efforts in inner spiritual self-improvement.

4. The term mochin rechavim, lit. "broad intellect," defies translation. It does not refer to Reb Moshe's broad spectrum of knowledge or to "broadmindedness"; rather, it describes the nature (intense, powerful), absorptive ability (capacious), and breadth (wide-ranging) of his intellectuality - his faculty of intelligence.

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Today's Mitzvah

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

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Positive Commandment 95

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The Nullification of Vows

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...")

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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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Positive Commandment 92

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The Nazirite's Hair

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"He shall let the locks of hair on his head grow"—Numbers 6:5.

A nazirite is commanded to allow the hair on his head to grow unimpeded.

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Negative Commandment 209

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Shaving a Nazirite

"A razor shall not go over his head"—Numbers 6:5.

A nazirite must not shave – even one hair off – his head with a razor. This prohibition also precludes another from shaving the nazirite's head.

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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}