NEWS AND MIDRASH

Today is: Yom Khameeshee, Av 4, 5771 • 8 4, 2011

.

Current events of 4 August 2011 (2011-08-04) (Thursday) edit history watch

.

Armed conflict and attacks

.

A senior intelligence officer in Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security is killed in a bombing in Kunduz Province. (CNN)

.

Disasters

.

Tropical Storm Emily is expected to make landfall on Haiti where it is expected to cause heavy flooding. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

.

The Japanese government led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan announces that it is firing three senior bureaucrats responsible for nuclear energy policy as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster earlier this year. (AP via Washington Post)

.

International relations

.

Sky News reports new evidence that North Korean officials have been involved in the illegal drugs trade. (SKy News)



.

Daily Quote

.

“And I will lead on slowly . . . until I come to my lord to Seir” (Genesis 33:14). Said Rabbi Abbahu: We have searched the entire Scriptures and did not find that Jacob ever went to Esau to the mountain of Seir. Is it possible that Jacob, the truthful, should deceive him? But when would he come to him? In the Messianic Era, when “the saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau.”

.

- Midrash Rabbah

.

Daily Study

.

Chitas and Rambam for today:



Chumash: Devarim, 5th Portion Deuteronomy 2:2-2:30 with Rashi

•

Tehillim: Chapters 23 - 28

.

Tanya: Igeret HaTeshuva , middle of Chapter 11

.

Rambam:

.

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

.

• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Twenty

.

• 3 Chapters: Terumot Chapter 7, Terumot Chapter 8, Terumot Chapter 9

.

Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

.

ThursdayMenachem Av 45703

Torah lessons:Chumash: Devarim, Chamishi with Rashi.

Tehillim: 23-28.

Tanya: The praise and blessing (p. 381) ...granted forthwith. (p. 383).





No matter how much effort is exerted, no-one can earn one cent more than G-d has ordained that he - this particular person - shall earn. One must do what is necessary, but one must remember that all his work is but an adjunct. The main thing is G-d's blessing, and that blessing is earned by being observant of G-d's commands: Davening with a minyan, observing Shabbat b'hidur (beyond the minimum, with "beauty"), meticulous observance of kashrut, having children instructed by sincerely religious teachers.1

FOOTNOTES

1. The Rebbe means simply and without equivocation, teachers who are personally observant. He was horrified and deeply grieved by "teachers" of Torah who do not keep Torah and the destructive effects they have on their pupils.

.

Today's Mitzvah

.

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

.

Negative Commandment 133

.

A Non-Priest Eating the Priestly Tithe

.

"No non-priest shall eat of the holy [food]"—Leviticus 22:10.

.

An individual who is not a priest may not eat Terumah (the priestly tithe), nor any of the other holy foods whose consumption is restricted to priests [and certain of their family members and non-Jewish indentured workers].

.

This precept also includes the prohibition against deriving benefit from any object that belongs to the "holy" [i.e. sacrifices or items belonging to the Temple coffers].

.

Negative Commandment 134

.

A Priest's Servants Consuming of the Priestly Tithe

.

"A tenant of the priest or a hired servant may not eat the holy [food]"—Leviticus 22:10.

.

The tenant [i.e. a Hebrew servant indentured until the Jubilee year] of a priest, as well as the priest's hired servant [i.e. a Hebrew servant serving for a six-year term] may not eat Terumah (the priestly tithe).

.

THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH

.

Genesis Chapter 1

בְּרֵאשִׁית

.

Yom Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day

.

כ וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים--יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה; וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל-הָאָרֶץ, עַל-פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם. 20

And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.'

כא וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים; וְאֵת כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם, וְאֵת כָּל-עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ, וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. 21

And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

כב וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, לֵאמֹר: פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים, וְהָעוֹף, יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ. 22 And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.'

כג וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי. {פ} 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. {P}