NEWS AND MIDRASH

Today is: Yom Ha´shee´shee, Av 5, 5771 • 8 5, 2011

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Topics in the news

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After months of negotiations, the United States Congress raises the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid a projected default.

Researchers announce the discovery of the largest known fungal fruit body, which exceeds 10 metres (33 feet) in length.

Government forces crack down on protesters in Hama, a center of the Syrian uprising, killing more than 100 people.

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A series of attacks, believed to be by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, occurs in China's Xinjiang region, two weeks after similar attacks.

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Horn of Africa famine

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Current events

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Armed conflict and attacks

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2011 Syrian uprising: Turkey confirms it has seized an Iranian arms shipment to Syria. (Today's Zaman)

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2011 Libyan civil war: Rebels claim that a NATO airstrike has killed Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son Khamis but this is later denied. (Al Jazeera), (MSNBC), (Reuters)

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Meng Jianzhu, the Minister for Public Security in the People's Republic of China, orders a clampdown in Xinjiang following recent unrest. (AP via Washington Post)

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Burmese state media say rebels in the northeast of the country killed seven workers from a Chinese-backed hyrdoelectric power project. (Straits Times)

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Business and economy

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Stock markets in Asia and Australia continue falls from Europe and the United States. (SBS), (BBC)

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Disasters and accidents

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A bus in Ivory Coast plunges into the capital Abidjan's lagoon, killing 12 people. (Reuters)

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Typhoon Muifa:

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Typhoon Muifa approaches the Japanese island of Okinawa causing localised flooding, cancellation of flights to and from Naha International Airport and 30,000 homes to lose power. (Stars and Stripes)

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The People's Republic of China warns residents of Zhejiang province and Shanghai to prepare for the arrival of Typhoon Muifa tomorrow or Sunday, which is expected to be one of the most powerful storms to hit China in recent years. (China Daily)

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International relations

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UNICEF calls on Australia not to send 18 asylum seekers who are allegedly unaccompanied minors to Malaysia as part of a people swap. (AFP via Google News), (AAP via SBS News)

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Politics

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Philippine President Benigno Aquino III meets with rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo. (Philippine Inquirer) (Radio Australia)

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Yingluck Shinawatra is officially elected as the Prime Minister of Thailand by the parliament. (Reuters)

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Today in Jewish History

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• Passing of "Ari" (1572)

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Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, known as Ari HaKadosh ("The Holy Lion") passed away on the 5th of Av of the year 5332 from creation (1572 CE). Born in Jerusalem in 1534, he spent many years in secluded study near Cairo, Egypt. In 1570 he settled in Sefad, where he lived for two years until his passing at age 38. During that brief period, the Ari revolutionized the study of Kabbalah, and came to be universally regarded as one of the most important figures in Jewish mysticism. It was he who proclaimed, "In these times, we are allowed and duty-bound to reveal this wisdom," opening the door to the integration of the teachings of Kabbalah--until then the province of a select few in each generation--into "mainstream" Judaism.

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Daily Quote

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Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place

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- Ethics of the Fathers 2:4

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Daily Study

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Chitas and Rambam for today:

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Chumash: Devarim, 6th Portion Deuteronomy 2:31-3:14 with Rashi

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Tehillim: Chapters 29 - 34

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Tanya: Igeret HaTeshuva , end of Chapter 11

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Rambam:

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Sefer Hamitzvos:

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• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Twenty One

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3 Chapters: Terumot Chapter 10, Terumot Chapter 11, Terumot Chapter 12

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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

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Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.1

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The Baal Shem Tov commented: Every physical object whose use is permissible possesses good and evil elements.* The material element is evil, and the G-dly life-force that gives life to the physical is good. The person utilizing the physical object must "turn from evil" - not desire the physical pleasure which is in its materiality, and "do good," i.e. he should desire to be nourished and supported by the G-dly vitality in that object. "Seek peace and pursue it": Whoever fulfills "turn from evil and do good" must seek and pursue means for making peace2 between the physical and the G-dly life-force that vitalizes it.

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FOOTNOTES

1. Tehillim 34:15.

*. See Supplementary Footnotes, (p. 128 in the printed version).

2. I.e. bringing harmony.

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Today's Mitzvah

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Negative Commandment 135

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An Uncircumcised Individual Eating of the Priestly Tithe

An uncircumcised male may not eat Terumah (the priestly tithe), as well as all other holy foods which he is precluded from eating.

Though there is no explicit verse stating this prohibition, our Sages extrapolated this precept from the verses, and asserted that this is counted as one of the 613 mitzvot.

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The rabbis added to this prohibition, forbidding a circumcised individual who extended his foreskin so that it appears that he is uncircumcised from partaking of any of these holy foods.

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Negative Commandment 136

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A Ritually Impure Priest Eating of the Priestly Tithe

"Any man of the seed of Aaron who is afflicted with tzaraat or is a zav shall not eat of the holy [food] until he is pure"—Leviticus 22:4.

A ritually impure priest is forbidden to consume Terumah (the priestly tithe).

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THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH

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Genesis Chapter 1

בְּרֵאשִׁית

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Yom Ha´shee´shee ....Sixth day

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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.'

כז וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם. 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

כח וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָאָרֶץ. 28

And God blessed them; and God said unto them: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.'

כט וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה. 29

And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall be for food;

ל וּלְכָל-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וּלְכָל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְכֹל רוֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, אֶת-כָּל-יֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב, לְאָכְלָה; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 30

and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food.' And it was so.

לא וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, וְהִנֵּה-טוֹב מְאֹד; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. {פ} 31 And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.