NEWS AND MIDRASH

Today is: Yom Shaynee, Av 8, 5771 • 8 8, 2011

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Topics in the news

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The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, the longest guided busway in the world, opens in England.

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Standard & Poor's downgrades the credit rating of the United States government to AA+ for the first time.

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Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched (pictured) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured imagery of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.

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Government forces crack down on protesters in Hama, a center of the Syrian uprising, killing more than 200 people.

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Current events

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Armed conflict and attacks

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2011 Syrian uprising

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The Syrian opposition reports that the Army has entered the town of Maarat an-Numan. (Al Jazeera)

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Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, again warns the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad to stop violence against civilians. (Ynet)

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The website of the Syrian Ministry of Defense is taken over by Anonymous. (Huffington Post)

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Kuwait recalls its ambassador to Syria in protest at the violence, a day after Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador. (Daily Star Lebanon)

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Syria rejects a statement by the Gulf Cooperation Council condemning its crackdown on protests. (Syrian Arab News Agency)

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2011 Libyan civil war: Fighting continues on the eastern and western fronts. (Al Jazeera)

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Business and economy

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Stock markets in Asia and Australia fall further after the credit rating of the United States is downgraded. (Market Watch), (AAP via SBS), (Herald Sun), (Bloomberg)

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Rice futures trading on the Tokyo Grain Exchange is suspended following fears that the Japanese crop has been contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (Bloomberg)

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Disasters

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Seven people are killed in a landslide in Malaysia's Cameron Highlands. (Straits Times)

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More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from China's Shandong Province as former Typhoon Muifa travels along the eastern coast as a tropical storm. (Xinhua)

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Law and crime

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The High Court of Australia grants an injunction against the removal of asylum seekers to Malaysia until a full hearing later this month. (ABC News)

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More than 100 people are arrested in London, England following another night of civil disorder after Saturday's riot. (Belfast Telegraph)

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Politics and elections

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Mike Rann, the Premier of the Australian state of South Australia, announces that he will be resigning on October 20 to be replaced by Education Minister Jay Weatherill. (Herald Sun)

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Today's Laws & Customs

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• Fast Begins this Evening; Pre-Fast Meal

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The fast of Tishah B'Av begins this evening at sunset.

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Some of the fast's mourning practices--such as refraining from Torah study other than texts related to the events and nature of the fast day--are observed beginning from midday today.

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The final meal before the start of the fast, eaten shortly before sunset, is called seudah hamafseket. Only one cooked food is eaten at this meal, customarily an egg dipped in ashes.

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"Eichah"--the Book of Lamentations--is read tonight in the synagogue after evening prayers.

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See "Laws and Customs" for tomorrow, Av 9, for the particular obervances of the fast day.

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Today in Jewish History

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• Spies Return (1312 BCE)

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The Spies dispatched 40 days earlier by Moses to tour the Promised Land return to Israel's encampment in the desert, bearing a huge cluster of grapes and other lush fruits. But even as they praise the land's fertility, they terrify the people with tales of mighty giant warriors dwelling there and assert that the land is unconquerable.

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• Civil War in Jerusalem (67 CE)

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Fighting breaks out inside the besieged city of Jerusalem between Jewish factions divided on the question of whether or not to fight the Roman armies encircling the city from without. One group sets fire to the city's considerable food stores, consigning its population to starvation until the fall of Jerusalem three years later.

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Daily Quote

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In each and every generation, one must view himself as if he himself was liberated from Egypt

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- Talmud, Pesachim 116b

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Daily Study

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Chitas and Rambam for today:

Chumash: Va'etchanan, 2nd Portion Deuteronomy 4:5-4:40 with Rashi

Tehillim: Chapters 44 - 48

Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 1

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Rambam:

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• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Twenty Four

• 3 Chapters: Maaser Chapter 4, Maaser Chapter 5, Maaser Chapter 6

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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

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The Six Remembrances1 are recited every day, including Shabbat, festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur.

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From my grandfather's aphorisms: What good is Chassidus and piety if the main quality is lacking - ahavat Yisrael, love of another - even to the extent of causing (G-d forbid) anguish to another!

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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 127

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The First Tithe

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"But the tithes of the Children of Israel which they offer to G‑d as a gift..."—Numbers 18:24.

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We are commanded to separate a tenth of our crops and give it to a Levite.

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This biblical precept only applies in the Land of Israel.

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THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH

Genesis Chapter 1

בְּרֵאשִׁית

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Yom Shaynee ............Second day

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CREATION DAY THE HEAVENS EARTH, AND WATERS

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ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם.

6And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'

ז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ, וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ, וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 7

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

ח וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָרָקִיעַ, שָׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שֵׁנִי. {פ} 8

And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. {P}