NEWS AND MIDRASH

Today is: Yom Khahmeeshee, Av 11, 5771 •8 11, 2011

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Topics in the News

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Rioting, initially sparked by a fatal police shooting in London, spreads across parts of England (riot police pictured).

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Manuel Pinto da Costa is elected President of São Tomé and Príncipe.

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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 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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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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At least five people including four police officers are killed after a bomb explodes near a police van in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. (BBC)

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Business and economy

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Stock markets in Asia and Australia fall on the back of a sharp decline in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (MarketWatch), (MarketWatch)

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Disasters

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The City Council in the New Zealand city of Christchurch announces plans to rebuild its central business district after the recent earthquake. (TV New Zealand)

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International relations

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Final approval has been given for the building of 1,600 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem by the Israeli interior ministry. (BBC)

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Law and crime

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Umar Patek, a key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombing, faces trial on terrorism charges in Jakarta after being extradicted from Pakistan to Indonesia. (AP via News Limited)

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Politics and elections

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The Parliament of the United Kingdom comes back from its summer break to debate the 2011 London riots. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

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Daily Quote

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The day before Yom Kippur is for remorse for the past; Yom Kippur is for resolve for the future

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- Hayom Yom, Tishrei 9

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Daily Study

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Chitas and Rambam for today:

Chumash: Va'etchanan, 5th Portion Deuteronomy 5:19-6:3 with Rashi

Tehillim: Chapters 60 - 65

Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, beginning of Epistle 3

Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Mechirah Chapter Twenty Seven

• 3 Chapters: Maaser Chapter 13, Maaser Chapter 14, Maaser Sheini Chapter 1

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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

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The Alter Rebbe went to Mezritch with his brother, R. Yehuda Leib, in 5524 (1764). R. Yehuda Leib went without permission from his wife and therefore turned back. The Rebbe came to Mezritch and stayed there, that first time, until after Pesach 5525 (1765). For two weeks he was uncertain whether to remain there. The first maamar he heard was Nachamu nachamu. It is not clear, though, whether this was the first maamar after his arrival, or the first after the two weeks when he had decided to remain and had become bound (to the Maggid).

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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

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

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

This biblical precept only applies in the Land of Israel.

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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 Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day

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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}