NEWS & JUDAISM

Today is: Yom Khah´mee´shee.. Fifth day, Av 18, 5771 • 8 18, 2011

.

2 more days to Shabbos

.

Topics in the news

.

Indian social activist Anna Hazare agrees to leave his jail cell after Delhi police allowed a 15-day hunger strike against corruption.

.

Astronomers announce that TrES-2b has the lowest known albedo of any planet, reflecting less than 1% of the starlight falling upon it. (A Blackhole?)

.

Google announces an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion.

.

In golf, Keegan Bradley wins the 2011 PGA Championship.

.

Indian actor Shammi Kapoor dies at the age of 79.

.

Current events

.

Armed conflicts and attacks

.

At least fourteen people die after a minibus hits a roadside bomb in Afganistan's Herat Province. (Voice of America)

.

Turkey launches an air strike on Kurdish positions in northern Iraq. (AP via Google News)

.

Business and economy

.

South Korean banks temporarily stop making household loans to stop the growth of household debt. (Yonhap)

.

Disasters

.

More than 60,000 people are homeless after flooding in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh. (Pakistan)

.

Supplemental

.

Former Governor-General of New Zealand Paul Reeves dies aged 78

.

SETI Institute set to re-open

.

News of the World: New document suggests cover-up

.

Scots report crime using Facebook

.

Daily Quote

.

Whoever has faith in individual Divine Providence knows that "Man's steps are established by G-d" (Psalms 37:23)--that this particular soul must purify and improve something specific in a particular place. For centuries, or even since the world's creation, that which needs purification or improvement waits for this soul to come and purify or improve it. The soul too, has been waiting - ever since it came into being - for its time to descend, so that it can discharge the tasks of purification and improvement assigned to it...

.

- Hayom Yom, Elul 3

.

Daily Study

.

Chitas and Rambam for today:

.

Chumash: Eikev, 5th Portion Deuteronomy 10:12-11:9 with Rashi

.

Tehillim: Chapters 88 - 89

.

Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 5

.

Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Zechiyah uMattanah Chapter Four

.

Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

.

The Mitteler Rebbe quoted the Alter Rebbe: Ahavat yisrael must possess one to the very core of life itself. 1

.

FOOTNOTES

.

1. Ad mitsui hanefesh. The identical phrase is used by the Sages (Sifri, Devarim 6:5) to describe the required degree of loving G-d, "...with all your soul etc...," i.e. up to, and including, readiness to give up one's life

.

Today's Mitzvah

.

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

.

Positive Commandment 80

.

Redeeming Firstborn Sons

.

"Give to Me the firstborn of your sons"—Numbers 22:28.

.

We are commanded to "redeem" male firstborn and to give the redemption money – five sela'im – to the priest.

.

The obligation to redeem the firstborn son lies with the boy's father; the mother is not obligated in this mitzvah.

.

Positive Commandment 81

.

Redeeming Firstborn Donkeys

.

"The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb"—Exodus 34:20.

We are commanded to redeem a firstborn male donkey with a lamb—which is given to the priest. (Unless the owner wishes to give the priest the monetary value of the donkey.)

Levites are exempt from this mitzvah.

.



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.