NEWS & JUDAISM

Today is: , Yom Kha'mee'shee Av 25, 5771 •8 25, 2011


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Topics in the news

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The charges of sexual assault against former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn (pictured) are dismissed.

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In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels capture Muammar Gaddafi's compound, Bab al-Azizia.

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A 5.8-magnitude intraplate earthquake, the strongest in the eastern United States since 1944, occurs in Virginia.

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Jack Layton, Canadian Leader of the Opposition, dies of cancer at the age of 61.

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

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Current events

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Politics

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Former Iranian Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi was hospitalized after a heart attack. (Balatarin)

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Apple executive Steve Jobs resigns

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UK electoral commission asked to investigate News International payoffs

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Japan nuclear disaster: areas to remain off-limits for decades





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Daily Quote

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Our sages have said, "Sleep is one sixtieth of death" (Talmud, Berachot 57b). If sleep is a form of death, then death is a form of sleep -- but a temporary withdrawal of vitality for the sake of reawakening to a higher quality of life

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- The Lubavitcher Rebbe

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Daily Study

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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 21

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Respecting the Temple

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"And revere My sanctuary"—Leviticus 19:30.

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We are commanded to greatly revere the Temple. It is not the physical structure that we revere, but the One who commanded us to build [and who dwells in] it.

Included in this mitzvah are the following laws:

It is forbidden to enter the Temple Mount while wearing shoes, or clad in an undershirt.

It is forbidden to enter the Temple Mount with one's walking stick or with dusty feet.

It is forbidden to spit on the Temple Mount.

It is forbidden to use the Temple Mount as a shortcut.

Only monarchs of the Davidic Dynasty are permitted to sit in the Temple Courtyard.

This mitzvah applies at all times, even today when – due to our many sins – the Temple has been destroyed. [We still must respect and revere the Temple Mount.]

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Chitas and Rambam for today:

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Chumash: Re'eh, 5th Portion Deuteronomy 14:22-14:29 with Rashi

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Tehillim: Chapter 119, Verses 1-96

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Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 7

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Rambam:

• Sefer Hamitzvos:

• 1 Chapter: Zechiyah uMattanah Chapter Eleven

• 3 Chapters: Beis Habechirah Chapter 5, Beis Habechirah Chapter 6, Beis Habechirah Chapter 7

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Hayom Yom: "Today's Day"

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My father writes in a letter: "I heard in the name of our holy fathers the Rebbe'im, that also1 when a daughter is born we are to say the words "to Torah," (May her parents bring her up to Torah, to marriage and to good deeds. p. 186). This is based on the statement by our Sages (Berachot 17a), "How do women earn merit?2 By seeing to it that their children go to study Torah, that their husbands go to the Study Hall and by awaiting (their husbands' return, etc.").

FOOTNOTES

1. I.e. not only at the birth of a boy.

2. I.e. how do they share in the merit of the mitzva of Torah-study?

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THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH

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Genesis Chapter 1

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}

Libyan People and American People are Friends United in Many ways

What am I talking about? Americans are freedom loving people. First let me congragulate the people of Libya! May you have much success! The ordinary people of America support you! We too have problems with a ruling class that stubbornly clings to power and plays a game of pretending that we have a true democracy here. We do not. We have many freedoms but representative Democracy creates a different kind of aristocarcy. Even so, America is a wonderful place. Just please don't make the same mistake as we! We are currently still functioning under a system created in the 18th century, which basically protects the interst o f the wealthy. AVOID THIS TYPE OF DEMOCRACY! In the age of the internet, why should each man and woman be able to actively participate in a all inclusive system of self presentation? If world history proves anything, it is that men, classes and institutions do not like to give up  power once they have it. The answer to that problem is simple: re-invent democracy. Let the people, not the business elite, not the milatary, not the Clergy and religious leaders, but THE PEOPLE truly rule! Keep power unto yourselves! Hold votes on Everything! If at all possible DO NOT submit to a tyranny of the Clergy! One of the wisest thing America did was to AVOID COMBINING RELIGION AND GOVERMENT! No Nation has succeeded in doing that with out creating oppression! Finally, TRY THE COLONEL FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE PEOPLE WHEN HE IS DEFEATED!! HE WILL BE DEFEATED! Good fortune!