•Today is: Yom Shaynee, Iyar 5, 5771 • 5 9, 2011
Six more days to Shabbat! Rejoice in the great things Yah did this day! Prepare!
Topics in the news
• In the Singaporean general election, the People's Action Party (leader Lee Hsien Loong pictured) is returned to power, while the opposition wins its first Group Representation Constituency.
• Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao retains his WBO Welterweight championship after defeating Shane Mosley.
• Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros dies after a three-year battle with cancer.
• Voters in the United Kingdom reject the alternative vote system for future parliamentary elections.
• Established same-sex couples in Brazil are awarded the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples.
• Intel announces the release of the 22-nm Ivy Bridge chip, marking the first commercial deployment of tri-gate transistors.
• Experimental data gathered by the Gravity Probe B satellite supports two aspects of the general theory of relativity.
• Current events of 5 9 2011 (2011-05-09)
• Celebrities
• A Twitter user tries to unmask some celebrities who have obtained super-injunctions to prevent publication of details of their private lives. (BBC) (Twitter)
• Armed conflicts and attacks
• Heavy shooting is heard in a western suburb of Damascus as the Syrian Army moves in. (BBC)
• Business and economy
• Chubu Electric Power considers a call by the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan to close down the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant due to its vulnerability in a large earthquake. (Reuters)
• Values in the United States housing market decline by 1.1% for March and 3% in the March quarter, the heaviest fall since late 2008, with values falling for 57 months in a row since the United States housing bubble burst in 2007. (Wall Street Journal)
• China's yuan reaches a record level against the United States dollar. (Market Watch)
• Qantas flights face disruptions as 1600 aircraft maintenance engineers announce plans to go on strike. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Disasters
• More than 20 quarry workers have been buried following a landslide in Luojiang near the Chinese resort city of Guilin. via Washington Post)
• International relations
• The Mainichi Shimbun reports that Japan and the United States are planning to build a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Mongolia. (Reuters)
• The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani will address the nation and is expected to warn the United States that it will defend its air space from incursions following the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. (The Telegraph)
• Law and crime
• Indonesia drops some of the key terrorism charges against radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir meaning that it is unlikely that he will receive the death penalty. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• Science
• Samoa announces plans to shift west of the international dateline from the east and a day ahead to make trading with Australia and New Zealand easier. (AP via MSNBC)
• ********
• Today in Judaism
• • Omer: Day 20 - Yesod sheb'Tifferet
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Preparation for Shavuot Begins
• "The Sages of old instituted, yet in the times of the Holy Temple, that thirty days before the onset of a holiday the teachers should begin publicly instructing the masses regarding the laws of the holiday; e.g. from Purim and onwards to teach the laws of Passover, and from the 5th of Iyar and onwards to teach the laws of Shavuot" (Shulchan Aruch Harav 429:1).
• Count "Twenty-One Days to the Omer" Tonight
• Tomorrow is the twenty-first day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is twenty-one days, which are three weeks, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
• The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
• Tonight's Sefirah: Malchut sheb'Tifferet -- "Receptiveness in Harmony"
• The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot."
• Today in Jewish History
• State of Israel Proclaimed (1948)
• The British mandate to govern the Holy Land expired on Friday, 5 14, 1948. A United Nations resolution passed six months earlier endorsed the establishment of a Jewish state in the biblical homeland of the Jewish people. That afternoon, the state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. The date -- Iyar 5 on the Jewish calendar -- is celebrated in Israel as the Israeli "Independence Day."
• Daily Quote
• I will bring you out from under the hardship of Egypt, and I will save you from their bondage; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you a G-d
- The "Four Expressions of Redemption", Exodus 6:6-7
• Daily Study
• Chitas and Rambam for today:
• Chumash: Behar, 2nd Portion Leviticus 25:14-25:18 with Rashi
• Tehillim: Chapters 29 - 34
• Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 46
• Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Mikvot Chap. 6
• 3 Chapters: Shabbos Chapter Twelve, Shabbos Chapter Thirteen, Shabbos Chapter Fourteen
• Hayom Yom:
• ************
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
• Iyar 5, 5771 • 5 9, 2011Today's Mitzvah
• A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
• Negative Commandment 322
• Administering the Death Penalty on Shabbat
• "You shall not kindle fire throughout your settlements on the Shabbat day"—Exodus 35:3.
• It is forbidden for the courts to administer punishments on Shabbat. The Sages interpreted the above verse as an injunction against executing a criminal via burning (one of the four methods of capital punishment employed by the courts) on Shabbat—and the same rule applies to all other forms of capital punishment. From this verse the Sages also extrapolated the prohibition against holding any court proceedings on Shabbat.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
ְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shaynee ............Second day
ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם. 6
And 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}
Six more days to Shabbat! Rejoice in the great things Yah did this day! Prepare!
Topics in the news
• In the Singaporean general election, the People's Action Party (leader Lee Hsien Loong pictured) is returned to power, while the opposition wins its first Group Representation Constituency.
• Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao retains his WBO Welterweight championship after defeating Shane Mosley.
• Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros dies after a three-year battle with cancer.
• Voters in the United Kingdom reject the alternative vote system for future parliamentary elections.
• Established same-sex couples in Brazil are awarded the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples.
• Intel announces the release of the 22-nm Ivy Bridge chip, marking the first commercial deployment of tri-gate transistors.
• Experimental data gathered by the Gravity Probe B satellite supports two aspects of the general theory of relativity.
• Current events of 5 9 2011 (2011-05-09)
• Celebrities
• A Twitter user tries to unmask some celebrities who have obtained super-injunctions to prevent publication of details of their private lives. (BBC) (Twitter)
• Armed conflicts and attacks
• Heavy shooting is heard in a western suburb of Damascus as the Syrian Army moves in. (BBC)
• Business and economy
• Chubu Electric Power considers a call by the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan to close down the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant due to its vulnerability in a large earthquake. (Reuters)
• Values in the United States housing market decline by 1.1% for March and 3% in the March quarter, the heaviest fall since late 2008, with values falling for 57 months in a row since the United States housing bubble burst in 2007. (Wall Street Journal)
• China's yuan reaches a record level against the United States dollar. (Market Watch)
• Qantas flights face disruptions as 1600 aircraft maintenance engineers announce plans to go on strike. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Disasters
• More than 20 quarry workers have been buried following a landslide in Luojiang near the Chinese resort city of Guilin. via Washington Post)
• International relations
• The Mainichi Shimbun reports that Japan and the United States are planning to build a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Mongolia. (Reuters)
• The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani will address the nation and is expected to warn the United States that it will defend its air space from incursions following the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. (The Telegraph)
• Law and crime
• Indonesia drops some of the key terrorism charges against radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir meaning that it is unlikely that he will receive the death penalty. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• Science
• Samoa announces plans to shift west of the international dateline from the east and a day ahead to make trading with Australia and New Zealand easier. (AP via MSNBC)
• ********
• Today in Judaism
• • Omer: Day 20 - Yesod sheb'Tifferet
• Today's Laws & Customs
• Preparation for Shavuot Begins
• "The Sages of old instituted, yet in the times of the Holy Temple, that thirty days before the onset of a holiday the teachers should begin publicly instructing the masses regarding the laws of the holiday; e.g. from Purim and onwards to teach the laws of Passover, and from the 5th of Iyar and onwards to teach the laws of Shavuot" (Shulchan Aruch Harav 429:1).
• Count "Twenty-One Days to the Omer" Tonight
• Tomorrow is the twenty-first day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is twenty-one days, which are three weeks, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
• The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
• Tonight's Sefirah: Malchut sheb'Tifferet -- "Receptiveness in Harmony"
• The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot."
• Today in Jewish History
• State of Israel Proclaimed (1948)
• The British mandate to govern the Holy Land expired on Friday, 5 14, 1948. A United Nations resolution passed six months earlier endorsed the establishment of a Jewish state in the biblical homeland of the Jewish people. That afternoon, the state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. The date -- Iyar 5 on the Jewish calendar -- is celebrated in Israel as the Israeli "Independence Day."
• Daily Quote
• I will bring you out from under the hardship of Egypt, and I will save you from their bondage; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you a G-d
- The "Four Expressions of Redemption", Exodus 6:6-7
• Daily Study
• Chitas and Rambam for today:
• Chumash: Behar, 2nd Portion Leviticus 25:14-25:18 with Rashi
• Tehillim: Chapters 29 - 34
• Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 46
• Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Mikvot Chap. 6
• 3 Chapters: Shabbos Chapter Twelve, Shabbos Chapter Thirteen, Shabbos Chapter Fourteen
• Hayom Yom:
• ************
• Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
• Iyar 5, 5771 • 5 9, 2011Today's Mitzvah
• A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
• Negative Commandment 322
• Administering the Death Penalty on Shabbat
• "You shall not kindle fire throughout your settlements on the Shabbat day"—Exodus 35:3.
• It is forbidden for the courts to administer punishments on Shabbat. The Sages interpreted the above verse as an injunction against executing a criminal via burning (one of the four methods of capital punishment employed by the courts) on Shabbat—and the same rule applies to all other forms of capital punishment. From this verse the Sages also extrapolated the prohibition against holding any court proceedings on Shabbat.
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
ְּרֵאשִׁית
Yom Shaynee ............Second day
ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם. 6
And 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}
