INTERNATIONAL GRASSROOTS GAZETTE YISRA'EL
Adar II 22, 5771 • 3 28, 2011
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
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}
*Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides'
classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
*Negative Commandment 46
• Settling in Egypt
1. "You shall never again return that way"-Deuteronomy 17:16.
2. We are forbidden from dwelling in the land of Egypt, so that we do not learn their heretical ways nor their depraved lifestyle that the Torah decries. Alexandria, too, is part of the boundaries of Egypt that we may not live in. From the Sea of Alexandria we measure 400 parsah [a parsah is approximately four kilometers] to the length and breadth-and that is the boundary of the Land of Egypt that we may not dwell in.
3. The prohibition only applies to settling in Egypt. It is, however, permitted to travel to Egypt for business purposes, or to annex [parts of it to Israel].
•
*Positive Commandment 190
• Proposing Peace before Waging War
•
1. "They shall be your subjects and shall serve you"-Deuteronomy 20:11.
2. When embarking upon an "optional war" [for the sake of expanding the borders of Israel, as opposed to the "mitzvah wars" waged against Amalek and the Seven Canaanite Nations], we are commanded to first offer the opponent a peace settlement. If the opponent accepts the terms of the peace proposal - i.e., the nation accepts upon itself Jewish sovereignty and agrees to pay an annual tax to the Jewish monarch - then we do not wage battle against them.
3. If they do not accept the terms of the peace proposal, then we go to battle and kill the male population, and the women and property are taken as spoils.
4. [With regards to "mitzvah wars," we also first offer a peace proposal, but in the event that the enemy doesn't accept the terms, then the entire population - male and female - are not allowed to live.]
*Negative Commandment 56
1. Offering Peace to Amon or Moab
2. "You must not seek their peace or prosperity"-Deuteronomy 23:7.
3. Normally, when embarking upon a battle, we are commanded to first offer the enemy terms for a peace proposal (see Positive Commandment 190). Not so with the nations of Amon and Moab, whom we may not offer a peace proposal. [Though if they, of their own volition, offer to make peace, we do accept their proposal-provided it meets the conditions outlined in the positive commandment referenced above.]
*Negative Commandment 57
• Wanton Destruction
1. "You shall not destroy its trees"-Deuteronomy 20:19.
2. In the course of battle, while besieging an enemy city, it is forbidden to cut down fruit-bearing trees in order to cause distress and pain to the city's inhabitants.
3. Included in this mitzvah is the prohibition against any wanton destruction; for example, cutting down a fruit-bearing tree [even not in time of battle], or needlessly burning a garment or breaking a utensil.
*Positive Commandment 192
• Hygiene in the Army Camp
1. "You shall have a designated place outside the camp"-Deuteronomy 23:13.
2. When going out to war, we are commanded to designate a place outside the army encampment where the soldiers can relieve themselves; so that they do not relieve themselves wherever they wish or between the tents, as is the practice amongst the nations.
*Positive Commandment 193
• Hygiene Equipment for Soldiers
1. "And you shall have a spade among your weapons"-Deuteronomy 23:14.
2. Together with all the other weaponry each soldier carries around, he should also be equipped with a spade, so that when he needs to relieve himself he can dig a small hole, relieve himself there, and then cover up his defecation-so that there remains no exposed excrement on the grounds of the battle camp.
*Today in Judaism
Today is: Yom , Adar II 22, 5771
• 3 28, 2011
*Today in Jewish History
• Earthquake Saves Roman Jews from Forced Conversion (1430)
1. The church and the government of Rome set Wednesday, March 6, 1430, as the day when all the Jews of Rome must convert or face death. On that day a great earthquake shook Rome and many of the archbishops and priests who conceived the decree were killed. Following the earthquake, Pope Martin V annulled the decree.
*Daily Quote
2. All is foreseen, and freedom of choice is granted
- Ethics of the Fathers 3:15
*Daily Study
3. Chitas and Rambam for today:
4. Chumash: Tazria, 2nd Portion Leviticus 13:6-13:17 with Rashi
5. Tehillim: Chapters 106 - 107
6. Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 38
7. Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Tum'at Okhalin Chap. 8
• 3 Chapters: Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 7, Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 8, Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 9
Ha Yom:
Topics in the news
Geraldine Ferraro (pictured), the first female major party vice presidential candidate in the United States, dies at the age of 75.
Approximately 250,000 people march through London to protest against government spending cuts.
Archaeologists in Texas find evidence suggesting that human settlement may have occurred in the Americas 2,500 years earlier than previously thought.
In Canada, a federal election is scheduled after the Conservative minority government loses a vote of non-confidence.
Security forces open fire on protesters in Syria, killing at least 20 people.
Earthquake in Japan • Middle East and North Africa protests
•
*Current events of 3 28 2011
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
1. Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard of the Canadian Forces Air Command is named to lead enforcement of the Libya no fly zone. (Globe and Mail)(National Post)(Defense News)
2. Opposition forces in the 2011 Libyan uprising attack Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirt with disputed claims that they have captured it. (Al-Jazeera), (Jerusalem Post)
3. A car bomb attack on a construction company in Afghanistan's Paktika Province kills at least 13 people and injures another fifty. (The Australian)
•
• Disasters
•
1. Radioactive seawater from the accidents travels further from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Law and crime
• The trial of Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi on corruption charges commences. (BBC)
•
• Politics
•
• Barry O'Farrell is sworn as the Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales following Saturday's state election. (News Limited)
•
• Sport
•
2. The captain of the Australia national rugby league team Darren Lockyer announces his retirement as at the end of the 2011 NRL season. (Melbourne Herald-Sun), (Brisbane Times)
3. The opening date of the Nippon Professional Baseball season is deferred due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Los Angeles Times via Seattle Times)
News articles
1. Battle for Trafalgar Square, London as violence breaks out between demonstrators and riot police
2. British police charge taxi driver with murder
3. Thousands gather in London to protest against government cuts
4. Nottingham Express Transit extensions get Government approval
EDITORIAL
Ok, someone help me figure this out. Without water, you die right? Read Torah and you will see that water is so precious that it is treated as symbolic of the sacred. So why waste it? Does Torah teach us to conserve the Earth and it’s resources? Of course. In the Southwest US water is an expensive, precious commodity, correct? In fact, it’s true around the world, right? Imagine that you are in the middle of the southwest desert. You want to urinate. Do you as a sane person take five gallons of drinking water, contaminate it with urine, then pour it into a sewage ditch? No! You’d urinate into the soil, right? But we waste water in that fashion several times a day in our homes.
Why?
Stupidity and childishness. How much sense does it make to take potable, drinkable water and use it as a way of disposing animal waste, including human and pet waste?
First we need to stop thinking of it as waste. Properly viewed, it is a product of our bodies that can enhance the earth.
There is no waste in Yah’s universe if we respect his creation.
Urine, diluted, becomes a potent source of phosphates and nitrogen that helps plants to grow. Properly used, it is absorbed by the Earth and does not produce a strong methane odor. Processed to produce methane, it can be used as a cheap source of energy, which produces no odor, and reduces our need for petrochemicals. But is used as a liquid fertilizer, it produces lush, healthy plants and beautiful gardens, minus any odor. Those plants in turn make the environment beautiful and absorb carbon dioxides from the air and produce oxygen, thus reducing air pollution and enriching the air.
What about solid waste, or feces, or dare I say it? Shit? Burning it simply solves nothing and pollutes the air. The last time that I checked, in various parts of America soil erosion has become a very serious problem. Properly composted animal waste becomes an enriching, organic sustainable addition to the earth that restores the soil.
Yah create man to be a steward of the Earth, and even his bodily waste was meant to enrich and replenish the garden. Think of it like this. You are out in the woods, and you gotta go, right? Do you dig a hole, do your thing and bury it, or do you squat in the stream from which you might need yo get water? You dig a hole! If at this moment, if you have read this far, you are going Ewwwww, I say GROW UP! Childish, traditional squeamishness about this matter of waste disposal is ruining our environment.
Why waste precious water? Why is there a problem of this nature? Silly squeamishness. We have been taught this insane way of disposing or our wastes by foolish, misguided city planners who do not really think in terms of water conservation, and pollution avoidance. They don’t think in terms of water as a finite, precious resource. They think of human waste as a noxious bio-hazardous substance instead of a natural human bi-product that can and should be turned into humanure that can be healthily, sustainably reclaimed by the Earth.
In many other cultures the use of manure, including humanure and urine as part of ecologically balanced soil restoration is viewed as wise. Properly used, such disposal produces no odors. We invest a fortune, and waste a valuable, precious life sustaining commodity to dispose of something in a method which pollutes more water, when it could easily be turned to good use by resorting to composting toilets. Instead of wasting gallons of water to disposes of a few ounces of urine or fecal matter, why not compost it, and use that water for sustaining life?
And by the way, why not cleanse our bodies, clothing, dishes and homes with bio degradable, eco friendly cleansers and use the waste water to irrigate the land instead of treating it as sewage? You do not need a government program to do this. If you live in a house, check with your municipality or county about the use of composting toilets and begin to use one, or contact me and for a modest fee I will e-mail a report about water regulations in your community along with suggestions about the right equipment to use. Start using the right cleansers and water your lawn and garden with “Gray” water. By the way, do you know that you can healthily cleanse your body with nothing other than hot water? Why waste money by wasting good water foolishly?
Adar II 22, 5771 • 3 28, 2011
THE SACREDNESS OF EACH DAY IN TORAH
Genesis Chapter 1
בְּרֵאשִׁית
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}
*Daily Mitzvah (Maimonides)
Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides'
classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
*Negative Commandment 46
• Settling in Egypt
1. "You shall never again return that way"-Deuteronomy 17:16.
2. We are forbidden from dwelling in the land of Egypt, so that we do not learn their heretical ways nor their depraved lifestyle that the Torah decries. Alexandria, too, is part of the boundaries of Egypt that we may not live in. From the Sea of Alexandria we measure 400 parsah [a parsah is approximately four kilometers] to the length and breadth-and that is the boundary of the Land of Egypt that we may not dwell in.
3. The prohibition only applies to settling in Egypt. It is, however, permitted to travel to Egypt for business purposes, or to annex [parts of it to Israel].
•
*Positive Commandment 190
• Proposing Peace before Waging War
•
1. "They shall be your subjects and shall serve you"-Deuteronomy 20:11.
2. When embarking upon an "optional war" [for the sake of expanding the borders of Israel, as opposed to the "mitzvah wars" waged against Amalek and the Seven Canaanite Nations], we are commanded to first offer the opponent a peace settlement. If the opponent accepts the terms of the peace proposal - i.e., the nation accepts upon itself Jewish sovereignty and agrees to pay an annual tax to the Jewish monarch - then we do not wage battle against them.
3. If they do not accept the terms of the peace proposal, then we go to battle and kill the male population, and the women and property are taken as spoils.
4. [With regards to "mitzvah wars," we also first offer a peace proposal, but in the event that the enemy doesn't accept the terms, then the entire population - male and female - are not allowed to live.]
*Negative Commandment 56
1. Offering Peace to Amon or Moab
2. "You must not seek their peace or prosperity"-Deuteronomy 23:7.
3. Normally, when embarking upon a battle, we are commanded to first offer the enemy terms for a peace proposal (see Positive Commandment 190). Not so with the nations of Amon and Moab, whom we may not offer a peace proposal. [Though if they, of their own volition, offer to make peace, we do accept their proposal-provided it meets the conditions outlined in the positive commandment referenced above.]
*Negative Commandment 57
• Wanton Destruction
1. "You shall not destroy its trees"-Deuteronomy 20:19.
2. In the course of battle, while besieging an enemy city, it is forbidden to cut down fruit-bearing trees in order to cause distress and pain to the city's inhabitants.
3. Included in this mitzvah is the prohibition against any wanton destruction; for example, cutting down a fruit-bearing tree [even not in time of battle], or needlessly burning a garment or breaking a utensil.
*Positive Commandment 192
• Hygiene in the Army Camp
1. "You shall have a designated place outside the camp"-Deuteronomy 23:13.
2. When going out to war, we are commanded to designate a place outside the army encampment where the soldiers can relieve themselves; so that they do not relieve themselves wherever they wish or between the tents, as is the practice amongst the nations.
*Positive Commandment 193
• Hygiene Equipment for Soldiers
1. "And you shall have a spade among your weapons"-Deuteronomy 23:14.
2. Together with all the other weaponry each soldier carries around, he should also be equipped with a spade, so that when he needs to relieve himself he can dig a small hole, relieve himself there, and then cover up his defecation-so that there remains no exposed excrement on the grounds of the battle camp.
*Today in Judaism
Today is: Yom , Adar II 22, 5771
• 3 28, 2011
*Today in Jewish History
• Earthquake Saves Roman Jews from Forced Conversion (1430)
1. The church and the government of Rome set Wednesday, March 6, 1430, as the day when all the Jews of Rome must convert or face death. On that day a great earthquake shook Rome and many of the archbishops and priests who conceived the decree were killed. Following the earthquake, Pope Martin V annulled the decree.
*Daily Quote
2. All is foreseen, and freedom of choice is granted
- Ethics of the Fathers 3:15
*Daily Study
3. Chitas and Rambam for today:
4. Chumash: Tazria, 2nd Portion Leviticus 13:6-13:17 with Rashi
5. Tehillim: Chapters 106 - 107
6. Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 38
7. Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvos:
• 1 Chapter: Tum'at Okhalin Chap. 8
• 3 Chapters: Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 7, Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 8, Melachim uMilchamot Chapter 9
Ha Yom:
Topics in the news
Geraldine Ferraro (pictured), the first female major party vice presidential candidate in the United States, dies at the age of 75.
Approximately 250,000 people march through London to protest against government spending cuts.
Archaeologists in Texas find evidence suggesting that human settlement may have occurred in the Americas 2,500 years earlier than previously thought.
In Canada, a federal election is scheduled after the Conservative minority government loses a vote of non-confidence.
Security forces open fire on protesters in Syria, killing at least 20 people.
Earthquake in Japan • Middle East and North Africa protests
•
*Current events of 3 28 2011
• Armed conflicts and attacks
•
1. Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard of the Canadian Forces Air Command is named to lead enforcement of the Libya no fly zone. (Globe and Mail)(National Post)(Defense News)
2. Opposition forces in the 2011 Libyan uprising attack Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirt with disputed claims that they have captured it. (Al-Jazeera), (Jerusalem Post)
3. A car bomb attack on a construction company in Afghanistan's Paktika Province kills at least 13 people and injures another fifty. (The Australian)
•
• Disasters
•
1. Radioactive seawater from the accidents travels further from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Law and crime
• The trial of Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi on corruption charges commences. (BBC)
•
• Politics
•
• Barry O'Farrell is sworn as the Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales following Saturday's state election. (News Limited)
•
• Sport
•
2. The captain of the Australia national rugby league team Darren Lockyer announces his retirement as at the end of the 2011 NRL season. (Melbourne Herald-Sun), (Brisbane Times)
3. The opening date of the Nippon Professional Baseball season is deferred due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Los Angeles Times via Seattle Times)
News articles
1. Battle for Trafalgar Square, London as violence breaks out between demonstrators and riot police
2. British police charge taxi driver with murder
3. Thousands gather in London to protest against government cuts
4. Nottingham Express Transit extensions get Government approval
EDITORIAL
Ok, someone help me figure this out. Without water, you die right? Read Torah and you will see that water is so precious that it is treated as symbolic of the sacred. So why waste it? Does Torah teach us to conserve the Earth and it’s resources? Of course. In the Southwest US water is an expensive, precious commodity, correct? In fact, it’s true around the world, right? Imagine that you are in the middle of the southwest desert. You want to urinate. Do you as a sane person take five gallons of drinking water, contaminate it with urine, then pour it into a sewage ditch? No! You’d urinate into the soil, right? But we waste water in that fashion several times a day in our homes.
Why?
Stupidity and childishness. How much sense does it make to take potable, drinkable water and use it as a way of disposing animal waste, including human and pet waste?
First we need to stop thinking of it as waste. Properly viewed, it is a product of our bodies that can enhance the earth.
There is no waste in Yah’s universe if we respect his creation.
Urine, diluted, becomes a potent source of phosphates and nitrogen that helps plants to grow. Properly used, it is absorbed by the Earth and does not produce a strong methane odor. Processed to produce methane, it can be used as a cheap source of energy, which produces no odor, and reduces our need for petrochemicals. But is used as a liquid fertilizer, it produces lush, healthy plants and beautiful gardens, minus any odor. Those plants in turn make the environment beautiful and absorb carbon dioxides from the air and produce oxygen, thus reducing air pollution and enriching the air.
What about solid waste, or feces, or dare I say it? Shit? Burning it simply solves nothing and pollutes the air. The last time that I checked, in various parts of America soil erosion has become a very serious problem. Properly composted animal waste becomes an enriching, organic sustainable addition to the earth that restores the soil.
Yah create man to be a steward of the Earth, and even his bodily waste was meant to enrich and replenish the garden. Think of it like this. You are out in the woods, and you gotta go, right? Do you dig a hole, do your thing and bury it, or do you squat in the stream from which you might need yo get water? You dig a hole! If at this moment, if you have read this far, you are going Ewwwww, I say GROW UP! Childish, traditional squeamishness about this matter of waste disposal is ruining our environment.
Why waste precious water? Why is there a problem of this nature? Silly squeamishness. We have been taught this insane way of disposing or our wastes by foolish, misguided city planners who do not really think in terms of water conservation, and pollution avoidance. They don’t think in terms of water as a finite, precious resource. They think of human waste as a noxious bio-hazardous substance instead of a natural human bi-product that can and should be turned into humanure that can be healthily, sustainably reclaimed by the Earth.
In many other cultures the use of manure, including humanure and urine as part of ecologically balanced soil restoration is viewed as wise. Properly used, such disposal produces no odors. We invest a fortune, and waste a valuable, precious life sustaining commodity to dispose of something in a method which pollutes more water, when it could easily be turned to good use by resorting to composting toilets. Instead of wasting gallons of water to disposes of a few ounces of urine or fecal matter, why not compost it, and use that water for sustaining life?
And by the way, why not cleanse our bodies, clothing, dishes and homes with bio degradable, eco friendly cleansers and use the waste water to irrigate the land instead of treating it as sewage? You do not need a government program to do this. If you live in a house, check with your municipality or county about the use of composting toilets and begin to use one, or contact me and for a modest fee I will e-mail a report about water regulations in your community along with suggestions about the right equipment to use. Start using the right cleansers and water your lawn and garden with “Gray” water. By the way, do you know that you can healthily cleanse your body with nothing other than hot water? Why waste money by wasting good water foolishly?
