TODAY IN JUDAISM: Wednesday, May 4, 2011

B"H

Nissan 30, 5771 * May 4, 2011

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T O D A Y I N J U D A I S M
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* Laws * Customs * Jewish History * Daily Quote * Daily Study *

Today is: Wednesday, Nissan 30, 5771
Rosh Chodesh Iyar * Omer: Day 15 - Chessed sheb'Tifferet

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Today's Laws & Customs
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· Rosh Chodesh Observances

Today is the first of the two Rosh Chodesh ("Head of the Month") days for the month of "Iyar [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=6904B26D9DCDA4394D90EAE1F36A5667&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]" (when a month has 30 days, both the last day of the month and the first day of the following month serve as the following month's Rosh Chodesh).

Special portions are added to the daily prayers: Hallel (Psalms 113-118) is recited -- in its "partial" form -- following the Shacharit morning prayer, and the Yaaleh V'yavo prayer is added to the Amidah and to Grace After Meals; the additional Musaf prayer is said (when Rosh Chodesh is Shabbat, special additions are made to the Shabbat Musaf). Tachnun (confession of sins) and similar prayers are omitted.

Many have the custom to mark Rosh Chodesh with a festive meal and reduced work activity. The latter custom is prevalent amongst women, who have a special affinity with Rosh Chodesh -- the month being the feminine aspect of the Jewish Calendar [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=6AFFC3FCAFB521F98E8CB78080093D19&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ].

Links: The 29th Day [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=C8A3D71C8DF47783A858AB1572E86002&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]; The Lunar Files [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=A4F83D4C8E162215EA1292CA57210A84&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]

· Count "Sixteen Days to the Omer" Tonight

Tomorrow is the sixteenth 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 sixteen days, which are two weeks and two days, 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 [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=53C4B5E78908BA25CD4EAFFAD9454D1D&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ], the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.

Tonight's Sefirah: Gevurah sheb'Tifferet -- "Restraint 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."

Links:
How to count the Omer [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=0373FACCD4B36816D39D86C44AF24CB8&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]
The deeper significance [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=0C16BE072CEE734C73FB008CD673CC22&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] of the Omer Count

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Today in Jewish History
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· Passing of R. Chaim Vital (1620)

Nissan 30 is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the famed Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542?-1620), author of the mystical work Eitz Chaim. Rabbi Chaim was the leading disciple of Rabbi Isaac Luria [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=56105EE18B9A87686EA7C776491C2BB4&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] (the "Holy Ari," 1534-1572) and the transcriber of his teachings, which form the "Lurianic" Kabbalah.

Links: About Kabbalah [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=F721DBB515FDFEB7A1D01D0AD0143577&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]

· Buchenwald Liberated by American Forces (1945)

The Buchenwald concentration camp was founded in 1937 near the town of Weimar, Germany. Approximately 250,000 prisoners were incarcerated in this camp until its liberation in 1945.

Weimar is a German city known for its highly cultured citizenry. It was the home of many of the upper class intellectual members of Europeâ?Ts society. Among others, Goethe, Schiller, Franz Liszt, and Bach lived in Weimar.

Though technically not an extermination camp, approximately 56,000 prisoners were murdered in Buchenwald (not including many others who died after being transferred to other extermination camps). They died from vicious medical experiments, summary executions, torture, beatings, starvation, and inhuman work conditions. The camp was also known for its brutality. German officers would force inmates to eat their meager soup ration off the mud on the ground; would keep them standing in the cold until they froze to death; and they would even use skin of dead inmates to make lamp shades.

On the 30th of Nissan 1945 the Sixth Armored Division of the United States Third Army liberated the camp.

Among the more famous inmates who spent time in Buchenwald are Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.

Links:
The Holocaust [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=DA7D156881CA1E1312A2A9F7963A09B5&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]
Ethics Based on Torah [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=8A786791F10BB92612E2DC88AED6475D&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]

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Daily Quote
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When my master and teacher [R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi] was in a state of d'veikut (lit. "attachment," a trance-like state of ecstatic cleaving to G-d) he would cry out: "I want nothing at all! I don't want Your 'garden of eden,' I don't want Your 'world to come'... I want nothing but You alone."

- Related by Rabbi Schneur Zalman's grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch

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Daily Study
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Chitas and Rambam for today:

Chumash: Emor, 4th Portion Leviticus 23:1-23:22 with Rashi
· English Text:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=B944BD4A832D56B038ACA7FB39D63520&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2

Tehillim: Chapters 145 - 150
· Hebrew text:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=FA04B3B453477A9901A26815267AAEBD&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
· English text:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=8FCBC799478A5D32A2A6D014FC0ED78D&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2

Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 44
· Lesson in Tanya:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=DE2FEADBB5C7776412670337B4602475&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
· Tanya Audio Class:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=45E864F9D8FD0FBAD9BA1196F0EA1E6F&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2

Rambam:
· Sefer Hamitzvos:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=29C8211FE724BA38B7548713A92585F3&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
· 1 Chapter: Mikvot Chap. 1
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=24B3BBD68AC96D0BC51E9E64F85125D5&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
· 3 Chapters: Seder haTefillah Part 2, Seder haTefillah Part 3, Seder haTefillah Part 4
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=EA6C6A6AFF14A5339B42748F04FF6C54&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2

Hayom Yom:
· English Text:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=B1323A0A7A4543A2440D9F52484A86F1&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2

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