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Shabbat - 07/05/08 (2 Tammuz 5768)

For your local Shabbat Candle-lighting times, please go here. This week's reading is -- Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1). Torah Aliyot and Topics: Aliyah 1: Numbers 19:1-17 The Red Cow Aliyah 2: Numbers 19:18-20:6 The Red Cow, Miriam’s death and the lack of water, The people protest, G-d commands Moses to bring water Aliyah 3: Numbers 20:7-13 G-d commands Moses to bring water, Moses and Aaron err and are punished Aliyah 4: Numbers 20:14-21 Moses and Aaron err and are punished, Amalek attacks, A new challenge, The song in the Book of the Wars of Hashem, The battle with Sihon, Og does battle Aliyah 5: Numbers 20:22-21:9 Moses and Aaron err and are punished, Amalek attacks, A new challenge Aliyah 6: Numbers 21:10-20 A new challenge, The song in the Book of the Wars of Hashem Aliyah 7: Numbers 21:21-22:1 The battle with Sihon, Og does battle Maftir: Numbers 21:34-22:1 Og does battle For more information about this week's Parsha, please visit these sites. Orthodox Union Chabad Aish HaTorah United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism Union for Reform Judaism Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

This Week in Jewish History (6/29-7/5)

June 29: 2nd Century CE - Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon was martyred 1096 - Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mehr 1941 - Nazis murdered the male Jews of Drobian, Lithuania 1946 - British arrested 100 leaders of the Yishuv on the "Black Sabbath" June 30: 1294 - The Jewish community of Berne, Switzerland forfeited all financial claims against non-Jews, and were expelled from the country 1298 - The Jewish community of Morgentheim, Austria was massacred 1927 - Henry Ford retracted and apologized for the publication of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" 1948 - The last British armed forced left Israel July 1: 70 - Titus set up battering rams to assault the walls of Jerusalem 1388 - The Jews of Lithuania received a Charter of Privilege 1776 - The first Jew lost his life in the American Revolution 1862 - Russian Jews were granted permission to print Jewish books 1920 - Sir Herbert Smaul became the first British High-Commissioner of Palestine 1941 - Pogrom in Jassy, Romania claimed 5,000 Jewish lives 1941 - The Lubavitcher Rebbe arrived in America July 2: 1490 - The Chumash with Ramban was first published 1941 - A Nazi-instigated pogrom claims many Jewish lives in Lvov July 3: 1903 - Pogrom in Bialystock July 4: 1562 bce - Birth of Joseph 1452 bce - Death of Joseph 1453 - 41 Jews were burned at the stake in Brelau and the remainder of the Jewish population was expelled 1632 - The non-Jewish owner of a building being used as a synagogue was burned at the stake 1776 - America Independence was declared 1794 - Catherine II of Russia restricted the area where Jews were permitted to trade 1946 - Progrom in Kielce, Poland was the first post-Nazi massacre of the Jews 1976 - Raid at Entebbe July 5: 1247 - The Pope decreed against blood-ritual charges 1345 - The Pope banned forced baptism of the Jews 1950 - The Knesset passed a law granting every Jew the absolute right to settle in Israel 1960 - The Jewish community of the Belgian Congo fled due to riots that followed independence

Shabbat - 06/28/08 (25 Sivan 5768)

For your local Shabbat Candle-lighting times, please go here. This week's reading is -- Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32). Torah Aliyot and Topics: Aliyah 1: Numbers 16:1-13 Rebellion in the Wilderness, Moses summons Dathan and Abiram Aliyah 2: Numbers 16:14-19 Moses summons Dathan and Abiram Aliyah 3: Numbers 16:20-17:8 G-d responds, G-d creates a phenomenon, Protest and confirmation Aliyah 4: Numbers 17:9-15 Moses intervenes again, A new proof of Aaron’s greatness Aliyah 5: Numbers 17:16-24 A new proof of Aaron’s greatness, The fears remain Aliyah 6: Numbers 17:25-18:20 The fears remain, Aaron’s duty reiterated, Gifts to the Kohanim Aliyah 7: Numbers 18:21-32 Tithes to the Levites Maftir: Numbers 18:30-32 Tithes to the Levites For more information about this week's Parsha, please visit these sites. Orthodox Union Chabad Aish HaTorah United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism Union for Reform Judaism Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

This Week in Jewish History (6/22-6/28)

June 22: 1559 - Jewish Quarter of Prague was burned and looted 1941 - Germany invaded Lithuania and Latvia in it first attacks against Russia 1942 - The Jewish Brigade was formed June 23: 1171 - Martyrs of Blois (first blood libel in France) 1295 - The Pope entered Rome and spurned the Torah scrolls offered to him by the Jewish community 1298 - Massacre of the Jews of Wiener-Neustadt 1696 - Jews of Posen, Poland were saved from a mob set to avenge the murder of a soldier 1794 - Jews were given permission to settle in Kiev 1941 - The Slobodka and Telz yeshivot closed after Germany invaded Lithuania June 24: 1298 - Massacre of the Jews of Ifhauben, Austria 1322 - Second and Third expulsions of the Jews from France 1648 - 1000 Jews of Tulchin, Poland were tortured and murdered by Cossacks 1843 - The Inquisitor of Ancona, Italy decreed that Jews may not live in any municipality where there was no ghetto 1873 - First public warning of rising anti-Semitism in America was given in a sermon by Reverend Henry Ward 1903 - Russia prohibited Zionist meetings 1941 - Germany occupied Kovno and Vilna (both in Lithuania) and killed the Jews of Gorzhdy, Lithuania June 25: 1312 bce - Miriam is quarantined 1656 - Rabbi Menashe ben Yisrael applied for and was granted permission to practice Judaism in England 1941 - Pogrom in Jassy, Romania June 26: 357 bce - Haman's decree was counteracted 797 bce - Jeroboam barricades Jerusalem 1523 - First printed edition of the Sefer Hachinuch 1629 - Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller was imprisoned 1941 - 2300 Jews were murdered in Kovno, Lithuania 1967 - Jews and Protestand were granted the right of public worship for the first time since Ferdinand and Isabella proclaimed Catholocism as Spain's only religion June 27: 1918 - The volunteers of the Jewish Battalion in WWI were sent to the front 1941 - Bialystok, Poland fell to Germany June 28: 313 bce - Jews debate before Alexander 2nd Century - Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, and Rabbi Chanina S'gan Hakohanim were martyred 1941 - 1500 Jews were killed in Kovno, Lithuania 1942 - 40,000 Jews were trapped after Germany captured Minsk, Russia

Shabbat - 06/21/08 (18 Sivan 5768)

For your local Shabbat Candle-lighting times, please go here. This week's reading is -- Shelach (Numbers 13:1-15:41). Torah Aliyot and Topics: Aliyah 1: Numbers 13:1-20 The command to send spies to Eretz Yisrael, Moses prays for Joshua Aliyah 2: Numbers 13:21-14:7 Moses prays for Joshua, The spies' report, Caleb is shouted down, National hysteria, The people cannot be placated Aliyah 3: Numbers 14:8-25 The people cannot be placated, Israel is threatened with extermination, Moses pleads for the people, The decree of wandering 40 years Aliyah 4: Numbers 14:26-15:7 G-d spells out the decree, A chastized nation realizes too late, The libations Aliyah 5: Numbers 15:8-16 The libations Aliyah 6: Numbers 15:17-26 Challah, Atonements for public, unintentional idol worship Aliyah 7: Numbers 15:27-41 Atonements for individual idol worship, intentional idolatry, and Sabbath desecration in the Wilderness, Command of tzitzits Maftir: Numbers 15:37-41 Command of tzitzits For more information about this week's Parsha, please visit these sites. Orthodox Union Chabad Aish HaTorah United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism Union for Reform Judaism Jewish Reconstructionist Federation