Mon Jul 2 '07 - 16 Tammuz 5767

• Verse (Posuk) of the day
  The gathering and praise of the Jewish nation
  At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you, for I will make you to be a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I turn your captivity before your eyes, said G-d. (Zephaniah 3:20)
  
  
• Gemara (Talmud or Midrash) of the day
  Standing ground without being biased
  There was one young scholar who had a bad reputation (rumors were circulating that he was an adulterer). Rabbi Yehudah said: What shall we do regarding this case? Shall we excommunicate (Cherem) him? The rabbis need him (he was a teacher). Shall we not? The name of Heaven will be profaned. He asked Rabbah bar bar Chanah: Did you hear anything about such a case? He answered him: Rabbi Yochanan said: "It is written [Malachi 2:7]: The kohen's lips safeguards knowledge and people seek Torah from his mouth, for he is like an angel of Hashem. That means: If the teacher resembles an angel, Torah may be sought from his mouth, but not otherwise. Thereupon Rabbi Yehudah excommunicated him. Subsequently, Rabbi Yehudah was taken ill and the rabbis made him a sick-call, among whom was also that young scholar. When Rabbi Yehudah saw him, he laughed. He said to Rabbi Yehudah: Is it not enough that you excommunicated me, you still laugh at me? Rabbi Yehudah answered him: I do not laugh at you, but in the World to Come I will be proud to say that I was not biased even towards so great a man as you. (Tractate Moed Katan 17a)
  
  
• Character Trait (Middah) of the day
  Quietness
  Shimon his son (of R' Gamliel) says: All of my life I was growing up among the wise and I didn't find something more wholesome then quietness. If for the wise quietness is the best tool, how much more is it a good thing for the foolish. (Avot de-Rabbi Nathan 22:1)
  
  
• Quote of the day
  Be there for yourself, cause no one else will
  "If I am not to myself, who will be? And when I am to myself, who am I? And if not now, when?" (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14)
  
  
• Halacha (Jewish Law) of the day
  Remembrance of the testruction of the temple
  After the destruction of the Temple, it was ordained by our Sages (may their memory be of blessing), that at every celebration there should be a reminder of the destruction, as it is says (Psalms 137:5-6): "If I forget you, O Jerusalem... If I do not raise Jerusalem over my joy". They ruled that a Jew should not build for himself a building with walls that are lime-plastered and decorated like a building of the kings, nor should he plaster all his house with lime-plaster. Rather, he should plaster his house with cement and then lime-plaster it, and leave (on a wall) one cubit by one cubit, opposite the doorway, without plaster, in order to remember the destruction. And why people don't do this now, we do not know a clear reason. (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 126:1)