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Shabbat, June 19, 2027

Halachic Times (Zmanim)
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Jewish History

In 1509, Emperor Maximilian of Germany ordered that all Jewish books in the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt am Main be destroyed. This followed the request of Pfefferkorn, a baptized Jew, who claimed that Jewish literature was insulting to Christianity. The Jews appealed to the Emperor to reconsider this edict, and Maximilian agreed to investigate the matter. He appointed Johann Reuchlin, a famed German scholar, to conduct the investigation. The report issued by Reuchlin was very positive. He demonstrated that the books openly insulting to Christianity were very few and viewed as worthless by most Jews themselves. The other books were needed for Jewish worship, and contained much value in the areas of theology and science.

The Emperor rescinded his edict on the 14th of Sivan, 1510.

Laws and Customs

It is the custom of many communities (and such is the Chabad custom) to continue the weekly study of a chapter Ethics of the Fathers ("Avot"), one chapter each Shabbat afternoon, through through the summer, until the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanahn (the first six-week cycle is completed on the six Shabbatot between Passover and Shavuot). This Shabbat, being the first Shabbat after Shavuot, we study Chapter One.

Link: Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1

Daily Thought

There’s nothing that matches the joy when a lost child returns home. And you are that child.

Because your soul began within G‑d.

And she descended into this world to inhabit a body and live as though a stranger to the heavens, captive of a futile dream, journeying upon many winding and perilous roads…

Until waking up one day and realizing that none of these lead back home.

And now, every day, with every prayer of your heart, with every word of Torah upon your lips, with every mitzvah and good deed you fulfill,

You are coming home.

There can be no greater joy—above and below.

Tanya, Chapter 31.