Today is Sunday, Adar 26, 5786 · March 15, 2026
Today in Jewish History
• First Property Purchase in the US by Jewish Congregation (1677)
In 1658, fifteen Jewish families emigrated from South America to (what was to become) the United States. These families were of Sephardic lineage and settled together in Newport, Rhode Island, where they established a Jewish congregation. For many years they held weekly prayer services in private homes.
When the need arose for a Jewish cemetery, the community purchased a piece of land on Wednesday, February 28, 1677.
This was the very first piece of land in the colonies which was owned by a Jewish congregation. In this cemetery are buried many of the early members of this congregation, and it is still maintained by the Jewish community.
For more about the Newport Jewish community, see entry for the 8th of Elul.
Links:
The History of Jewish Newport, Rhode Island
Judah Touro: Philanthropist Par Excellence
• Passing of Sarah Schenirer (1935)
Viewing the dire lack of formal Jewish education provided to
Jewish girls in her native Poland, Sarah Schenirer founded the first Bais
Yaakov girls’ school in Krakow in 1917. Despite some initial opposition, the
Bais Yaakov school network quickly expanded throughout Poland and beyond.
Today, there are hundreds of Bais Yaakov schools worldwide, attended by tens of
thousands of students.
Links: The Importance of Jewish Education for Girls;
The Woman in Lubavitch
Daily Quote
And G‑d said to Abram . . . “Raise your eyes and see, from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed, to eternity . . . Rise, walk in the land, to its length and to its breadth, for I will give it to you.”
— Genesis 13:14–17
Daily Torah Study
Chumash: Vayikra, 1st Portion Vayikra (Leviticus) 1:1-1:13 with Rashi
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English / Hebrew Linear Translation
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Video Class
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Daily Wisdom (short insight)
Tehillim: Chapter 119, Verses 97-176
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Hebrew text
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English text
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 37
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English Text (Lessons in Tanya)
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Hebrew Text
• Audio Class:
Listen |
Download
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Video Class
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvot:
• 1 Chapter A Day: Avodat Kochavim Avodat Kochavim - Chapter 5
• 3 Chapters A Day: Shabbat Shabbat - Chapter 12, Shabbat Shabbat - Chapter 13, Shabbat Shabbat - Chapter 14
Hayom Yom:
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English Text |
Video Class