Today is Shabbat, Shvat 13, 5786 · January 31, 2026
Today's Laws & Customs
• Shabbat of Song
This week's Torah reading contains the "song at the sea" sung by the Children of Israel upon their deliverance from the Egyptians, when the Red Sea split to allow them to pass and then drowned their pursuers. Hence this Shabbat is designated as Shabbat Shirah, "Shabbat of song."
Our sages tell us that the birds in the sky joined our ancestors in their singing; for this reason it is customary to put out food for the birds for this Shabbat (to avoid the possibility of transgressing the laws of Shabbat, the food should be put out before Shabbat).
Links:
Parting of the Red Sea
Miriam: Tambourines of Rebellion
Today in Jewish History
• Passing of Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah Schneersohn (1942)
Wife of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson, and mother of the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah (1860-1942) lived through the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century. She fled the advancing front of World War I from Lubavitch to Rostov, where her husband passed away in 1920 at age 59. In 1927, she witnessed the arrest of her son by Stalin's henchmen the night he was taken away and sentenced to death, G-d forbid, for his efforts to keep Judaism alive throughout the Soviet empire.
After Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's release, the family resettled in Latvia and later, Poland; in 1940, they survived the bombing of Warsaw, were rescued from Nazi-occupied city, and emigrated to the United States. Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah passed away in New York on the 13th of Shevat of 1942.
• Auschwitz Liberated (1945)
On January 27, 1945, the Russian army arrived in Auschwitz, the most infamous of the Nazi death camps, and liberated some 7,000 survivors—those left behind as unfit to join the evacuation "Death March."
Link:
Essays and and Stories From the Holocaust
Daily Torah Study
Chumash: Beshalach, 7th Portion Shemot (Exodus) 17:1-17:16 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: Chapters 69 - 71
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Hebrew text
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English text
Tanya: Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 23
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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: Melachim uMilchamot Melachim uMilchamot - Chapter 10
• 3 Chapters A Day: Melachim uMilchamot Melachim uMilchamot - Chapter 4, Melachim uMilchamot Melachim uMilchamot - Chapter 5, Melachim uMilchamot Melachim uMilchamot - Chapter 6
Hayom Yom:
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English Text |
Video Class
Audio: 
