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This year’s edition of The Heritage Desk Diary covers the calendar from September 2008 through December 2009, a sixteen-month period that includes both the entire Jewish year 5769 and the entire secular year 2009. Dates are given according to both the secular and Jewish calendars; and the red-letter days of each calendar are noted. The diary will prove an indispensable tool for anyone who must keep track of appointments or a log of daily accomplishments. Students and teachers can use it for the 2008/2009 school year; rabbis and synagogue officials will find it handy for the year 5769; and business people and professionals can schedule sixteen months of appointments, conferences and deadlines.

    The chart of Jewish holidays 2008-2016 (pp. 22-23) will help schools, government agencies, businesses and organizations plan tests and seasonal events in a way that will avoid scheduling conflicts for Jewish students, clients or members.

    Prayers (such as penitential selichos, or relevant psalms) recited on special occasions are listed, along with other information about the daily prayer services, in the margin of the day on which they are recited.

    Candle-lighting times for the Sabbath and Festivals are given — for New York City, on the calendar page; for 60 American and 54 foreign cities, at the end of the planner. For the second night of a Festival, the candles should not be lit before 45 minutes after sunset (later, in the far northern latitudes; some wait until 72 minutes after sunset in any case). However, if the Festival falls on a Friday, the Sabbath candles should be lit 18 minutes before sunset.

    For many decades, the daily study of a folio page of the Talmud has become extremely popular. This course of study (called Daf Yomi, or page-of-the-day) completes the Talmud in seven and a half years. The daily daf (page) is listed in this diary. During the period covered by this edition, the following tractates of the Talmud will be completed: Yevamos (19 Elul/Sept. 2, 2007); Kesubos (13 Teves/Dec. 22; Nedarim (14 Adar II/Mar. 21, 2008); Nazir (20 Iyar/May 25); Sotah (9 Tammuz/July 12); Gittin (10 Tishrei/Oct. 9); and Kiddushin (2 Teves/Dec. 29). These tractates are (or will be) available in The Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud, in both the English and the Hebrew editions.

    Also popular is the daily study of two paragraphs of the Mishnah (called Mishnah Yomis, or Mishnah-of-the-day), which covers the entire Mishnah in about five and a half years. The daily lesson is listed in the desk diary. During the period covered by this edition, the siyum (completion) of Seder Nezikin, the fourth of the six orders of the Mishnah, will be celebrated on 23 Nissan/April 28. All the Mishnayos that will be studied during the term of this diary are currently available in The Artscroll Mishnah Series with Yad Avraham commentary.

    Select readings appear at the beginning and end of each weekly calendar: (a) a Talmudic aphorism, culled from The Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud; (b) for each Saturday, pertinent laws or an inspirational excerpt from Rachel Arbus' Happiness is Homemade; and (c) a timely thought related to the week's Torah reading culled from Limud Yomi / A Daily Dose of Torah, as well as from a variety of ArtScroll volumes on the Chumash.

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Copyright 2007 Mesorah Heritage Foundation