| Today is: Wednesday, Adar I 26, 5771 · March 2, 2011
• First Property Purchase in the US by Jewish Congregation (1677)
In 1658, fifteen South American Jewish families of Sephardic lineage arrived in the United States and settled in Newport, Rhode Island. The families established a Jewish congregation, and for many years prayed weekly in private homes. When the need arose for a Jewish cemetery, the community purchased a parcel 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 today. For more about the Newport Jewish community, see entry for the 8th of Elul.
Just as a person can be sentenced to death only by a sanhedrin (tribunal) of twenty-three judges, so an ox that kills can be condemned to death only by a sanhedrin of twenty-three.
- Mechilta D'Rashbi
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
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