Times: Candlelighting for Yom Kippur 5774 and fast begins is Friday 5:51pm; Yom Kippur ends Saturday evening 6:48pm.

Mincha in the CBD: A special JBD mincha minyan is on today at 1:00pm. JBD mincha minyan continues (Monday, 16th September-Tuesday, 17th September) at 1:00pm. There are also minyanim (Monday,16th September-Tuesday,17th September) at 1.15pm at East Melbourne shul and Chabad of the CBD.

Study: Mon 12.30 @ East Melb Shule; The Wednesday Shiur is cancelled due to Erev Sukkot.  The Shiur will resume on Wednesday, 2nd October.

Kosher Food in the CBD: GOLD’S GOURMET are supplying delicious sandwiches to the following THREE outlets in the CBD:
Pronto on Flinders @ Ground Level, 335 Flinders Lane
CBW Express- CGU Building @ 181 William St.
Cityblend Café @ 365 Little Collins St.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Yehuda Gottlieb. The Yom Kippur service begins with the unlikely prayer of kol nidrei in which we ask for annulment for all our vows. This is shortly followed by the pasuk -“And all the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven”.  Why do we begin the tefillot on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar with such a seemingly irrelevant prayer and what is the connection between annulling our vows and Hashem providing forgiveness for all of Bnei Yisrael?

Rabbi Frand explains that during the year, we all work hard on self improvement. In order to do this effectively, we take upon ourselves certain vows and stringencies, whether explicitly or through adopting certain behaviours. These behaviours take effort and a person can feel a sense of achievement and superiority when making positive spiritual growth. The opening of Yom Kippur comes along to rid ourselves of these feelings and annul all our vows and stringencies, effectively ‘levelling the playing field’. This means that we are no longer superior to the rest of the nation and the whole congregation of Bnei Yisrael stand together in front of Hashem as one. This unity is the key to our forgiveness before Hashem on Yom Kippur and it can only be achieved once we rid ourselves of any practices that divide us from the rest of the nation.