Times: Candlelighting is Friday 6:08pm; Shabbat ends Saturday 7:06pm. Move clocks one hour forward on Saturday night. The weekly Torah Portion is Noach.

Mincha in the CBD: Please note new time for JBD mincha until the end of November – 1.45pm. The SMS reminder system will be used to confirm numbers for the first week, and we will review after that.The mincha minyan at the East Melbourne Shule is in recess until after DST.

Study: Mon 12.30 @ East Melb Shule; Wed 12.30 Special @ Billing Bureau.

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 Ezra May. The Torah explicitly testifies that Noach was perfectly righteous and that he & his family alone were saved from the flood that destroyed the entire world. Yet Rashi notes that some sages question how pious Noach truly was as the Torah emphasizes he was righteous “in his generation”, which can imply that if he lived in another generation, such as Avraham’s, he wouldn’t have been considered special. Why, if the Torah explicitly praises Noach, do some minimize his greatness and why do they specifically compare him to Avraham?

In the Haftarah (Isaiah 54:9) we refer to the flood as “mei Noach” – the flood-waters of Noach. The Zohar explains that Hashem commanded Noach (Genesis 6:14) to build an ark due to an impending flood and during the 120 years that Noach was busy constructing it, he neglected to pray for his contemporaries to repent their sins and be spared. As a result, Noach was held accountable for the flood & all the destruction which may have been prevented through his prayers and the flood is named after him. Now we can now appreciate Noach’s complex spiritual level. Although he remained uniquely pious in his sinful generation, he could have done a lot more on their behalf. This is why he is specifically denigrated in comparison to Avraham – the paragon of Chesed who always focused on helping others. When Avraham was informed of the impending destruction of Sodom, he didn’t content himself that he wasn’t endangered, but repeatedly requested Hashem overturn the decree and spare the city – an action that Noach did not do for his generation.