Times: Candlelighting is Friday 7:59pm; Shabbat ends Saturday 9:03pm. Early Shabbat times – Mincha: 6:35pm; Candlelighting 6:50pm. The weekly Torah Portion is Vayeishev. First night of Chanukah is Wednesday, 27th November; Eighth Day Thursday, 5th December.

Chanukah Events in the CBD: “The first Chanukah event in the world” First night of Chanukah- Wed 27 November 5.30pm
Crockett Chambers – 7th Floor, 530 Lonsdale St.  Guest Speaker: Her Honour Judge Rachelle Lewitan AM
RSVP for catering purposes to events@jbd.org.au by COB Tue 26 Nov

Second night of Chanukah – Thu 28 November 6.15pm
East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation invites you to a BBQ and Chanukah Celebration at Parliament Gardens – Opposite the Shul on Albert Street.
For more information visit: http://www.melbournecitysynagogue.com/

Fifth day of Chanukah – Mon 2 Dec 12.45pm-2.00pm
JBD and East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation invite you to a Chanukah Party with doughnuts, latkes, and drinks at Cornwall Stoddart – Level 10, 114 Williams Street.
RSVP for catering purposes to events@jbd.org.au by COB Fri 29 Nov

Mincha in the CBD: JBD mincha continues until the end of November at 1.45pm, and due to popular demand will continue at 1.50pm after that for as long as we still get numbers.

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.
CBW Express has arguably the largest range of fresh and packaged kosher products in the CBD!
-Cityblend Café @ 365 Little Collins St.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Leon Anaf. This week’s Torah reading states “And Reuven heard and saved him from their hands. And he said “let us not him a mortal blow”. And Reuven said to them “do not shed blood”. Rabbainu Bachya comments that Reuven wanted to save his brother, Joseph. Had he said “let us not hit him” he would have shown his brothers that his motivation was compassion for Joseph and they would not have listened to him and so Reuven added a “mortal blow.”  Reuven was saying “I don’t want you to commit murder regardless of who the person is”. Similarly he said to them: “do not shed blood” not “his blood”. This implied: “I too hate him and it is not his blood that I am concerned about. Rather I am concerned that you should not become murderers”. From this observation of Rabainu Bachya we see an important persuasion tactic: the focus of arguments should be on points that the listener will accept even though your own focus might centre on a different aspect of the situation. Says R Bachya when you want to prevent someone from saying or doing things that will hurt someone else, show the person how he is actually hurting himself by his words or actions.

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