Times: Candlelighting is Friday 8:16pm; Shabbat ends Saturday 9:17pm. Early Mincha: 6:55pm; Early Candlelighting: 7:10pm. The weekly Torah Portion is Terumah. Rosh Chodesh Adar I: Today – Friday, January 31 and Shabbat, February 1.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha will continue at 2.08pm at the usual venue using the SMS system to ensure we get sufficient numbers.

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

Kosher Food in the CBD: Deliveries have not yet resumed and will advise when they do.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Rafi Goodman. This week’s Parsha embarks on describing the make-up and dimensions of the Mishkan – the holy sanctuary and all its vessels. When describing the Menorah (Candelabra), the commentators describe how specifically this item was hard for Moshe to envision, so Hashem told him to throw gold into the fire and it would miraculously form a Menorah. What Moshe found difficult to comprehend about the Menorah was not just how to build it, but rather that symbolically it represented a source of light to permeate the outside world, and he was perplexed how a physical object could spread the light of the Divine to the outside material world. Hashem agreed with Moshe and demonstrated how only with Godly intervention can this occur. He told him to cast it into the fire and Hashem would take care of the rest. Similarly, God requires us to transform our own physical lives into sources of Divine light, but He also knows that we cannot do this alone. All He asks is we cast it all into the fire of our hearts, i.e. to let our love for Him permeate all that we do – and He will do the rest.