Our condolences to Gershon Yitzchaki on the passing of his sister Freicha ob”m. HaMakom Yenachem Etchem Betoch She’ar Aveilei Tzion Vi Yerushalayim.

Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 5:31pm; ends Saturday night at 6:29pm. The weekly Torah portion for Shabbos is Shoftim.

Past Events: This past Wednesday, Aliza Bulow gave a fascinating lecture “From Puritan to Rebbetzin”. To listen to this lecture click here for the podcast, here for the JBD website, or here for Facebook.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha continues at 1.00pm Monday-Thursday. Numbers have been a bit slack over the last fortnight, so please make an extra effort to keep the minyan going. See here for more information.

Study: Wed shiur @ Billing Bureau: 1:15pm

Kosher Food in the CBD: Nifla Kosher Catering (KA Hechsher)
Offers Corporate Catering, specializing in individual and board room lunches. For further details visit www.nifla.com.au
10% Discount on your first website purchase. Enter promo code “FIRST TIME”.
Kosher sandwiches, muffins and salads are available at the following locations:
CUPP- Manchester Unity Building- Ground Floor-220 Collins Street
CBW EXPRESS-181 William Street.(Entrance Little Bourke St)
IN A RUSH CAFE-616 St Kilda Road-(Ground Floor-Lowe Lippmann Building)

Thought of the Week with thanks to Yehuda Gottlieb. This week’s parsha, Shoftim, discusses the role and importance of judges and courts in society. In this discussion, one of the stranger rituals presented is the Eglah Arufah. This is the result of a corpse being found on the outskirts of the city with no one around to provide evidence for what occurred. The Torah describes the ceremony in which the judges of the closest city must wash their hands over a heifer whose neck had been broken in order to atone for the sin of murder.

While it seems strange that the judges must absolve themselves of responsibility for murdering this person, the Oznaim L’Torah provides an interesting observation. In modern society, if a victim of homicide was found it would be the responsibility of the authorities and judges to find the person that committed this crime in order to punish them. However, the Torah mandates that the judges and elders of the city have to search out the root causes for the sin. If this is explored, it may be found that indeed the guilt for the sin may lie with the elders as it is their responsibility to ensure that society runs smoothly and that its constituents are sensitive enough to understand and distance themselves from the grievous sin of murder.

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