Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 8:11pm, ends Saturday night at 9:16pm. Early Shabbat – light candles between 7:00pm-7:05pm. The weekly Torah portion for Shabbat is Vayeshev. Chanukah starts this Sunday night (6/12) and ends Monday (14/12).
Upcoming Event: Second day of Chanukah: Tuesday 8 December at 5.30pm
Crockett Chambers – 7th Floor, 530 Lonsdale St. Guest Speaker to be announced shortly. Please RSVP for catering purposes to events@jbd.org.au
Fourth day of Chanukah: Thursday 10 December 1.00pm-2.00pm
Please join us for some latkes, sandwiches, & schnitzels with speaker Rabbi James Kennard on “Lighting and re-lighting” How an Argument between two medieval Biblical commentaries sheds light on our light” Mincha following lecture. Billing Bureau, Level 5, South Tower, 459 Collins Street. Sponsored by SBA Law. RSVP for catering purposes to events@jbd.org.au by COB Tues 8 December.
Mincha in the CBD: Mincha will continue Mon-Wed at 1.50pm at Level 5, South Tower, 459 Collins St, using the SMS reminder system to confirm numbers.
Study: Wed shiur @ Billing Bureau: is being moved to Thursday for the Chanukah event (see above for details).
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. The first word of this week’s Torah reading (Vayeshev) is analysed by the commentators. Rashi states that upon returning to the land of Israel, Ya’akov wished to sit in peace. As a result of this, the episode of Yosef was brought upon him, in order that he should know that Tzadikim to not get to rest in this world as their reward is set aside for them in the world to come.
The Oznai’m L’Torah (R Zalman Sirotzkin) points out that upon returning to the land of Israel, Ya’akov felt at peace, and returned to the state that he was in prior to leaving. This state of peace was in character with Ya’akov’s description when he was a youth, an “ish tam yoshev ohalim” (literally – simple boy who sat in tents – referring to Torah study). This is reinforced by the first verse of the parsha which states that Ya’akov was sitting in the land that his forefather lived – i.e. Ya’akov felt that he could finally ‘retire’ as he had fought the battles with Esav and Lavan and was now enjoying a return to the homeland that was promised to he and his forefathers.
It is as this point that Hashem brought on the episode of Yosef, to teach Ya’akov that there is no retirement and peace for Tzadikim in this world. This is a powerful lesson for us, as we may think that as we have now returned to the Land of Israel and have established a state, that we are able to relax and be comfortable in our achievements. Unfortunately, the wars and tragedies of the last 70-odd years and in particular the terror of the last few months has shown us that just like Ya’akov our dreams of achieving peace may continue to be a challenge until the final redemption.